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For more than four decades, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) has conducted a two-question, quarterly survey of architect forecasts of public and private sector construction expenditure. This qualitative survey is published one week after the end of each quarter and nine weeks ahead of the official quantitative data thereby giving architect opinion nowcasting status. This paper covers selected aspects of this unexplored series with particular reference to residential housing construction and the value-added information from architects as nowcasters. Specifically, we consider several qualitative-to-quantitative conversion methods, in-sample and out-of-sample performance, cyclical features and respondent dynamics. Although our work relates to architects - a sub-sector of the service industry - our results have a wider application to business survey questions using ordered qualitative responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the architectural restoration of the Radley Hall in Oxfordshire, England. The Radley Hall is a fine baroque country house made by John Stonehouse of Radley and William Townesend and Bartholomew Peisley of Oxford on June 28, 1721. The paper also focuses on the characteristic baroque plan of such architecture to find a late eighteenth-century plan. It is noted that the house has two plans in which the front door leads directly to the garden door designed to help bring the sunlight into the north-facing hall.

The article discusses the architectural history of Roman Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea or Golden House explored by Charles Cameron in 1768 in Italy. Cameron's folio volume "The Baths of the Romans," published in 1772 was one of the only four books produced which dealt with the remains of the Roman as opposed to Greek sites. It is asserted that what he understood to be the ruins of the Baths of Titus were those of the Baths of Trajan or the remains of the Golden House. However, confusion on the site history was removed by archeologist Rodolfo Lanciani in 1895. Yet, this paper argued that they have been delinquent in overlooking the evidence offered by Cameron's description of the Domus Aurea.

The article discusses the aspects of Roman Baroque architectural decoration. It examines a small and neglected area of architectural decoration such as the door and window. It tries to analyze the relation between architectural treatises and actual buildings and to determine the extent the middle ground between theory and practice can be filled in with a common law of architecture. This paper also attempts to indicate that Francesco Borromini's innovation depends on a harmful manipulation of it. Sketches or architectural first principles that produced every Roman Baroque architecture are also highlighted.

The article examines the architectural history of the Blickling Hall, a Jacobean building, in Norfolk, England. It discusses various extensive building accounts from the Lothian papers in the Norfolk Record Office and surviving documents concerning the mansion's construction and personnel involve, such as the full summary drawn up by Richard Burton, the steward of Sir Henry Hobart, the first Baronet of the Blickling Hall. The architectural drawings of the house provided by the master craftsmen Robert Lying, which shows the design for a banqueting house in the east garden, and other documents which includes the total expenditures and service contracts are presented

The article focuses on the remodeling of the eighteenth-century Hopetoun House in West Lothian, Scotland. It was inferred that the reconstruction of the house was carried out by various architects including Tobis Bachope on December 28, 1698, William Bruce between 1699 and 1702 and William Adam between 1721 and 1746. It shows that detailed information on the house's architectural design was recovered through building papers and the design of the building published in "Vitruvius Britannicus" and "Vitruvius Scoticus." In addition, the contibutions of the architects in the reconstruction of the house were also discussed.

An essay is presented which discusses regionalism in modern architecture in Spain during the 20th century. An overview of the Spanish architect Miguel Fisac, including his perspective on architecture in Spain, his critique of Historicism and Functionalism and his design for the Chapel of the Holy Spirit in Madrid, Spain, is provided.

The article discusses the architectural authorship of the mid 18th century design of Holkham Hall in Norfolk, England, with a particular focus on the architect William Kent. The role that the architects the Earl of Burlington and Thomas Coke (who is also referred to as Baron Lovell, Earl of Leicester and Lord Leicester) played in designing the Holkham Hall is discussed. An overview of the architectural researcher Leopold Schmidt's perspective on the Holkham Hall's authorship is provided.

The author presents an analysis of "Louvre G372," by Penelope Painter in Akropolis. He stresses that Side B signifies the presentation of Athena's sacred olive tree in 479 BC following the burning of the temple of Athena Polias and Pandroseion by the Persians. These two figures that show the architects' tools suggest the participation of the architects in the reconstruction and redevelopment of Athena Polias and Pandroseion. On the other hand, Side A connotes the superhuman assistance provided, or to be provided, by Athena and Gugas to the architects. An overview of Painter's work is described.