Alternative plans for the renovation of Belfast's Ulster Museum have been put forward by a coalition of concerned groups and individuals to safeguard the city's most renowned work of modern architecture.
Designed by London-based architect Francis Pym, who won a competition for the project in 1963, the brutalist-style extension to the museum is one of 50 buildings from 1950 to 2005 featured in a recently-published book, Modern Ulster Architecture.
"Time has done nothing to diminish the power and originality of this extraordinary building which first opened to the public in 1971," it says.
"If anything, the passing years have enhanced its standing as the major testament to high Modernism in the province."
A copy of the alternative scheme has been sent to Hamilton Architects, who are acting for the museum, and will be presented shortly to Edwin Poots, the Democratic Unionist Party MLA who has been nominated as the North's new minister for culture, arts and leisure.
Put forward by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society (UAHS), the Twentieth Century Society and Docomomo (the international association for the conservation of "modern movement" buildings), the alternative plans are based on minimal intervention.
According to objectors, the planned £12 million (€17.7 million) renovation of the Ulster Museum to transform it into a "world-class venue for the 21st century" would have a "detrimental impact on one of Belfast's most iconic modern buildings".
The UAHS has objected in particular to a proposal to enclose the listed museum's cantilevered concrete entrance canopy with glass, saying this would compromise the entrance facade, and also to a radical rearrangement of the equally important interior.
"The current proposal places a north-facing cafe/restaurant on the entrance corner with detrimental changes to the entire entrance foyer as a result. An alternative area for a cafe on the east side would provide a pleasant external space", it says.
"The original courtyard of sculptural forms and pools gave light and orientation to the heart of the building. The upper roof sculpture terrace linked into the galleries around it in ways unseen by the public since the 1970s. These qualities should be restored".
Dealing with disabled access, the alternative plan would retain the "grand spiral route" through the museum - "an idea that is fundamental to the integrity of the building" - and provide gentle ramps and platform lifts for those in wheelchairs. "Six modern platform lifts (small lifts that require minimal installation), along with the introduction of carefully designed ramps would solve all the current access issues for wheelchair users who could then enjoy the dynamic spaces", according to this plan.
The proposed renovation of the Ulster Museum is being funded by the North's Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and the Heritage Lottery Fund. It would give the museum an additional 1,225sq m (13,186 sq ft) of space on various levels.