As part of my design studio project at the ENSAM in France we were asked to design a single family home on a site in the countryside adjacent to an 18th century aquaduct. The shell of a partially constructed house sat on the site which for the purposes of the design task was to be ignored.

The brief asked for a home for an artist couple and their family, which included a separate workshop amd guest accommodation, with an emphasis placed on prefabricated components.

The scale and massiveness of the partially completed house seemed entirely inappropriate next to the aquaduct. My approach was to intervene as little as possible with the topography of the site with a series of concrete platforms which were enclosed in lightweight polycarbonate walled boxes with metal deck roofs which in turn enclosed a series of courtyard gardens.