Perpendicular Neighbours Part 1 Project 2023 Alice O'Brien University of Nottingham Nottingham | UK Perpendicular Neighbours explores the pioneering attributes of lightweight, industrial and renewable materials and their potential to re-energize the way we build. It investigates the opportunities they create, when combined with sufficient construction and environmental education, to design autonomous, zero-waste neighbourhoods in the city centre, where residents become the architects.With a socially progressive and technologically advanced generation, a wider variety of living and working structures has emerged, forcing us to seek a tangible solution to the increased vulnerability of our lifestyles and surroundings. Located on the Southbank of Leeds, this project tackles the unpredictable nature of young adults' lives, empowering them, through material understanding, to shape the spaces they live in.On the hierarchy of human needs, shelter is equivalent to food and water, but the skills we require to shelter ourselves are not nearly as accessible as those of the latter. By prioritizing innovative simplicity in its tectonic details and exploiting the adaptable and demountable nature of modular design, the scheme becomes responsive, yet realistic, and repeatable, pursuing a homeostasis between dwelling, working, and creative play.Engaging the residents in the design, construction, and maintenance process ensures that where material durability fails, emotional durability persists, and sustainable responsibility prospers. Tutor(s) Farida Makki