The Building Envelopes of Apartment

A building envelope is a three dimensional volume that defines the outermost part of a site that the building can occupy.

Building envelopes set the appropriate scale of future development in terms of bulk and height relative to the streetscape, public and private open spaces, and block and lot sizes in a particular location. Envelopes are appropriate when determining and controlling the desired urban form in town centres, brownfield sites, precinct plan sites and special sites such as those with heritage, significant views or extreme topography.

 Building envelopes define the 'container' within which a building is designed. They are a useful tool to gain an understanding of the future urban form and scale of an area. The gross floor area of the building is typically 25-30% less than that of the envelope 

A building envelope should be 25-30% greater than the achievable floor area (see section 2D Floor space ratio) to allow for building components that do not count as floor space but contribute to building design and articulation such as balconies, lifts, stairs and open circulation space.

Perspective of a proposed building design within the building envelope 

Building envelopes help to:

•  define the three-dimensional form of buildings and wider neighbourhoods

•  inform decisions about appropriate density for a site and its context

•  define open spaces and landscape areas

•  test the other primary controls to ensure they are coordinated and achieve the desired outcome

•  demonstrate the future mass, scale and location of new development.

Part 2 Developing The Controls

• Building Height
• Floor Space Ratio
• Building Depth
• Building Separation
• Street Setbacks
• Side And Rear Setbacks

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