SARC 321 Construction Assignment 3 (2026): Building Envelope, Project Management and Carbon Analysis

SARC 321 Assignment 3 continues the tall-building project from Assignments 1 and 2 and moves on to the building envelope. Architecture students document the envelope for their part of the building, while Building Science students either plan the construction of the whole building (Gantt chart, assumptions report and site logistics plan) or carry out a whole-building lifecycle carbon analysis with two lower-carbon variants.

1.0 Introduction and Task

As a team, take the tall building whose structure and core you designed in Assignments 1 and 2 and develop the envelope. Each student continues with the same area of the building (offices, apartments, or retail/hospitality). High-rise envelopes often combine several systems for different functions, so the team must take a coordinated approach so that the overall envelope has a unified, coherent design. The exercise demonstrates understanding of high-rise envelope elements and materials through drawing, project planning and carbon analysis.

1.2 Architecture students

Design and produce construction drawings of the envelope for your part of the building, coordinated with the floors above and below.

1.3 Building Science option 1: Project Management

Plan the construction of the whole building for your team and produce a professional and informative construction schedule, site logistics plan and assumptions report.

• Start from your Assignment 1 project plan and add core works, services installation, base-build interior works (not fit-out) and the building envelope.
• Identify the critical path clearly and make sure not all activities are on it.
• Plan for multiple activities happening at the same time with different work teams and/or locations.
• Present the Gantt chart in a readable format, for example a summary sheet followed by more detailed sheets for periods of the plan.

1.4 Building Science option 2: Sustainable Engineering Systems

• Undertake a lifecycle carbon analysis (LCA) of the whole building and give professional advice on its carbon footprint.
• Benchmark the baseline design against the BRANZ/Massey carbon budget for offices and the LETI targets for upfront and life-cycle embodied carbon.
• Propose and analyse two architectural variants (not building services) that reduce upfront embodied carbon (Module A), benchmark them, compare pros and cons and recommend a preferred variant.
• Use the MBIE whole-of-life embodied carbon methodology with a 60-year study period, and BRANZ LCAQuick.

1.5 Collaboration and coordination

Architectural drawings, project planning and building performance reports must all be coordinated and represent the same building design and construction.

2.0 Scope and Drawing Requirements

• The assignment covers the building envelope on the elevations only, not the roof.
• Drawings must show grids, levels, section lines, detail callouts, materials, fixings and finishes, with correct line weights and annotation.
• Plan the performance strategy: where the control layers (water, air, vapour, thermal) sit, which materials perform each function and how thermal bridging is avoided.
• Construction details at 1:5 (or 1:10 with tutor permission) for two envelope design areas, plus a construction-sequence sheet with at least four steps.

3.0 Tools

• Architecture: Revit or Archicad only, printed to PDF with no post-production.
• Project management: the same planning software as Assignment 1; any suitable software for the assumptions report and site logistics plan, combined into one document.
• Sustainable engineering systems: BRANZ LCAQuick (other tools by agreement).

4.0 Deliverables

Upload one PDF per student to Nuku (StudentIDNumber_Surname_Firstname_SARC321_Assign3.pdf). All team members use the same cover sheet.

Architecture students (office, apartment or retail/hospitality level)

• Cover sheet with student details, 3D visualisation of the whole building, drawing/document schedule with authors and a generative AI statement
• Full building elevation (1:100 or 1:200)
• Enlarged floor plan, cross-section and elevation of the envelope (1:10 or 1:20)
• Control layer cross-section colouring and annotating each control layer
• Details A and B at 1:5 (plan, section and 3D) with control layers and thermal bridging identified
• Construction sequence sheet and a 3D render of the envelope in context

Building Science option 1: Project Management (A3 project planning document)

• Cover sheet (as above)
• Project plan: a Gantt chart setting out the construction of all elements of the whole building, starting from the corrected Assignment 1 Gantt chart, with clearly labelled activities
• Assumptions report (two sheets maximum): key points and calculations on timescales, sequences, processes and materials, with graphs, diagrams and illustrations
• Site logistics plan (1:200 or 1:500): an annotated site plan linked to the project plan with a graphical key, showing at least critical safety measures, deliveries, materials storage, crane locations and site facilities