Hello zaphod, I didn't get the job for this company either [Blocked Image: https://migrationtest.mapcore.org/public/style_emoticons/default/mapcore_smilies/emot_shakehead.gif] I think the test was intentionally difficult by not providing a whole lot of details. In my opinion I think its a little unfair for them to weed out perfectly qualified artists by hoping someone will just get the thing exactly how they wish and meeting all of their expectations when they have provided very little information in the first place.
As for my test, I approached it differently by using face mapping. Though When I got to the AO map I was SOL because for one there are hundreds of little pieces in the environment and automatic unwrapping a 1024 AO map looks like sh**. Using one 1024 texture space for an entire building in the first place is ridiculous but again it was probably intended to make the test hard.
Secondly, using face mapping makes it nearly impossible to bake shadows permanently into your diffuse because when face mapping your UV's for different elements are all over the place or overlapping and who knows, you may NOT want that shadow in some places where you use that brick texture. But I heard the company uses face mapping extensively so 
I ended up not submitting an AO map at all because I'm not a believer in half assing something I don't get and its probably one of the reasons I failed the test. Oh well. Some of the links you posted up are very helpful though and I am still a little sketchy when it comes to AO maps. The process, how and when its used properly, whether to use a separate UV channel, typical texture res for a building because 1024 seems unreasonable and most environment work consists of individual props with separate UV maps placed into environments, not 1024 for the all the environment including props.
Good luck continuing your job search.