This proposal had its genesis at a weekend urban design workshop in Edinburgh. Hibernian Football Club was threatening to pull out of its inner city site and move to the suburbs. Objectively this may seem a completely sensible option. Our contention was that removal to the green belt would be catastrophic for the environment, disenfranchise the existing community and leave a terrible scar on the landscape - already laid desolate from the removal of railway infrastructure in the 60's. The principal issues for us were: a new stadium to be located located within the environs of the site; better integration of a disparate series of green spaces to the City; what to do with the brownfield areas; a suitable mix to knit the community together.

Our proposal had a new stadium as the hub located adjoining the former railway junction (butterfly). We felt that in the UK, football is part of the messy vitality of life and should be located in the inner city. The stadium would have commercial units underneath the stands distillating to terraced housing with communal gardens on the approach. A shopping mall -above the former butterfly interchange-straddles the remaining line with a new station below to integrate to the national network via Waverley Station. To the north a new 'brown park' integrates commercial units into a parkland setting with the rediscovery of Lochend Park & Loch and a dynamic relationship with the existing cemetery which is allowed to flow into the park rather than being a forgotten urban necessity. The buildings are positioned at key points in the 'brown park' landscape rather than in the typical estate format.