This essay critiques the High Speed Two (HS2) project at Old Oak Common as a modern Leviathan that disrupts local life. It proposes a speculative pneumatic intervention—an air-supported dome—that acts as a Trojan Horse to reclaim the construction site as a protected community space during the transition.


This essay investigates the ethical conflict between national infrastructure and local communities, focusing on the High Speed Two (HS2) development at Old Oak Common. Framing the state-led project as a modern Leviathan, it argues that while HS2 promises national connectivity, it currently plunges local residents into a chaotic ‘state of nature’ defined by physical severance and displacement. The text employs Michel de Certeau’s concept of ‘strategy’ versus ‘tactics’ to critique how top-down planning erases local agency.

Moving beyond critique, the essay proposes a subversive role for the architect as a community steward. The core speculative intervention is a massive, air-supported pneumatic membrane installed over the foundation pit. Conceived as an architectural Trojan Horse, this structure explicitly serves the client’s regulatory needs for dust and noise control while implicitly functioning as a community asset. It reimagines the site hoarding as a projection interface for open-air cinema and uses viewing portals to transform the hidden threat of construction into an observable process.

Visually, the essay juxtaposes historical engravings, such as the frontispiece of Leviathan, with contemporary accessibility mapping and atmospheric renders. The graphic narrative contrasts the rigid lines of the masterplan with the soft, protective aesthetic of the proposed white air-dome, illustrating how tactical interventions can stitch together a fractured urban fabric and preserve the community’s right to the city.