The World's Largest Titanic Visitor Attraction The total floor area of the main exhibition and suites is 11,000 sq.m (118,403 sq.ft) which excludes the underground car park of 500 spaces. The entire building is 14,000 sq.m (150,700 sq.ft). The external façade is clad in several thousand three-dimensional aluminium plates, creating an awe-inspiring visual appearance, which is further enhanced by reflective pools of water surrounding the base of the structure. The facades lean out at angles of up to 25 degrees, with complicated geometries that rely heavily on advanced computer aided analysis. The façade has been designed to have a crystalline or shard like appearance which has been created from three thousand different shaped panels each folded from silver anodized aluminium sheets into complicated asymmetrical geometries. Of the three thousand panels, two thousand are completely unique in form while none of the ‘typical’ panels repeat more than twenty times – creating a startlingly random effect, which always manages to catch the light, a bit like a cut diamond. From the central atrium, a series of glass escalators, each in excess of 20 metres long, stretch up through a jagged central void. At first floor height a wide bridge gives access to the start of the Titanic story. The proximity of the Titanic and Olympic Slipways, the Harland and Wolff drawing offices and Hamilton Graving Dock, where the SS Nomadic is now berthed, have all been central considerations during the design, planning and construction of the project. These heritage elements are more than just scheduled monuments and listed buildings – they represent a cornerstone of Belfast’s folk memory and identity.