THE BRAID
Ballymena

The Braid celebrates the re-birth of the Town Hall in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, with a dynamic contemporary extension adding a regional museum and arts centre to the civic administrative heart of the Town. In name and realisation, The Braid represents the inter-twining of ideas, words, art forms, history and memory.

The building was conceived as an extension to the original 1928 Town Hall and utilises the same external Portland Stone building fabric to create a homogenous whole. Designed like a piece of jewellery and conscious that the building is visible on all sides, the building dominates the surrounding skyline.

The geometry of the layout has defined the internal journey, linking the Civic, Arts and Museum elements with naturally-lit atria. These atria act to orientate the visitor on their journey around the building’s arterial routes and into the heart of the building, providing individual identifiable spaces to re-congregate at the end of the journey.