The thesis explores the role of play in education and children’s agency over their space in the city. Challenging the traditional primary school typology the proposal extends into the community and binds fragmented urban blocks, creating a landscape of play and a series of public amenities. It aims to integrate into the neighbourhood, bring life back to the streets and create safe public spaces for people of all ages.

The architecture and landscape respond to the human scale of the city, varying in height while playfully emanating across the grid that reinforces the axis of Rue D’Aubagne. The design allows for playfulness, imagination and a certain level of risk, embodying the ideas of a new education system.

The project challenges the typology of the traditional classroom: questioning typical educational environments. Instead, the thesis proposes a series of learning towers and pavilions encouraging movement through the site throughout the day. Raising the buildings off the ground extends the playscape while offering a buffer that maintains the privacy and safety of the children. While acknowledging the importance of these aspects, the thesis is a provocation for a new educational model and aims to act in a radical manner towards a new way of learning.

Buildings and landscape are designed with consideration of the Mediterranean climate and respond architecturally to climactic changes. The architecture alters to seasonal changes and human comfort with the façade fins and use of thermal mass aiming to minimise energy use. The proposal is colourful and contrasts with the existing context while retaining the warm tones of Marseille’s vernacular. Also in consideration is material importance, waste bricks utilise the remnant materials of demolished buildings, retaining the material quality of the neighbourhood and reducing their environmental impact.