AT4.2 Urban Building Integration Architectural Technology Assignment: Structure, Envelope, Fire and Embodied Carbon | Glasgow School of Art

AT4.2 Urban Building: Integration – Architectural Technology Assignment Brief (Stage 4)

AT4.2 asks Stage 4 architecture students to integrate architectural technology into their Semester 2 Urban Building project, showing how structure, envelope, environment, fire strategy and embodied carbon grow from the same concept as the design.

Assignment Overview

Question, test, analyse, synthesise and evaluate knowledge from your studio work in depth, making informed decisions on material, tectonics, structure, climate, light, air, heat and natural resources. Architectural Technology is an integral part of the design process, not a separate exercise. You must cover orientation, heating, lighting and ventilation; material use, construction and detailing; structure; fire and life safety; energy and resource management; and embodied carbon. Prototyping and a physical model of one junction or assembly are strongly encouraged. The final drawing is a single detailed section through the main space(s), including the largest spans and most demanding servicing, with construction details for floors, walls, structure, roofs and services, showing how a comfortable internal climate is achieved all year.

Embodied Carbon

Workshops in Semester 2 (Weeks 3 and 4) support the integration. In groups, you discuss the embodied carbon of your structure and of your envelope with specialists. Calculate embodied carbon for modules A1–A3 (cradle to gate) of A) your structure and B) your envelope, in kgCO2e per m² of floor area, and keep recalculating it as a design tool. The summative submission must explain how you lowered these figures.

Submission Requirements (12 × A3)

• Statement of the key ideas and architectural position of the Urban Building project.
• AT ideas arising from this, how they were pursued and conclusions reached.
• Full set of annotated plans and sections of the completed project.
• Diagrams of orientation and massing on site and what informed them.
• Structural strategy with justification, testing and research (primary, secondary and tertiary elements).
• Material strategy for façades and its relation to context (cladding, windows, roofs, thresholds).
• Façade performance: insulation, ventilation, waterproofing.
• Main fire issues and strategies for escape, containment and compartmentation.
• Internal materiality: expression of frame, linings and so on.
• Embodied carbon calculations, reflection and integration into the design.
• A single detailed section of a key part of the building (suggested 1:20) with clear hatches, lineweights and annotation.
• Physical prototype and final models at 1:10 or 1:20.

Upload a concise, edited multi-page PDF to the Stage 4 Assignments section on Canvas; references are required for all text and images from other sources, and late work is penalised under the Code of Assessment.

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