Urban Living: a new communal experience of place Part 1 Project 2013 Lavinia Tarantino University of Portsmouth | UK A Masterplan in Brighton: a new communal experience of place The Masterplan presented derives from a reflection on the urban needs of a neglected area of Brighton. It strives to reintegrate this area into its surroundings and to create a new community within the city. The design features a series of residential blocks that define a new enclosed public space and a twisting tower that works as a new landmark for the city. At the base of the tower, opening onto the main public square, a center for the research on vertical farming is proposed as a public building that can gather the new community together and attract people back into this area of the city. The twisting tower becomes and experimental vertical farm: residents will be working together in specific communal areas and explore the possibility of skyscraper cultivations. Vertical farming not only provides a more sustainable way of living but it also becomes a ‘social tool’. Tenants of the four residential blocks also share terraces on which communal gardening is achievable. The outdoor spaces reflect the existing change of level of the site and playfully link the area to the adjacent Brighton railway station. Ease of access, sustainability, livability and ethical design characterize a project that carefully responds to the needs of its context as much as envisioning a new communal experience of place. Lavinia Tarantino Tutor(s) Nicholas Hebden