A school project was proposed for Marseille to grow out from the destroyed hill of the Saint Charles district. It was to act as a catalyst for the eventual bridging of the railway lines, an act of reconfiguring the landscape as habitable space rather than uniquely infrastructure space. ['Propolis' - the resinous substance honeybees use to seal and repair cracks in their hives - was the intellectual device propelling the project to aid the city in redefining local character in an ambitious, but relevant and sustainable fashion.]

The model proposes the structural links across the railway lines to link with historic road connections, relieving an insufficient underground road tunnel and providing tissue to encourgage an integration of previously splintered and unequal city quarters.

Propolis at the building level exists theoretically as the value given to the connective realm between education rooms and the social meeting and exterior teaching areas. These circulatory routes encourage mixing of different years and provide sheltered play areas with lots of natural light.

A propositional map with the station areas in relation to the Vieux Port of Marseille. Situated on the limits of the historic city walls, the station area provided a link to the rest of France and Europe. The flow of people from the station directed towards the sea resulted in a negation of the local area behind the station. Additionally, Marseille is a city which suffers from large urban sprawl. The thesis project attempted to refocus value on the local area and reduce the fragmentation and dillution of the city centre.

The collège (french middle-school level) is built from the edge of the hill overlooking the railway lines. The classrooms are protected from the effects of the lines by a structural second skin. This encloses this interior circulation and play space between rooms and the hill. Light is allowed to fall through multiple floors to reach the lowest floor. Strong south mediterranean sun is also controlled this way (south would be to the left of the image).

A sheltered and top lit entrance hall provides an orientating space from which the top and bottom floors can be seen. This area connects the whole school and acts as the circulating, play and congregational space.

Stairwell built into the rock of the hill edge and circulation acts as the buffer space between the classrooms and the hill on one side, and also the classrooms and the railway on the other.

An outline model which places bridges, a school, a new public square, renovated trainsheds in the context of the railway lines and the surrounding landscape.

Looking along the top lit space between the cliff edge on the right, and the classrooms on the left. Concrete fins divide the classrooms into subject blocks and provide both the structural support for the suspended school floors as well as the vertical ciculation.

A bird's eye view of the expanse of railway lines with the Gare Saint Charles to the bottom left.

Mapping details of the railway areas which differentiated between circulation spaces, roads, inaccessible areas and public access areas.

An attempt to realise how natural light could be brought into the depth of the building against the north face of a cliff. The double skin would also allow ventialtion while preventing excessive sound pollution from the trains.

The middle school design in relation to the upper school on the top of the hill. Grass roofs were aligned to extend the top of the hill into what was historically solid ground before it was removed by the railway. Only a single railway line would be removed to provide for the school, and the remaining lines and the northern city rooftops could be viewed from gallery windows on the ground floor.

Showing central stair tower and facade designed to reduce noise pollution from railway and maximise light in classrooms.

The radical proposition to support the school from the hill and minimise ground structure was taken to minimise the risk from railway vibration and noise. The proposition here is to utilise a truss supported by the hill at one end and a hanging truss at the other. While heavy on the engineering, precedents taken were both the Forth Rail Bridge and the recent Foggo Associates Cannon Street Station Air Rights project.

The school's library is situated furthest away from the railway lines around the hill and with the most northerly aspect to provide the most suitable lighting and noise conditions.

A essay and research project looking at Marseille during the time of the Vichy government. The Vichy collaboration with the Nazi's plotted a large scale demolition of the oldest quarter of the town and subjected Marseille to lose its historical independence and self governance. Similiarly, there are current regenerative schemes in Marseille which continue such politics of hierarchical treatment. Socially accepted boundaries and lifestyles are violated in order to promote cleanliness and progression by the ruling powers.

A single remaining townhouse in the Panier (meaning 'breadbasket' in french) district in Marseille following the French and Nazi destruction of the area during World War II to clear the area of undesirable people and the tight filthy streets. It typifies the treatment of the city's urban grain by several acts of authoritarian design and reorder.

Overlaid street names through history amongst the public squares and places of pause (in circles) between the flow of the streets, the map draws out the evolution of the city fabric as it grew following the breach of the city walls (shown as the zigzagging black line).

The railway stations and their accessibility drawings are plotted against the city grain and connected to both the underground metro and the dispersed public buildings with their corresponding public spaces (in light and dark blues).

The different wood grains refer to areas of the city grain which correspond to either infrastructure, post war, open space, suburb, medieval, industrial, post-industrial or classical city morphology. At a glance, the central historic city is represented by lighter coloured wood texture, while the city sprawl of industrial and suburbian zones is the darker coloured wood texture.

The city morphologies were constructed as a physical model with a focus on the area between the old port and the railway lines.

A comparative study of Kenzo Tange's proposal for Tokyo Bay (1960) overlaid to scale in the gap of the railway lines of the Gare Saint Charles.

A comparative study of Le Corbusier's Plan Voisin (1925) for Paris overlaid to scale in the gap of the railway lines of the Gare Saint Charles.

Simple first linkages across the railway site with the new school shown in relation to the hill and its upper school.

Station area and lines shown in relation to its environs and the proximity to the Vieux Port of Marseille.

Gestural plan for organising a large empty site in medium dense urban area of Marseille.

Historical transformation of the Gare Saint Charles. The reduction of the hill and widening of lines into the natural topography also noticeable.

The interior of de la Sota's famous gym in Madrid. The solution to light, structure, form and ventilation is a lesson in beautiful rationality. The design can be explained with only a sectional drawing, a major moment of which is the handling of this structural node. Classrooms above are pushed back from the edge to provide a glazed portion which lights the gym floor below. The inverted trusses provide theatre style classrooms and economise the space either side of the gym for seating and windows.

Street elevation render. The building fronts onto a busy highway in Madrid and so the lower portion is a flat face to shut out noise, while a minimal brick detail suggests the drop in level.

Construction of truss and gazing axonometric.

Interior of Gym. Part of a light study sequence on roof truss and floor.

Includes exhibition area, cafe, education room, changing rooms and parking. Existing turning circle for current mountain bus incorporated.

Situated at the top of a ridge in the famous Calanques but hidden from either side, the visitor centre and mountain hiking centre provides facilities for the tourists and Marseillais who venture into the hills. The structure curves to respond to the direction of the light, the prevailing wind and the view back towards the city, and provides a protective public space for walkers caught on the mountains.

Staircase invented to allow movement and isloation on a single floor for privacy. Staircase uses vertical runners and pivot to slide individual treads to correct height. Manual operation of staircase would occur by Albert Camus on each level.

Working model of moving staircase. Each tread slides up through vertical guides. The mechanical stringer would provide momentum.

In relation to the district's average income, Red areas have less than 50% of the average income whilst dark blue areas have more than 150% of the average. The circle shows where the thesis area planned to heal this divide.

Unemployment levels in Marseille for 16-54 year olds. The lightest yellow represents less than 5% unemployment, whilst the dark orange areas represent more than 25% unemployment. The circle shows the area focussed on in the thesis to try and bridge between the north and south divide in the city.

The disused railway sidings and train shed were proposed to be transformed into new housing and a public square. The width of each new flat, apartment or house was configured to fit with the existing concrete structure.

The disused railway sidings and train shed were proposed to be transformed into new housing and a public square. The width of each new flat, apartment or house was configured to fit with the existing concrete structure.

The disused railway sidings and train shed were proposed to be transformed into new housing and a public square. The width of each new flat, apartment or house was configured to fit with the existing concrete structure.

A TV was deconstructed and mounted in a wooden frame on a beam and projected images and videos of my projects in the studio space.