More than two centuries ago, the east and west of Scotland were linked by the Forth and Clyde Canal. Later, the Union Canal was built to give a connection to Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital. The two canals met near here, but with a 35m height difference in water levels, a flight of locks was required to connect them. The canals fell into disuse a generation ago. Renewed as one of the British government’s “Millennium Projects”, the link between the canals is now being restored with the Falkirk Wheel replacing a dismantled staircase of 11 locks.

RMJM Architects’ solution to the physical connection, developed from first principles, is the first rotating boat lift ever built and the first boat lift to be built in Britain since the Anderson boat lift in 1895. The Falkirk Wheel is a £74 million investment to link the west and east coasts of Scotland with an inland waterway. It connects the Grand Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal, negotiating a difference in height of 25 meters between the two. It is a functional sculpture which both symbolizes and celebrates the renaissance of the two canals, and what yet may follow.

(more…)