The Ulster Folk Museum hosted its Making Festival in August 2024, a celebration of traditional crafts and sustainable practices, bringing together makers, creators, and visitors for a hands-on exploration of heritage skills like woodworking, pottery, and textiles. This year’s festival emphasised both the preservation of traditional methods and the integration of sustainable techniques, fostering connections between past and present.

A highlight of the festival was the involvement of Queen’s University Architecture Students, who have contributed final project designs inspired by the museum’s unique setting. The students undertook a hypothetical design project, drawing from the Reawakening Project to align their work with the museum’s mission of revitalising its spaces. Two sites in the museum’s outdoor area were selected as focal points for their proposals. These design studies were based on detailed observational research and aimed to reflect traditional construction methods while embracing modern, sustainable practices.

The students' design proposals included multipurpose gathering spaces for community events, workshops, and exhibitions. Key elements of their work emphasise living, growing, and communal areas, creating spaces that are both functional and responsive to the needs of the museum and its visitors. These concepts offer a forward-looking vision that preserves the museum's cultural integrity while fostering community engagement.

View the students work