Interchange Part 2 Project 2007 Tom Irwin Edinburgh College of Art | UK Western Harbour – the latest area of land to be reclaimed from the Firth of Forth and first to be used for residential purposes, a sign of the shift in Edinburgh’s increasing commercial status. Planned as a family haven, modelled in a Victorian style, this harbour community is in danger of becoming annexed before it’s even materialized. Through the means of Interchange, this gateway community can become a vibrant, diverse hub – linking the revived dockland with the rest of its coastal ancestors and plugging-in to the city network. This can be achieved using bold architectural statements in-line with existing bureaucratic strategies. The main objective of the interchange unit is to gain a better understanding of transport, technology and environment. Tom’s project has achieved this with great success. The urban patterns proposed by the masterplan and the transport connections with the city centre and across the Forth, were considered as key drivers of Tom’s proposal. The scheme splits a new transport interchange into two main buildings – a more permanent tram hub in the heart of the newly proposed masterplan, and an offshore hovercraft facility, connected to the network by a shuttle link, and influenced by the desire to sue recycled steel, particularly from derelict oil rigs.