DRIFT \ Lagan
DRIFT is a project for Belfast’s river Lagan commissioned by Belfast 2024. A collaboration between OGU, MMAS and sonic artist Matilde Meireles, DRIFT hosted a series of listening sessions and related events in August and September 2024.
Aiming to refocus attention on Belfast's relationship with the river Lagan, DRIFT investigated the city's disconnected and utilitarian approach to its waterfront, drawing out the complexity of exchanges between people and the waterway. At the heart of the project was a pavilion designed to be a floating "instrument” that drew attention to the river in new ways by enhancing the multisensory experience of being on the water. Highlighting existing dependencies between the river ecosystem and urban life (recognised points of human interference), it was hoped that by sparking people’s curiosity and interest in the Lagan, the project could start a transformative public conversation about the pros and cons of a more accessible river that embraces a series of valuable public spaces.
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Commissioned by Belfast 2024 (Belfast City Council)
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RIBA McEwen Award 2025 Shortlist
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DRIFT, a floating pavilion on Belfast’s River Lagan, was one of 18 art pieces commissioned by Belfast 2024 (Belfast City Council) as part of a year-long programme of creative projects and events celebrating the city. A collaboration between OGU Architects, MMAS and sound artist Matilde Meireles, DRIFT was an artwork and also a piece of urban research. Recognising that the stretch of the Lagan running through the city is largely separated from the public - a problem worsened by the recent flood wall construction - it aimed to create opportunities for people to connect to their river and to investigate possibilities for creating better public space at the water’s edge. Although the pavilion was largely kept unprogrammed between 10am-6pm for people to visit and inhabit as a prototypical public space on the water, a series of activities and events were curated with partnership organisations which attracted further audiences and aligned with the project aim to foster connections to the river and its issues. These included plant identification workshops, ecology presentations, music, bat detection, river themed films, mindfulness sessions, stargazing and talks about light pollution.
A Collaboration Between Architects and a Sound Artist
Collaborating with sound artist Matilde Meireles was crucial to the project theme of ‘interference’. The team were interested in the relationships between humans and the river’s non-human inhabitants as part of their investigation into creating public space at the river’s edge. Through various recording techniques, Meireles was able to draw attention to phenomena that are usually out of human sight or hearing range, such as underwater activity, electromagnetic interference and life that flourishes in darkness. Visitors were given the option to listen to a sonic work created by Meireles that incorporated sounds evoking the lifecycle of water with sounds of the structure itself. On top of this, five public “Listening Sessions” - live performances of site specific work by Meireles - took place on the structure to further explore the sonic qualities of the locations. The materials used to construct DRIFT were crucial to the multisensory design of the pavilion. The floating structure moved with the water and the wind so the materials’ stirring could be heard. Therefore, in order to tell a story about a human relationship with the river, the sonic qualities of the materials chosen were as important as the visual impact. The creaking of the rolling gangway, flapping of fabric and jangling of eyelets evoke memories of the river. Meireles cleverly recorded this along with subtler sounds such as stretching rope so that this became part of the experience of the space as well. This worked alongside visual references to river infrastructure: cotton rope in a variety of blue shades references the blue nylon rope found wherever people are working with water. Fabric screens evoke tarpaulins and sails. The aluminium scaffold and brackets pick up the language of weirs and utilitarian structures on the water.
Urban Research: Discoveries and Suggestions
Identifying that large stretches of the Lagan are disconnected from the city and not publicly accessible, the project allowed people to step onto the river and experience the water from a perspective usually reserved for rowers and boat-owners. Because the project was actually on the water, the team encountered a series of challenges which were overcome in order to deliver a publicly accessible pavilion: a new company had to be formed in the process. One of the major findings was how spending time on the water positively affected people. However, an overly blunt approach to risk aversion underpins the modus operandi of many of the city’s institutions controlling the development of the river’s edge. If the city is to develop better quality connections and improved accessibility to the Lagan this needs further exploration.
The commissioning of the work as a piece of art determined a certain scale as well as temporariness and demountability. This lightness and delicacy gave the project a sensitivity to weather and the movement of the water that large-scale river’s-edge projects usually do not have. This made the future conditions of increased flooding and the precarity of conditions for non-human species extremely tangible to those experiencing the pavilion and especially the community of people who became more deeply involved in the DRIFT project. This drew attention to the potential benefit small, flexible, engaged urban projects along the Lagan would have both for people and the river ecosystem: a method of making places that encourages an understanding of the river and works with rather than against the dynamic role the river will take in shaping the future city.
A Pavilion that Adapts to its Site
The pavilion moored at two locations over August and September 2024. The first was Stranmillis Weir, a beautiful site at the start of the Lagan Towpath partially enclosed by the regional park woodland. The second site in the city centre outside Waterfront Hall had longer views up and down the river between Queen’s Bridge and the Lagan Railway Bridge.
The structure took a different form each time to respond to these two contrasting sites. The same kit of parts was designed to fit together in a variety of forms so at the first location the pontoons zig-zagged away from the edge, creating a sequence of spaces and a sense of escaping into the middle of the water. At the second, more urban location, interaction between people on land and those inside the pavilion was encouraged with a more open envelope and the pontoons were arranged as one large room wrapped around suspended catamaran net overhanging the Lagan. Using scaffolding and a palette of reusable or biodegradable materials allowed the structure to be installed, disassembled and reassembled within five weeks.
Location 01
Stranmillis Weir
The site at Stranmillis Weir felt like a good place to start - it was where the more rural section of the Lagan along the tow path begins to meet Stranmillis and Ormeau.
A Pavilion that Adapts to its Site
Location 02
Waterfront Hall
The last event finished at 6pm on a Sunday at Stranmillis Weir and in 7 days the cladding was removed and the structure dismantled, floated up to the city centre and reassembled in a completely different configuration.
Impact
“The whole project, indeed much of what this team does, exhibits an understanding of Belfast, a laudable desire to know ever more about this place and an empathy with the city. Their knowledge grows with every project, not least this one. The architects’ understanding of the Lagan grew rapidly on foot of consultation with experts in history and ecology but also with every day spent on site constructing the piece.”
Aidan McGrath Perspective Article (March 2025)
I write here of the “Drift” in the present, as though it were still in place. Many of you will know that is not, it is no longer at either of its recent moorings, it is currently off the river. I justify that “tense” in the knowledge that those behind the project are optimistic that it will float again.
Drift is a temporary pavilion on the River Lagan, commissioned by Belfast City Council as part of the 2024 programme of creative arts projects and events celebrating the city.
I’m really not sure, given the tentative nature of the enclosure, that it qualifies as a building (although it is worth saying that its authors don’t claim that is) but it is definitely architecture, sculpture too, I think. My first impression was of a piece inspired by Ben Nicholson, or even Mondrian, carried fully into the third dimension.
The section here is as significant as the plan although both are deceptively simple.
The subtle offsets in the three rectangles which constitute the plan and the variations in the heights of the volumes enclosed, artfully foster connections between and across the spaces.
The orientation of the roof structure further enhances the connections. There is a spatial experience in entering and walking through this temporary pavilion. The size of the main space is roughly that of a classroom, although frequently the volumes are occupied by only two or three contemplative visitors at time. Group activities, workshops and performances were mostly in the evenings.
It is significant that the project was commissioned via arts funding in a process which is much less risk averse than the mechanisms for public procurement of architecture. The arts process appears more willing to reward brilliance ahead of experience.
The structure exhibits that elegance borne of restraint on the part of the designers, comfortable with an understatement which befits its natural setting. It is a product too of budget enforced minimalism. It exploits mostly standard scaffolding components but with special brackets (designed and commissioned by the authors) to allow the vertical structure to marry with strength to the pontoon.
The walls comprise parallel taut coloured cables, they provide a sufficiently strong implication of enclosure to foster intimacy within but are acoustically (and otherwise) transparent. They exude tactility, it’s hard to resist the temptation to run one’s fingers across them as a harpist might caress the strings on their instrument. They whistle in the wind. They allude, too, specifically to a unique cultural significance in Belfast, at one time the foremost rope making centre in the world. Variation in the colour of the ropes, greens and blues, the colours of sky and river, creates a rhythm in chorus with the structure.
Perhaps it was the colour, perhaps the simplicity of form but the local kingfisher grew easily accepting of its presence.
The whole project, indeed much of what this team does, exhibits an understanding of Belfast, a laudable desire to know ever more about this place and an empathy with the city. Their knowledge grows with every project, not least this one. The architects’ understanding of the Lagan grew rapidly on foot of consultation with experts in history and ecology but also with every day spent on site constructing the piece.
The project is the product of a long gestation, during which research and collaborations fed and informed the study of a variety of (potential) forms and ultimately through iterative refinement to the project as built. The closest collaboration and undoubtedly the definitive relationship was with the sound artist Matilde Meireles. I enjoyed her auditory artwork all the more especially as I reclined on stuffed sacks in the pavilion.
The design team had an early and central aspiration that the project be literally on the Lagan. A pavilion adjacent to the river would undoubtedly have presented an easier proposition but the fact of its floating is central to its appeal, the structure responds as one walks across it. The movement is not so dramatic as to be disconcerting but definitely enough to know the structure is on (or “of”) the Lagan. It is no mere observation post, it is an experience.
We should all hope for its early return to the river; it represents a uniquely egalitarian opportunity to enjoy the special qualities of the Lagan but affords also a different and distinct viewpoint on our city.
Engagement + Legacy
The project has allowed the team to have a deep and meaningful conversations about what the river Lagan means to them. The project is continuing in all sorts of ways with the physical structure appearing in a new location in summer 2025
Activations
DRIFT was a project for Belfast’s River Lagan commissioned by Belfast 2024. A collaboration between OGU, MMAS and sound artist Matilde Meireles, DRIFT hosted a series of listening sessions and related events in August and September 2024.
The pavilion was open daily as a floating public space for the city to use.
DRIFT was designed to be adaptable to a multitude of different site conditions along the river. Starting at its first location at Stranmillis Weir in South Belfast, DRIFT was then partially dismantled and towed downstream to be reassembled in a different form at its second location in the city centre.
PROGRAMME
Location #1 Stranmillis Weir
Friday 30/08/2024 6pm Drift Listening Session and Launch:
DRIFT Collective's sound artist, Matilde Meireles, will take you on a sonic drift with the sounds of the river and its surroundings, from underwater life to atmospheric phenomena, electromagnetic interference and the many vibrating metal surfaces that fence the river.
This special event will kick off with a conversation about the river featuring Rachel O'Grady (DRIFT Collective), Andy Bridge (Lagan Valley Regional Park), Jane Morrow (PS2) and Conor Mckinney (Wild Belfast).
Saturday 31/08/2024 2pm Drift x Ormeau Community Cinema - Floating Films: Song of the Sea
Our first Floating Film is Song of the Sea; which tells the story of Ben, a young Irish boy, and his little sister Saoirse, a girl who can turn into a seal, who go on an adventure to free the fairies and save the spirit world.
Saturday 31/08/2024 8.30pm Bats along the Lagan
You are invited to Drift to discover the secret world of bats with the Lagan Valley Regional Park ranger service. Enjoy a short presentation from Dan Clarke, Senior Ranger, about our island's only flying mammal before learning how to use bat detectors to discover the species which we hope may reveal themselves to us during the evening.
Sunday 01/09/2024 2pm Drift Listening Session and extended Installation
DRIFT Collective's sound artist, Matilde Meireles, will take you on a sonic drift with the sounds of the river and its surroundings, from underwater life to atmospheric phenomena, electromagnetic interference and the many vibrating metal surfaces that fence the river. The sonic work will remain as an installation in the space until the end of the session.
Drifting and drawing: sketching materials will be available for guests during this Listening Session if they wish to draw while they listen to the work.
Sunday 01/09/2024 4pm Drift x Moving on Music: GRÁINNE MEYER + MÚLÚ (TURN YOUR CHAIR)
Country Antrim based composer, harpist and pianist Gráinne Meyer is the most recent winner of the World Music Competition following performances at Wales International Harp Festival 2023. Gráinne performs classical and Irish traditional music, and has played as guest harpist with the Ulster Orchestra. As a traditional musician, Gráinne has won multiple All Ireland and Ulster medals
MÚLÚ (Miadhachlughain O’Donnell) is a singer and multi-instrumentalist from Castlewellan, Co. Down. She is a member of Biird, Afro Celt Sound System, and Huartan, alongside her solo work. Her family, the McSherrys, have a history in Irish traditional music dating back to the 1980s. Her mother Tíona McSherry (flute, vocal), uncles John (uilleann pipes) and Paul (guitar) and auntie Jo (fiddle) recorded and toured internationally as Tamalin into the mid-90s.
Saturday 31/08/2024 - Sunday 15/09/2024 DRIFT is open to the public between 10am and 6pm (unless one of the ticketed events below is taking place). Come and enjoy the installation which includes the opportunity to listen to a sonic work created especially for DRIFT by artist Matilde Meireles.
Monday 09/09/2024 2pm Mindfulness Session on DRIFT:
Book your place for a mindfulness session on DRIFT Space, a floating pavilion on the River Lagan. This session will be led by Tin Chan from the Stronger Together Network / Chinese Welfare Association.
Thursday 12/09/2024 6pm DRIFT Listening Session
DRIFT Collective's sound artist, Matilde Meireles, will take you on a sonic drift with the sounds of the river and its surroundings, from underwater life to atmospheric phenomena, electromagnetic interference and the many vibrating metal surfaces that fence the river.
This special event will kick off with a conversation about the river featuring the DRIFT team and invited guests with a unique perspective on the River Lagan.
Friday 13/09/2024 5pm Lagan, Land and Water. Past, Present and Future.
A talk and discussion with Ian Montgomery, Prof Emeritus in Animal Ecology, affiliation Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast.
This talk will deal with the history of the Lagan catchment from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present, identifying the pressures on the river arising from current land use, and how a more holistic approach to development, agriculture and how we use the Lagan catchment is required to address these issues. An introductory talk of 20-25 minutes will be followed by an open discussion based on the questions which Government, politicians and vested interests ignore..
Friday 13/09/2024 8pm Drift x Ormeau Community Cinema - Floating Films: The Peanut Butter Falcon
Our second Floating Film is The Peanut Butter Falcon; the film is about a man with down syndrome who runs away from a residential nursing home to pursue his dream of becoming a wrestler. Later, he meets with an outlaw who becomes his friend and coach.
Saturday 14/09/2024 11am Make a Kinetic Mobile | DRIFT x Flax Art Studios
Taking inspiration from the river and nature around the Drift site, you will create a mobile using natural materials. In this workshop, we’ll consider the elements that make a mobile come together as a harmonious whole: colour, shape, size, movement and space. We’ll guide you through as you assemble your mobile, you’ll be testing the position of the pieces, adjusting the overall height, fine-tuning each piece’s rotation, so that your mobile comes together as a balanced, moving sculpture.
Designed to be a fun and experimental session, you’ll take home your own completed mobile.
Tutors: Louise French and Martin Boyle
This workshop is facilitated by Flax Art Studios, is open to everyone, no prior experience is required, and all materials are provided.
Saturday 14/09/2024 evening Stargazing and Discussion with Aisling O’Beirn (Right to the Night)
Sunday 15/09/2024 10.15am Make a plaster wall hanging | Learn about plants along the Lagan (DRIFT x Forage Ireland x Flax Art Studios)
A collaboration with Flax Art Studios and Forage Ireland: Press wild flowers to create a wall hanging. Learn about the Lagan's plants.
Utilising the bounty of Summer around the DRIFT site, you will press wild flowers, grasses and foliage, gather into a clay slab mould then cast the imprint in plaster.
You will have the opportunity to learn about the process, make test pieces and take what you have learned to make your final wall hanging reliefs.
Tutor: Stephanie Tanney
The workshop starts with a session led by Forage Ireland's Dermot Hughes where participants can learn about the plants that grow along the river's edge before they choose the leaves and flowers for their plaster wall hanging.
The plaster wall hanging workshop is facilitated by Flax Art Studios, is open to everyone, no prior experience is required, and all materials are provided.
Sunday 15/09/2024 2pm Drift Listening Session and Extended Installation
DRIFT Collective's sound artist, Matilde Meireles, will take you on a sonic drift with the sounds of the river and its surroundings, from underwater life to atmospheric phenomena, electromagnetic interference and the many vibrating metal surfaces that fence the river. The sonic work will remain as an installation in the space until the end of the session.
Drifting and drawing: sketching materials will be available for guests during this Listening Session if they wish to draw while they listen to the work.
Sunday 15/09/2024 4pm Drift x Moving on Music: STEVE DAVIS & PAUL STAPLETON (PLAY THE SPACE)
Belfast-based drummer Stephen Davis mainly plays jazz and improvised music. He is the drummer in Anthony Braxton group ‘The New Standard’, and active in the UK and European improvised/creative music scenes. He has worked with Mark Ribot, Evan Parker, Ralph Alessi, Kris Davis, Alexander Hawkins, John Taylor, Rufus Reid, Paul Dunmall, Django Bates, Van Morrison, Matthew and many others.
Paul Stapleton is an improviser and sound artist originally from Southern California. He designs and performs with a variety of modular metallic sound sculptures, custom made electronics and found objects. Paul is currently Professor of Music at SARC in Belfast, where he teaches and supervises research in new musical instrument design, music performance, sound design and critical improvisation studies.
Location #2 Waterfront Hall
Sunday 22/09/2024 4pm Drift x Moving on Music: REBECCA MURPHY & RICHARD ALLEN (OUTSIDE, IN)
Northern Irish Soprano, Rebecca Murphy, hailed by Opera Journal for her ‘stunning delivery’, is making waves across the UK and Europe on both the concert and operatic platforms. She was a member of the Internationales Opernstudio at Oper Köln from 2020-22, and previously was a member of the Northern Ireland Opera Studio (2018-19). She is also a regular guest with the Ulster Orchestra and the Belfast Ensemble. Rebecca is the recipient of the Arts Council Northern Ireland Young Musicians Platform Award (2022).
Rebecca will be joined by award winning Belfast harpist, Richard Allen. His playing is often noted for its palette of shades and colours, and a depth of expression that is rarely heard on the instrument.
Sunday 22/09/2024 6pm Maggie McKeever Yoga X DRIFT
A u t u m n E q u i n o x W o r k s h o p
Join Maggie on DRIFT to mark Autumn Equinox, a rare time of year when day and night are of equal length. The wisdom of this season invites us to dance with polarities as we transition deeper into Autumn. This workshop invites us into relationship with the River Lagan connecting to the water element as we prepare to transition into the more Yin half of the year.
This workshop will offer practices connecting to the energy of Autumn Equinox;
Meditative river walk
Gentle movement & rest practices
Celtic Wisdom & ritual
Gathering in community
Creating an Autumn Equinox altar
Monday 23/09/2024 10.30am DRIFT x Forage Ireland
Learn about the plants that grow along the Lagan with Forage Ireland's Dermot Hughes.
What plants can we find on our walk around the DRIFT site? What plants are missing and why? Join Dermot Hughes on an informative plant identification walk along the Lagan.
Originally set up by Mary and Dermot Hughes from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Forage Ireland aimed to inspire and enable people to live better lives in tune with nature and the earth. We’d been around a bit, so we felt we’d got something to give and in turn tried to bestow some of our values on our children.
Tuesday 24/09/2024 11am-12noon Closed for private session
Tuesday 24/09/2024 7pm Drift x Ormeau Community Cinema - Floating Films: Creature from the Black Lagoon
When a team of experts venture into the Amazon forest to research fossils, they find themselves at Black Lagoon. Upon entering the water body, they capture the attention of an unknown beast.
Thursday 26/09/2024 12noon-3.30pm Closed for private session
Thursday 26/09/2024 6pm PS2 x DRIFT
In conversation: Paddy Bloomer and Dan Shipsides with Garrett Carr
Friday 27/09/2024 6pm DRIFT Listening Session (Closing Event)
DRIFT Collective's sound artist, Matilde Meireles, will take you on a sonic drift with the sounds of the river and its surroundings, from underwater life to atmospheric phenomena, electromagnetic interference and the many vibrating metal surfaces that fence the river.
This special event will kick off with a conversation about the river featuring the DRIFT team and invited guests with a unique perspective on the River Lagan
Getting Involved
Are you a river expert or enthusiast? Does the river Lagan play an important role in your life?
FOLLOW US on our social media platforms to keep up to date with DRIFT.
Although the pavilion is currently off the water, the DRIFT project has only just begun. Follow us for updates and please get in touch with feedback on your experience of DRIFT if you came to visit.
Drawing, Mapping, Recording the River
An important facet of the DRIFT project was the recording process. This takes multiple forms including sonic mapping and survey drawings of the project locations before and during their visit from DRIFT.
Giving careful attention to the multisensory qualities of the river was central to the DRIFT methodology: therefore, finding ways to record aspects of the river that are usually unseen was a key objective.