Socio-spatial analysis of four university campuses: the implications of spatial configuration on creation and transmission of knowledge

An exploratory study of space use, interaction and students? and academics? subjectiveperceptions of interaction and vitality in the four campus sites of the PontificiaUniversidad Católica de Chile (PUC), in Santiago de Chile is presented. The fourcampuses, which differ substantially in their architecture, size and the programmaticnature of the disciplines they house, were modelled as spatial configurations usingspace syntax methods. Observations of patterns of space use and movement werecarried out and a questionnaire survey of staff and students was used to elicit perceptualand reported communication network strengths for both academic staff andstudents. One might expect that, given the twin roles of a university institution in thegeneration of new knowledge and induction of alumni into a ?professional? socialsolidarity, the roles of global and local integration would tend to compete. Globalsegregation in combination with local integration can construct the conditions forstudents to appropriate the open space and generate a powerful local identity at thelevel of the academic unit. However, global integration appears to play an importantrole in making those local solidarities accessible to one another and therefore in thegeneration of new knowledge and solidarities. The data at hand, though exploratoryin nature, suggest that the dynamic is more complex: local identity of the disciplineappears to be a necessary component in the construction of interdisciplinary ?weak?networks at the scale of the institution as a whole

From isovists to visibility graphs: a methodology for the analysis of architectural space

An isovist, or viewshed, is the area in a spatial environment directly visible from a location within the space. Here we show how a set of isovists can be used to generate a graph of mutual visibility between locations. We demonstrate that this graph can also be constructed without reference to isovists and that we are in fact invoking the more general concept of a visibility graph. Using the visibility graph, we can extend both isovist and current graph-based analyses of architectural space to form a new methodology for the investigation of configurational relationships. The measurement of local and global characteristics of the graph, for each vertex or for the system as a whole, is of interest from an architectural perspective, allowing us to describe a configuration with reference to accessibility and visibility, to compare from location to location within a system, and to compare systems with different geometries. Finally we show that visibility graph properties may be closely related to manifestations of spatial perception, such as way-finding, movement, and space use

Development of a surface isolation estimation technique suitable for application of polar orbiting satellite data

A technique is developed for the estimation of total daily insolation on the basis of data derivable from operational polar-orbiting satellites. Although surface insolation and meteorological observations are used in the development, the algorithm is constrained in application by the infrequent daytime polar-orbiter coverage

A dependency network description of building information models

The pervasive deployment of “smart building” projects world-wide is driving innovation on many fronts including; technology, telematics, engineering and entrepreneurship. This paper focuses on the technical and engineering perspectives of BIM, by extending building morphology studies as to respond to the challenges posed by Big Data, and smart infrastructure. The proposed framework incorporates theoretical and modelling descriptions to verify how network-based models can act as the backbone skeletal representation of building complexity, and yet relate to environmental performance and smart infrastructure. The paper provides some empirical basis to support data information models through building dependency networks as to represent the relationships between different existing and smart infrastructure components. These dependency networks are thought to inform decisions on how to represent building data sets in response to different social and environmental performance requirements, feeding that into void and solid descriptions of data maturity models. It is concluded that network-based models are fundamental to comprehend and represent the complexity of buildings and inform architectural design and public policy practices, in the design and operation phases of infrastructure projects

Smilin\u27 Through / words by Arthur A. Penn

Cover: photo of a woman in a fancy-dress Ball, Norma Talmadge; Publisher: M. Witmark and Sons (New York)https://egrove.olemiss.edu/sharris_c/1172/thumbnail.jp