Architectural research and its enemies

Like the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) that preceded it, the UK government's proposed Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a means of allocating funding in higher education to support research. As with any method for the competitive allocation of funds it creates winners and losers and inevitably generates a lot of emotion among those rewarded or penalised. More specifically, the 'winners' tend to approve of the method of allocation and the 'losers' denigrate it as biased against their activities and generally unfair. An extraordinary press campaign has been consistently waged against research assessment and its methods by those involved in architectural education, which I will track over a decade and a half. What follows will question whether this campaign demonstrates the sophistication and superior judgment of those who have gone into print, or conversely whether its mixture of misinformation and disinformation reveals not just disenchantment and prejudice, but a naivety and a depth of ignorance about the fundamentals of research that is deeply damaging to the credibility of architecture as a research-based discipline. With the recent consultation process towards a new cycle of research assessment, the REF, getting under way, I aim to draw attention to the risk of repeating past mistakes. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010.

Detecting air pockets for architectural concrete quality assessment using visual sensing

Air pockets, one kind of concrete surface defects, are often created on formed concrete surfaces during concrete construction. Their existence undermines the desired appearance and visual uniformity of architectural concrete. Therefore, measuring the impact of air pockets on the concrete surface in the form of air pockets is vital in assessing the quality of architectural concrete. Traditionally, such measurements are mainly based on in-situ manual inspections, the results of which are subjective and heavily dependent on the inspectors’ own criteria and experience. Often, inspectors may make different assessments even when inspecting the same concrete surface. In addition, the need for experienced inspectors costs owners or general contractors more in inspection fees. To alleviate these problems, this paper presents a methodology that can measure air pockets quantitatively and automatically. In order to achieve this goal, a high contrast, scaled image of a concrete surface is acquired from a fixed distance range and then a spot filter is used to accurately detect air pockets with the help of an image pyramid. The properties of air pockets (the number, the size, and the occupation area of air pockets) are subsequently calculated. These properties are used to quantify the impact of air pockets on the architectural concrete surface. The methodology is implemented in a C++ based prototype and tested on a database of concrete surface images. Comparisons with manual tests validated its measuring accuracy. As a result, the methodology presented in this paper can increase the reliability of concrete surface quality assessment

Is UK Planning a Barrier to Energy Efficient Heritage Retrofit: A Comparative Analysis of a Selection of London Boroughs

This paper is part of a larger PhD research project examining the apparent conflict in UK planning between energy efficiency and conservation for the retrofit of the thermal envelope of the existing building stock. Review of the literature shows that the UK will not meet its 2050 emission reduction target without substantial improvement to the energy performance of the thermal envelope of the existing building stock and that significantly, 40% of the existing stock has heritage status and may be exempted from Building Regulations. A review of UK policy and legislation shows that there are clear national priorities towards reducing emissions and addressing climate change, yet also shows a movement towards local decision making and control. This paper compares the current status of thirteen London Boroughs in respect to their position on thermal envelope retrofit for heritage and traditionally constructed buildings. Data collection is through ongoing surveys and interviews that compare statistical data, planning policies, sustainability and environmental priorities, and Officer decision-making. This paper finds that there is a lack of consistency in application of planning policy across Boroughs and suggests that this is a barrier to the up-take of energy efficient retrofit. Various recommendations are suggested at both national and local level which could help UK planning and planning officers deliver more energy efficient heritage retrofits.