Piecewise-linear pseudodiagrams

There are 2^n possible resolutions of a smooth pseudodiagram with n precrossings. If we consider piecewise-linear (PL) pseudodiagrams and resolutions that themselves are PL, certain resolutions of the pseudodiagram may not exist in three-space. We investigate this situation and its impact on the weighted resolution set of PL pseudodiagrams as well as introduce a concept specific to PL pseudodiagrams, the forcing number. Our main result classifies the PL shadows whose weighted resolution sets differ from the weighted resolution set that would exist in the smooth case.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures; V2 fixes a minor typo in both statement of Cor. 2.8 and in its proo

Found in Translation: Mackintosh, Muthesius and Japan

This is the account of a lecture given to the Japan Society in London in January 2014

In the footsteps of Peter Ellis architect of Oriel Chambers and 16 Cook Street, Liverpool by Robert Ainsworth and Graham Jones Liverpool History Society, 2013, 228pp ISBN 9780955942839 £24pb

A review of a book of a nineteenth-century Liverpool architec

The Battersea Power Station: Use and Reuse

Built between 1929 and 1934 and further enlarged after World War II, the Battersea Power Station sits forlorn on the south bank of the River Thames in London..

Refining the real estate pricing model

Investment theory dictates that capitalisation (cap) rates for freehold real estate should be determined by the risk free nominal rate of return plus the risk premium (RP) less the expected growth rate, with an allowance for depreciation. However, importing the concept of the RP from the capital markets fails to guide investors through the complexities of the asset, or enable exploration of purchaser preferences and behaviour. A refined pricing model for real estate is proposed, based on a concept termed a risk scale, to distinguish between macro (market) and micro (stock) determinants of risk and growth within the RP. This pricing model is estimated for a major global investment market, using a cross-sectional inter-temporal framework, with a dataset of 497 transactions in the London office sector over 2010Q2-2012Q3. Average cap rates are estimated at just over 5%, with asset-specific attributes dominating yield determination, with submarket quality and tenant covenant most important; and unexpired term insignificant, surprising during the “flight to safety” characterising the period. International investors bought at lower cap rates, despite the ongoing economic and financial instability of the study period. Improving understanding of pricing behaviour and market transparency is important and may be advanced through the pricing model

Report on Chancellor’s Fund The Green-Blue-Grey Campus/Rain Garden Project

There can be a tendency in art-science projects for science discourses to instrumentalise arts practices, and for arts discourses to instrumentalise science practices, rather than for each to rigorously challenge and inform the other. The Chancellor’s Fund Green-Blue-Grey Campus/Rain Garden project was an attempt to get beyond this limiting instrumentalisation, and to explore new ways of working across the art-science interface in which dialogue can be generated and knowledge produced across diverse discourses, practices, communities and identities. It used innovative art, science and participatory research methodologies to explore, devise and test strategies for successfully integrating green-blue infrastructure in an urban design context, with specific reference to the sustainable design feature of the rain garden in the ongoing University of Glasgow campus redevelopment. This report introduces the Green-Blue-Grey Campus/Rain Garden project, summarises the aims and methods used, and the principle findings generated, before contextualising the work in the broader fields. It then takes a closer look at the art-science methods used, and shares some of the strategies developed. Finally the report outlines some key practical recommendations for the implementation of the rain garden, which emerged from the deployment of these innovative strategies and methods

The Green-Blue-Grey Campus/Rain Garden Project: Executive Summary

There can be a tendency in art-science projects for science discourses to instrumentalise arts practices, and for arts discourses to instrumentalise science practices, rather than for each to rigorously challenge and inform the other. The Chancellor’s Fund Green-Blue-Grey Campus/Rain Garden project was an attempt to get beyond this limiting instrumentalisation, and to explore new ways of working across the art-science interface in which dialogue can be generated and knowledge produced across diverse discourses, practices, communities and identities. It used innovative art, science and participatory research methodologies to explore, devise and test strategies for successfully integrating green-blue infrastructure in an urban design context, with specific reference to the sustainable design feature of the rain garden in the ongoing University of Glasgow campus redevelopment. This report introduces the Green-Blue-Grey Campus/Rain Garden project, summarises the aims and methods used, and the principle findings generated, before contextualising the work in the broader fields. It then takes a closer look at the art-science methods used, and shares some of the strategies developed. Finally the report outlines some key practical recommendations for the implementation of the rain garden, which emerged from the deployment of these innovative strategies and methods