River Bend Repair / Vaughan Howard Architects with InPlaceSave this picture!© Sean Fennessy•Australia Architects: InPlace, Vaughan Howard Architects Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2023 Photographs Photographs:Sean Fennessy, Derek SwalwellMore SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. I'd first like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri woi wurrung people of the Kulin Nations. Traditional custodians of Garambi Bannj, and pay my respects to their continued caring for country, which has particular resonance for this project. Riverbend house (previously Cuming House) is located in Eltham, where the wide floodplains of the Yarra Valley narrow into the steep-sided and tree-lined Warrandyte Gorge. Specifically, it is located on Laughing Waters Road, which, through deep time, has been a place of great social, cultural, and environmental significance. The last remaining Wurundjeri stone eel trap on the Birrarung sits on a bend in the river below Riverbend House, and Wurundjeri reasserted their cultural practices a number of years ago through the re-scarring of trees.Save this picture!Artists, writers and architects have layered the area with significance, and developed a unique approach to living with nature, most evident through the work of the River Bend house architect Alistair Knox, and Landscape architect Gordon Ford. By 2015 Riverbend House was subject to demolition by neglect by the local Council, left to decay and eventually be demolished as they couldn't see an ongoing use for it. InPlace is not-for-profit arts organization that seeks to preserve built heritage and place artists in significant sites to allow for the production of new work, and facilitate workshops connecting people to lost cultural practices. They instigated a process to save the house, and have subsequently partnered with Parks Victoria and Wurundjeri Corporation to establish the Garambi Baan Cultural Precinct.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Repair – When I partnered with InPlace and began the renovations of River Bend, we framed the project around the idea of repair and how the repair of a significant piece of built heritage could extend to cultural repair and also to the repair of landscape and ecology.Save this picture!Riverbend – The house itself is perched on an escarpment above the Birrarung, a gentle bend in the plan opens views both upstream and downstream. The design of the house is heavy masonry pillars with infill timber window-walls, through which landscape views flow.Save this picture!The main intervention was the removal of a wall between the dining room and the kitchen, amplifying the connection between interior and landscape by opening up clear views through to the river and valley on entering the house. The other main decision was to replan the kitchen and the ensuite, removing a large walk-in pantry in favor of creating an accessible shower. This plan shows how the materials flow between interior spaces and from inside to outside, as well as the re-planned kitchen and bathroom. There was a particular focus on materials, to use their experiential qualities to amplify the landscape rather than be referential to the original era of the house.Save this picture!The kitchen tiles are handmade by Anchor Ceramics, connecting to a long lineage of ceramics in the Eltham area. The gray-green tiles, with their irregular, slightly matte surface, reflect the dusty gray-green leaves of the Eucalyptus Meliadora beyond. A thin stainless-steel shelf is both functional and a place to house a collection. The benchtop, in cold-rolled, unpolished stainless steel, takes on the glossy quality of the river beyond, gently gathering the landscape in its milky reflections.Save this picture!Rather than devote the whole bench to stainless steel, the corner with the best view out to the Birrarung was given over to a timber writer's desk, a subtly lower level than the rest of the bench. Materials for fittings and fixtures were selected for their textures, with leather cupboard pulls to patina with age and kitchen utensils chosen for their beauty as well as functionality. All the existing materials in the house were addressed. The Welsh slate floors were painstakingly stripped back and resealed with natural linseed oil. The window-frames were re-sanded and oiled, and the walls scrubbed.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The pendant and dining table were sourced from local designer and Eltham resident Kate Stokes. Like the kitchen tiles, this was in the spirit of the original era of the house, when homes across Melbourne were fitted out with locally produced furniture. The low pendant creates an intimate space around the table in the large room. The table itself, at 2.4m long, is big enough for a large convivial gathering. The vase is by the Japanese Australian ceramicist Yoko Ozawa, who was inspired by early morning light on the white mana gum trunks and the mist of the river during her residency. The heart of the house is the Living Room, with an almost medieval-sized open fireplace. We added an elemental blocky but cosy sofa and Featherston chaise, contributing a layer of generosity and warmth to the space while keeping it intrinsically connected to the landscape beyond.Save this picture!The decoratively laid terrace bricks were documented, removed, cleaned, and re-laid on a new base by original Knox builders. The terrace overlooks the river and the eel-trap and feels like an incredibly special place, particularly now that it has been restored. All extraneous items were removed from the house, including old fences and carports, stripping it back to its essence. A new zincalum roof in the same finish and profile replaced the rusted-out roof, and the partially destroyed fascia was repaired, while new hardwood plywood replaced the old asbestos soffits, and all the Oregon beams and fascias were sanded and oiled.Save this picture!Where functionality required new additions, they were carefully designed to be sensitive to the Heritage of the dwelling. The water treatment system services cabinet was designed as three panels, referencing the proportions of the brick pillars. Weathering steel was used, a contrasting material to the brick and timber of the house, but one that settles into the environment as it weathers.Save this picture!Back inside, the bedroom is both a cosy retreat, but also connected to the river. A velvet Featherstone chair provides a warm vantage point to experience the landscape beyond. The new sisal carpet also tonally connect to gravel and brick, and the shaley clay soil of the area. A built-in wardrobe was removed from the room, revealing the original hardwood plywood and restoring the room to its originally intended proportions. We designed all the beds for the house with discrete steel frames and salvaged Oregon headboards.Save this picture!Save this picture!The sliding door to the bathroom was replaced, with a little bit of glamor, with brass trim and brass door-pull, and clad both slides in blue grass paper, a material settled on after pretty much every other material was considered and ruled out. The bathroom was intended to feel like an unfussy bathhouse. The terracotta floors connect to the brick paving, and clear, glossy Japanese tiles pick up the whites of the manna gum trunks. By removing the pantry, the shower was made deep enough not to need a shower screen, allowing the simplicity of the materials to speak without interruption.Save this picture!Since the project has been completed, 24 artists have been residents in the Garambi Baan program. This is a snapshot of both past and upcoming commissions that InPlace has programmed for 2023-2024. Many of the residents have been first nations or diaspora communities, and programs have been run that seek to repair connections to craft practices that hold deep cultural significance. InPlace is currently partnering with DEECA and Wurundjeri to fence and manage the regeneration of the whole precinct and reintroduce practices, including cultural burning and other culturally sensitive land management techniques. The landscape has already been indigenized with planting.Save this picture!The original idea for Riverbend was repair. The overwhelming feedback from residents has been that Riverbend and Laughing Waters feels like a healing place, which became the theme for the last year of programming. The notion of healing extends across the project, from healing country, to healing broken connections with culture, knowledge and land. And the repair of a piece of architecture has in a small way contributed to providing safe space where healing journeys can begin. Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less About this officeInPlaceOffice••• Published on April 08, 2025Cite: "River Bend Repair / Vaughan Howard Architects with InPlace" 08 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028593/river-bend-repair-vaughan-howard-architects-with-inplace&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Macworld This is a complete travel iPad setup, featuring 32GB of storage, Beats wireless headphones, and all the essential accessories to keep you productive, entertained, and connected — without hauling around a full laptop or draining your phone battery. And at 50% off, it’s an easy upgrade that won’t wreck your travel budget. What’s included in this iPad travel bundle? An Apple iPad 7 with a 10.2″ Retina display, 32GB of storage, and up to 10 hours of battery life. Whether reading, streaming, or getting work done on the go, it’s built to keep up. A pair of renewed Beats Flex Wireless Headphones offering up to 12 hours of listening time, a tangle-free neckband, and magnetic earbuds that auto-pause when you take them off. A full accessory kit, including a protective case, charging cable, stylus, and screen protector, so you’re ready to go right out of the box — no extra purchases or prep needed. The iPad is Grade A refurbished and arrives in near-mint condition, while the Beats Flex are renewed open-box returns, tested, cleaned, and repackaged. Whether you’re firing off emails at 30,000 feet, watching movies in a hotel room, or catching up on podcasts during your commute, this bundle has your back Grab the Apple iPad 7 + Beats Flex Travel Bundle for just $149.99 — 50% off. Apple iPad 7th Gen (2019) 32GB WiFi Space Gray (Refurbished) with Beats Flex Headphones BundleSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change.

While the chaos of tariffs will make things unpredictable for some time, the latest analyst guess-work about what an iPhone 16 Pro Max could cost comes in with a much smaller increase in price than previously estimated.It's about to cost a lot more money for an iPhoneThe United States Trump administration levied extreme tariffs against nearly every country, territory, and island, inhabited or not. The combination of nonsensical math behind tariffs and vague exemptions that won't apply to Apple chips makes price estimates difficult to ascertain.A report on Monday evening from UBS, seen by AppleInsider, offers smaller price hikes compared to an earlier report. Instead of a $2,300 iPhone 16 Pro Max with 1TB of storage, the new numbers bring that price closer to $2,062. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Building a house in the U.S. is about to get a lot more expensive — not just because of materials, but because the people who build them may no longer be around. A new NYT piece walks through a $1.29M Phoenix home project and shows how losing immigrant labor could drive up costs by 17%, while new tariffs on materials from Canada, Mexico, and China add another 5%. Calculations via NYTFor architects, that means potentially fewer projects breaking ground, tighter budgets, and more design compromises. Less labor, pricier materials, and clients doing the math.

Project Files: https://www.patreon.com/posts/126188799 . This is the 22nd part of the tutorial series, where we are going to implement a Real Time Strategy game using Unreal Engine and C++. In this episode, we are going to work on how to reflect the faction color of the selected actor in the UI. Here the profile icon/ character icon of the selected character will dynamically have the same color as the faction color of the selected actor. Similarly the health bar of the character will also have the faction color. We will also setup a UI material for the profile images to dynamically change the character color. Full C++ RTS Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNTm9yU0zou5_PYxEdjNbAgbVRn-daOga . Unreal Strategy game with Blueprints series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNTm9yU0zou4Eulmi8YIfzHiNZEzfbSMk ► 👇 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 // 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧! https://www.patreon.com/codelikeme ►Patrons will have access to project files of all the stuff I do in the channel and other extra benefits Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClb6Jh9EBV7a_Nm52Ipll_Q/join Like my facebook page for more content : https://www.facebook.com/gamedevelopersclub/ Follow me on twitter : https://twitter.com/CodeLikeMe2 Follow me on reddit : https://www.reddit.com/user/codelikeme #CodeLikeMe #unrealengine #ue5 #ue4 #indiegamedev

Having been in the rumour mill for about a couple of years now, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion’s remake seems to be on the verge of releasing, according to journalist Jeff Grubb.  Caught by VGC, on a recent Giant Bomb livestream, Grubb claimed that the Virtuos-developed remake is going to “shadow drop at any moment,” with a release allegedly due for some time this month. That, incidentally, aligns with recent claims by prominent leaker NateTheHate.  The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion’s remake has allegedly been developed in Unreal Engine 5, and on top of a visual and technical overhaul, it features various gameplay improvements. The title will reportedly feature changes to stealth mechanics, the UI, stamina management, archery, some aspects of melee combat, and more. Read more on that through here. Which platforms the remake will launch is unknown. However, based on Microsoft’s increasing multiplatform focus, it wouldn’t be surprising to see it arrive on all available platforms day and date. Stay tuned for more updates.

When searching for signs of life on planets outside our Solar System, sometimes nothing is almost as good as something. Even a lack of biosignatures on examined exoplanets can still tell us a lot about the probability of life on the billions of planets we haven’t checked out yet, according to a study in The Astronomical Journal. The study employed a sophisticated statistical analysis to determine the minimum number of exoplanets that would need to be observed to generate useful answers about how many potentially inhabited planets are out there. They determined that finding no signs of life on 40 to 80 exoplanets would not, in fact, rule out that such life exists. Instead, such an answer would only whittle down the probability a bit.Searching for Life on ExoplanetsIt would mean that fewer than 10 percent to 20 percent of similar planets in the Milky Way potentially could support life. Extrapolating outward, that 10 percent, when applied to the entire Universe, still equates to about 10 billion potentially inhabited planets — so, it's not nothing.There is, however, a catch: uncertainty. Every observation contains a certain level of the unknown. Were things measured the right way? Did the researchers interpret the data correctly? Was there something the researchers overlooked?Such questions are more than just philosophical, the authors argue. They could determine how many resources are dedicated to a particular area."It's not just about how many planets we observe – it's about asking the right questions and how confident we can be in seeing or not seeing what we're searching for," Daniel Angerhausen, a physicist at ETH Zurich and an author of the paper, said in a press release. "If we're not careful and are overconfident in our abilities to identify life, even a large survey could lead to misleading results."Those questions will steer how missions such as the international Large Interferometer for Exoplanets (LIFE) mission led by ETH Zurich will be conducted. LIFE aims to analyze dozens of exoplanets that resemble Earth in terms of mass, radius, and temperature. The mission will seek signs of water and oxygen as well as other chemical components that indicate at least potential for life.Addressing Uncertainty for Upcoming MissionsAs a result of the statistical analysis, researches should change the questions they ask on upcoming missions, according to the press release.“To address sample uncertainty, for instance, the authors point out that specific and measurable questions such as, "Which fraction of rocky planets in a solar system's habitable zone show clear signs of water vapor, oxygen, and methane?" are preferable to the far more ambiguous, "How many planets have life?"Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.

Researchers believe they have identified a network of spies to help combat illegal gold mining operations in the Amazon rainforest. But unlike other espionage efforts, there is no risk of betrayal from the new assets: Trees aren’t known for spilling secrets. Humans have coveted the Amazon’s natural resources for generations, particularly its gold. But with most of the region’s easily accessible precious metals long gone, illegal mining operations now focus on extracting the soil’s hidden gold particles. To do this, the miners use a method that requires adding toxic mercury into the ground and allowing it to bind to any surrounding gold. Because the resulting amalgams have a much lower melting point than gold alone, miners then burn the mercury away to collect the residual lucrative metal. Meanwhile, the mercury-laden smoke disperses into the atmosphere where it can harm the surrounding environment and local populations. The annual rings inside certain trees near these mines don’t just tell their age—they also store important environmental biomarkers over time. Recently, an international team led by researchers at Cornell University wondered if those biomarkers could indicate excess atmospheric mercury levels. To test their theory, experts traveled to the Peruvian Amazon and documented their findings in a study published on April 8 in Frontiers in Environmental Science. Researchers first took core samples from fig trees at five sites. Two locations were far removed from mining activity, but three were within roughly 3.1 miles of mining towns previously known to rely on amalgam burning. One site was also adjacent to protected forest lands. The subsequent analysis results were clear: mercury levels were highest in wood sampled from mining-adjacent sites and lower at those further removed from mines. Additionally, higher mercury levels in mining-adjacent fig trees also coincided with the historical rise in amalgam burning that began after the year 2000. “We show[ed] that Ficus insipda tree cores can be used as a biomonitor for characterizing the spatial and potentially the temporal footprint of mercury emissions from artisanal gold mining in the neotropics,”  Jacqueline Gerson, a Cornell University biological and environmental engineering associate professor and study first author, said in a statement. Although annual tree rings can tell researchers when mercury levels began rising, they can’t necessarily offer precise locational directions to the illegal miners. At the same time, higher concentrations may at least serve as reference points indicating a closer proximity. Regardless, the literal spy rings of fig trees may soon offer a cheap, powerful means for regional monitoring and conservation work in the Amazon. The post Trees can snitch on illegal gold miners in the Amazon appeared first on Popular Science.

News Archaeology Ancient Arabian cymbals ring up Bronze Age musical connections The copper cymbals suggest regional trade extended beyond pottery, beads and knives A pair of Bronze Age cymbals unearthed in southeastern Arabia, including this one shown during excavations, point to long-distance sharing of ritual and musical traditions around 4,000 years ago. Khaled Douglas By Bruce Bower 8 hours ago Ritually important musical practices resounded across Bronze Age cultures from Arabia to South Asia, a pair of unusual discoveries suggest. Excavations at a roughly 4,000-year-old settlement near the modern village of Dahwa in Oman have uncovered two copper cymbals with far-reaching cultural implications, say archaeologist Khaled Douglas of Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman, and colleagues. Despite looking much like previously unearthed copper cymbals from a Bronze Age civilization in what’s now Pakistan’s Indus Valley, chemical analyses peg the Dahwa cymbals as products of copper sources in Oman, the scientists report April 7 in Antiquity. That suggests residents of the Dahwa settlement used local metals to make regionally distinctive cymbals. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.

Nature, Published online: 08 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00862-1But public-health specialists worry that misinformation and funding cuts could affect vaccination rates.