In its latest ‘Agentic AI Finance & the ‘Do It For Me’ Economy’ report, Citibank explores a significant paradigm shift underway in financial services: the rise of agentic AI. Unlike conventional AI systems that rely on prompts or rule-based instructions, agentic AI possesses autonomy—acting proactively, making decisions, and executing multi-step workflows without direct human intervention. As the industry enters what Citibank calls the “Do It For Me” (DIFM) economy, these intelligent agents could redefine every facet of finance—from compliance and risk modeling to personalized advisory services. A New Operating System for Finance Agentic AI is more than an evolution of generative models; it’s an architectural overhaul. While generative AI creates content, agentic AI initiates and manages actions. Citibank positions this transformation as analogous to the shift from static websites to dynamic, cloud-native applications—except this time, it’s workflows that are becoming intelligent and adaptive. With advances in contextual memory, planning, and multi-agent coordination, banks now have the technical capability to deploy autonomous systems that not only respond, but anticipate. These agents will increasingly inhabit every layer of financial operations—from client-facing digital advisors to internal compliance monitors. Multi-Domain Applications Across Financial Services The report outlines a detailed matrix of use cases across banking verticals: Retail & Wealth Management: AI agents deliver adaptive financial advice, dynamically rebalance portfolios, and automate retirement planning based on real-time economic signals and user behavior. Corporate Banking: Agents handle complex reconciliations, optimize loan structures, and detect anomalies in trade and payment data. Insurance: Autonomous systems underwrite policies based on real-time behavioral and environmental inputs, while automating claims assessments with contextual risk modeling. Investment Operations: Research synthesis, market surveillance, and portfolio hedging are increasingly offloaded to agents equipped with domain-specific large language models. In every domain, agentic AI extends beyond efficiency—it creates new capabilities. For example, fraud detection systems can now leverage contextual inference rather than pattern-matching alone, significantly reducing false positives and detection latency. A New Human-AI Collaboration Model Citibank envisions a future where AI agents become digital colleagues—integrated into teams rather than siloed systems. These agents can handle repetitive, time-intensive tasks, freeing up human professionals to focus on higher-order reasoning and relationship management. However, this shift introduces new operational paradigms. IT departments will evolve to manage fleets of agents, ensuring that each one is properly configured, continuously monitored, and aligned with both policy and regulatory constraints. The role of compliance officers will expand from policy enforcement to supervising autonomous systems capable of interpreting and applying those policies in real time. Governance, Risk, and the Path to Production Despite the enthusiasm, Citibank’s report does not understate the risks. Agentic AI introduces new governance challenges: Who is accountable when an autonomous agent makes a critical error? How should decisions made by AI be audited and contested? The report emphasizes the necessity of human-in-the-loop systems, real-time oversight mechanisms, and formal agent authentication layers. It also warns that the attack surface expands considerably when AI agents are allowed to make financial decisions, interact with APIs, or hold cryptographic keys. Moreover, ethical considerations are paramount. AI agents must be transparent in how they reach decisions, especially in regulated contexts such as lending, underwriting, and portfolio management. In its report/guide Citibank concludes that agentic AI will catalyze the next major transformation in finance—on par with the internet era. With nearly 37% of 2024’s VC funding directed toward AI startups and a 17x increase in BigTech references to “agentic AI,” momentum is clearly building. However, wide-scale adoption will not be driven by novelty alone. It will depend on how effectively financial institutions can align these technologies with robust governance, operational readiness, and a deeper understanding of where autonomous systems can—and should—take the lead. As 2025 unfolds, agentic AI is no longer a concept confined to research labs. It is already shaping how financial institutions model risk, interact with clients, and build the next generation of intelligent infrastructure. Check out the Full Report. Also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and join our Telegram Channel and LinkedIn Group. Don’t Forget to join our 90k+ ML SubReddit. Sana HassanSana Hassan, a consulting intern at Marktechpost and dual-degree student at IIT Madras, is passionate about applying technology and AI to address real-world challenges. With a keen interest in solving practical problems, he brings a fresh perspective to the intersection of AI and real-life solutions.Sana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Sequential-NIAH: A Benchmark for Evaluating LLMs in Extracting Sequential Information from Long TextsSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/LLMs Can Now Learn without Labels: Researchers from Tsinghua University and Shanghai AI Lab Introduce Test-Time Reinforcement Learning (TTRL) to Enable Self-Evolving Language Models Using Unlabeled DataSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Meet VoltAgent: A TypeScript AI Framework for Building and Orchestrating Scalable AI AgentsSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Decoupled Diffusion Transformers: Accelerating High-Fidelity Image Generation via Semantic-Detail Separation and Encoder Sharing

In this tutorial, we demonstrate how to harness Crawl4AI, a modern, Python‑based web crawling toolkit, to extract structured data from web pages directly within Google Colab. Leveraging the power of asyncio for asynchronous I/O, httpx for HTTP requests, and Crawl4AI’s built‑in AsyncHTTPCrawlerStrategy, we bypass the overhead of headless browsers while still parsing complex HTML via JsonCssExtractionStrategy. With just a few lines of code, you install dependencies (crawl4ai, httpx), configure HTTPCrawlerConfig to request only gzip/deflate (avoiding Brotli issues), define your CSS‑to‑JSON schema, and orchestrate the crawl through AsyncWebCrawler and CrawlerRunConfig. Finally, the extracted JSON data is loaded into pandas for immediate analysis or export.  What sets Crawl4AI apart is its unified API, which seamlessly switches between browser-based (Playwright) and HTTP-only strategies, its robust error-handling hooks, and its declarative extraction schemas. Unlike traditional headless-browser workflows, Crawl4AI allows you to choose the most lightweight and performant backend, making it ideal for scalable data pipelines, on-the-fly ETL in notebooks, or feeding LLMs and analytics tools with clean JSON/CSV outputs. !pip install -U crawl4ai httpx First, we install (or upgrade) Crawl4AI, the core asynchronous crawling framework, alongside HTTPX. This high-performance HTTP client provides all the building blocks we need for lightweight, asynchronous web scraping directly in Colab. import asyncio, json, pandas as pd from crawl4ai import AsyncWebCrawler, CrawlerRunConfig, HTTPCrawlerConfig from crawl4ai.async_crawler_strategy import AsyncHTTPCrawlerStrategy from crawl4ai.extraction_strategy import JsonCssExtractionStrategy We bring in Python’s core async and data‑handling modules, asyncio for concurrency, json for parsing, and pandas for tabular storage, alongside Crawl4AI’s essentials: AsyncWebCrawler to drive the crawl, CrawlerRunConfig and HTTPCrawlerConfig to configure extraction and HTTP settings, AsyncHTTPCrawlerStrategy for a browser‑free HTTP backend, and JsonCssExtractionStrategy to map CSS selectors into structured JSON. http_cfg = HTTPCrawlerConfig( method="GET", headers={ "User-Agent": "crawl4ai-bot/1.0", "Accept-Encoding": "gzip, deflate" }, follow_redirects=True, verify_ssl=True ) crawler_strategy = AsyncHTTPCrawlerStrategy(browser_config=http_cfg) Here, we instantiate an HTTPCrawlerConfig to define our HTTP crawler’s behavior, using a GET request with a custom User-Agent, gzip/deflate encoding only, automatic redirects, and SSL verification. We then plug that into AsyncHTTPCrawlerStrategy, allowing Crawl4AI to drive the crawl via pure HTTP calls rather than a full browser. schema = { "name": "Quotes", "baseSelector": "div.quote", "fields": [ {"name": "quote", "selector": "span.text", "type": "text"}, {"name": "author", "selector": "small.author", "type": "text"}, {"name": "tags", "selector": "div.tags a.tag", "type": "text"} ] } extraction_strategy = JsonCssExtractionStrategy(schema, verbose=False) run_cfg = CrawlerRunConfig(extraction_strategy=extraction_strategy) We define a JSON‑CSS extraction schema targeting each quote block (div.quote) and its child elements (span.text, small.author, div.tags a.tag), then initializes a JsonCssExtractionStrategy with that schema, and wraps it in a CrawlerRunConfig so Crawl4AI knows exactly what structured data to pull on each request. async def crawl_quotes_http(max_pages=5): all_items = [] async with AsyncWebCrawler(crawler_strategy=crawler_strategy) as crawler: for p in range(1, max_pages+1): url = f"https://quotes.toscrape.com/page/{p}/" try: res = await crawler.arun(url=url, config=run_cfg) except Exception as e: print(f"❌ Page {p} failed outright: {e}") continue if not res.extracted_content: print(f"❌ Page {p} returned no content, skipping") continue try: items = json.loads(res.extracted_content) except Exception as e: print(f"❌ Page {p} JSON‑parse error: {e}") continue print(f"✅ Page {p}: {len(items)} quotes") all_items.extend(items) return pd.DataFrame(all_items) Now, this asynchronous function orchestrates the HTTP‑only crawl: it spins up an AsyncWebCrawler with our AsyncHTTPCrawlerStrategy, iterates through each page URL, and safely awaits crawler.arun(), handles any request or JSON parsing errors and collects the extracted quote records into a single pandas DataFrame for downstream analysis. df = asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(crawl_quotes_http(max_pages=3)) df.head() Finally, we kick off the crawl_quotes_http coroutine on Colab’s existing asyncio loop, fetching three pages of quotes, and then display the first few rows of the resulting pandas DataFrame to verify that our crawler returned structured data as expected. In conclusion, by combining Google Colab’s zero-config environment with Python’s asynchronous ecosystem and Crawl4AI’s flexible crawling strategies, we have now developed a fully automated pipeline for scraping and structuring web data in minutes. Whether you need to spin up a quick dataset of quotes, build a refreshable news‑article archive, or power a RAG workflow, Crawl4AI’s blend of httpx, asyncio, JsonCssExtractionStrategy, and AsyncHTTPCrawlerStrategy delivers both simplicity and scalability. Beyond pure HTTP crawls, you can instantly pivot to Playwright‑driven browser automation without rewriting your extraction logic, underscoring why Crawl4AI stands out as the go‑to framework for modern, production‑ready web data extraction. Here is the Colab Notebook. Also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and join our Telegram Channel and LinkedIn Group. Don’t Forget to join our 90k+ ML SubReddit. NikhilNikhil is an intern consultant at Marktechpost. He is pursuing an integrated dual degree in Materials at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Nikhil is an AI/ML enthusiast who is always researching applications in fields like biomaterials and biomedical science. With a strong background in Material Science, he is exploring new advancements and creating opportunities to contribute.Nikhilhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/nikhil0980/Muon Optimizer Significantly Accelerates Grokking in Transformers: Microsoft Researchers Explore Optimizer Influence on Delayed GeneralizationNikhilhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/nikhil0980/Open-Source TTS Reaches New Heights: Nari Labs Releases Dia, a 1.6B Parameter Model for Real-Time Voice Cloning and Expressive Speech Synthesis on Consumer DeviceNikhilhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/nikhil0980/Researchers at Physical Intelligence Introduce π-0.5: A New AI Framework for Real-Time Adaptive Intelligence in Physical SystemsNikhilhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/nikhil0980/Anthropic Releases a Comprehensive Guide to Building Coding Agents with Claude Code

As I begin writing this piece, I'm sitting at my desk at 11:30pm CT (well past my bedtime on a work night) trying, along with seemingly the entire rest of the world and the populations of several other planets, to try and pre-order a Nintendo Switch 2.Pre-orders went live at 9pm PT/12am ET at three different retailers: Walmart, Best Buy, and Target. Or at least, they were supposed to, but the actual rollout so far has been a hot mess. Myself and a big chunk of the IGN staff have all been trying to order our Switch 2s and meeting wildly varying levels of success, and folks on social media are reporting a whole host of problems as well resulting in frustration, dejection, and rarely, triumph.Over at Walmart, Nintendo Switch 2 would-be buyers were dumped almost immediately into a digital queue to buy their systems, and while it did move forward for some and ultimately end with a Switch in the cart, others are still waiting on a "stay in line" screen with no indication of how long the wait is, or whether or not it will be successful. When they finally do get through to purchase, some folks are reporting baffling error messages, or whatever is going on here:Target didn't have a queue like Walmart, so at first, it seemed like Switch fans saw more success over there. But reports rapidly began mounting that buyers were running into error screens throughout the purchase process, and while some people thought they purchased a Switch 2 successfully and even reached a confirmation screen, they later reported seeing a cancellation email roll through their inboxes moments later, forcing them to start the whole process over. Others are reporting that the Switch 2 is actively being removed from their shopping cart midway through the process, forcing them to start over.And then there's Best Buy, whose pre-orders didn't even go live on time. The website read "Coming Soon" for half an hour before finally beginning to pop folks into a digital queue slowly but surely, with purchase confirmations only just now starting to come through for some, while others deal with some of the aforementioned errors and restarts. And at all three stores, some have said that they're dealing with fraud alerts from their banks or other weird financial blips that are gumming up the works and forcing them to start all over, ultimately denying them a chance at a system entirely.In the amount of time it took me to write this piece, Target and Walmart appear to have officially sold out, and while more and more folks are managing to get through at Best Buy, others (like myself) have been stuck in some interminable queue for over an hour. Others have gotten emails saying their purchases have been canceled or delayed, with no new delivery date or ability to reorder.It's likely in the coming minutes and hours we'll start to see more and more successes, and there's always an opportunity to pre-order at GameStop tomorrow (well, today) at 11:00am ET both in-store and online, or at other retailers in the future. And lucky individuals with Nintendo accounts may also get an email from Nintendo in May, inviting them to pre-order directly from the hardware maker - but there's no guarantee of getting that email, and Nintendo has suggested that demand in Japan at least has been way, way higher than the company's projected supply.If you're not a huge Nintendo fan or willing to wait to purchase a system, it's easy to scoff at the chaos. But it's especially frustrating for Nintendo fans coming off of a reveal and rollout that's already been confusing and exasperating at almost every turn. Exciting as the initial reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2 was, the price of both the system and all the requisite accessories and games left many reeling before Nintendo paused pre-orders due to tariff implementation in the U.S., only to fire them up again without changing the price of the system itself, just the accessories. On top of that, Nintendo's plans for physical and digital software pricing, formats, and content have been wildly confusing, and Nintendo hasn't exactly been transparent or helpful in clearing up questions about how much everything is going to cost, and what exactly it is everyone's purchasing. So it's no wonder so many folks are upset at not even knowing if they're going to be able to get their hands on a system anywhere near launch, especially with the looming threat of future price hikes or supply concerns.But if you want to play Mario Kart World at launch, this is the reality of the world we live in right now. Here's how to get that pre-order, for those still trying.Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2 Fighters Edition is set to release for Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5. This edition throws 26 fighters into the mix across 20 stages. You can preorder it now (see it at Target). For more details, keep on reading.Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2 Fighters Edition for Switch 2Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2 Fighters Edition$59.99 at TargetGet it at Target - $59.99Get it at Walmart - $59.88Get it at GameStop - $59.99Unlike many first-party Switch 2 games, this one is releasing at the relatively wallet-friendly $59.99 price. Some other Switch 2 games, including original Switch games that have been enhanced for Switch 2, are releasing for $69.99 or eve $79.99 in the case of Mario Kart World and Tears of the Kingdom.Note: This is a Game-Key CardSome Nintendo Switch 2 games come in the form of game-key cards, including this one. Game-key cards are physical cards that look basically like Switch 2 cartridges, but they don’t actually contain the game on them. Instead, you’ll need to insert the card into your Switch 2 and then download the game from the eShop. Note, it’s a 50GB download, so you might want to pick up a microSD Express card to add some extra storage.What Is Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2 Fighters Edition?PlayThis edition of Street Fighter 6 comes with all the base fighters, plus the additions from the first two years. That means you get 26 fighters and 20 stages. As for the game itself, we loved it. From our 9/10 Street Fighter 6 review: “Street Fighter games are always benchmark moments for the 2D fighting game genre, but Street Fighter 6 feels extra special. The Drive System is an incredible addition to the fighting mechanics that gives you a veritable Swiss Army knife of options and meter-management decisions right from the start of every single round, the starting roster is the best Street Fighter has ever seen, its online netcode through three betas has been impeccable so far, and the number of smaller details that it nails right out of the gate is unprecedented. It’s so good that even the poor story and extremely slow progression of the single-player World Tour amounts to only a jab’s worth of damage on its metaphorical health bar. Whether you’re completely new to fighting games or are a seasoned vet, Street Fighter 6 is a must play.”Other Preorder GuidesChris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.

TL;DRPosition: QA Engineer / Test-Writing DeveloperProject: Stable, long-term, fully remoteHours: Full-time preferred (30-40 h/week) but solid part-timers welcomeCompensation: ≈ $60k-$95k / year or $50-$70 / hour (negotiable, skill-dependent)Why Join: Your tests will guard 16Personalities – a platform that’s already helped hundreds of millions better understand themselves.What You’ll DoShip Bullet-Proof ReleasesDesign, write & maintain E2E tests in Cypress or Playwright for our Vue-fronted + Laravel-backed site.Own the QA pipeline – choose the right mix of integration, component, contract, and smoke tests; keep flaky tests on a very short leash.Mix in manual exploratory QA when automated checks won’t cut it (new UX flows, weird edge cases, “this-only-breaks-in-Safari-15-on-Tuesdays” bugs).Integrate tests into CI/CD (GitHub Actions) so every merge request and deploy is watched over by your green ticks.Champion Quality from Day 1Jump in early during feature planning to clarify acceptance criteria and suggest test hooks.Spot process gaps and pitch improvements (tagged test data, better log aggregation, accessibility checks, etc.).Educate & enable devs to write their own happy-path specs, freeing you to chase the gnarlier scenarios.Keep the User in MindVerify cross-browser quirks, mobile breakpoints, performance bottlenecks, and accessibility conformance (WCAG 2.2 AA).Think like our users and hunt for paths they’ll inevitably explore.Types of Challenges You’ll Work OnLocalization at scale – every major page ships in 52 languages (and counting). Your tests ensure i18n keys, RTL layouts, and locale-specific content DON’T break on release day.Multi-device UX – confirm that the flow feels smooth on everything from a budget phone to a 4K desktop.Personality-driven personalization – verify that an INFJ in Japanese gets the correct tailored content while an ESTP in Spanish sees theirs.Guard our Web Vitals scorecard – run automated Lighthouse / PageSpeed checks in CI, flag anything that creeps past size or performance budgets, and work with other devs to prune dead weight.If these puzzles sound fun, keep reading. Who You AreIf your idea of “QA” is waiting for a ticket to land in Linear, move along. We’re after someone who rolls up their sleeves, writes the playbook, and rallies the squad around it.Must-Haves3-5+ years in QA / test-automation roles for modern web appsExperience with component testing tools (e.g. Vitest)Deep knowledge of Cypress OR PlaywrightComfortable with JavaScript/TypeScript & DOM APIsFamiliarity with Laravel/Vue stackHabitual owner – you chase loose ends, not checklistsClear, proactive communicator in written & spoken EnglishNice-to-HavesVisual-regression testing (Percy, Playwright + PixelMatch, etc.)Performance testing (Lighthouse CI, k6, etc.)Accessibility tooling (axe-core, pa11y)Knowledge of Pest or PHPUnitExperience mentoring or leading other devsWhat We OfferTrue remote freedom – work from anywhere, set a schedule that syncs with life, not the other way around.Fair pay – $60k-$95k salary or $50-$70 hourly, plus wiggle room for unicorn-grade talent.Meaningful scale – tests you ship today protect features used by millions tomorrow.Creative autonomy – green light to trial new tools, refactor brittle suites, and generally leave things better than you found them.Growth runway – want to lead QA strategy, dabble in DevOps, or dig into backend test coverage? We’ll cheer you on.How to ApplyFill out our short form: https://form.typeform.com/to/bkj7iFjM. Yeah, that’s it. We’ll review every submission – if we see a spark, expect:A quick intro chat on Slack (culture & expectations).A short technical session (writing a test or reviewing an existing one).Final talk about terms and next steps.Thanks for taking the time to read—if the role sparks your interest, we’d love to hear from you.

The first of its kind in New Zealand, Darklight, 2-4 May, invites attendees to experience the art of light through a series of interactive walk-through audio visual installations. This is a journey exhibition, where you can experience light unfolding into its various forms. Step in. Let darkness guide you. Let light transform you. DarkLight unfolds across three stages- The Threshold, A Rift in the Light, and The Unknown The Threshold Step into darkness, where white light hovers in the void, stripped to its purest form. Shifting between states of solid and fluid, it stretches and dissolves into the shadows, inviting you to tune into its structural force. A Rift in the Light Here, transformation begins. White light fractures open, revealing the hidden spectrum within. Deep soundscapes echo as colour starts to bleed into the darkness. The Unknown Descending down the stairs, Light is unleashed in its fullest potential, blossoming from stark white into saturated waves of colour that flood the space. It constructs a fleeting architecture, engulfing you in every direction, building itself into form, only to dissolve back into the dark. Let the light reshape you. Resonate Darklight and Music First are building on the synergy between light and sound, Resonate, 3 May 7:30 pm, at Darklight is a one-night-only audiovisual experience like no other. As you arrive you will journey through immersive artworks that invite you to step inside and lose yourself in waves of shifting light, sound and motion. Arriving downstairs the journey culminates in a powerful fusion of sensory elements with a boundary-pushing lineup of cutting-edge DJs, live acts and visual experiences. Featuring performances by Australian dance legend DJ JNETT, a live hardware techno jam from Borrowed CS, a mood setter from Music First DJs and an opening ambient / bliss-out set from 95 bFMs Psychic Glands. The venue for the event is BRAD’s, 9 - 11 Durham Lane, Auckland CBD, a two-level historic stone building constructed in 1861 and one of Auckland’s most significant heritage buildings.  Exhibition tickets can be found here. Resonate tickets can be found here.

The scheme will convert Howell, Killick, Partridge and Amis’s (HKPA) now largely unoccupied faculty of Urban and Regional Studies (URS) on the University’s Whiteknights campus into a new home for its department of Construction Management and Engineering. One of HKPA’s last higher education projects, the 120m-long concrete structure, known as the Lego Building, has a lengthy internal circulation spine and features a substantial overhang to the north and an ‘irregular floorplan of solids and voids’. The building was given statutory heritage protection in 2016 and, according to Historic England’s official list entry, the block’s ‘expressive use of structure’ references traditional Japanese construction in its playful exaggeration of post and lintel joints, giving the building ‘drama, wit and virtuosity’.Advertisement However, due to its deteriorating condition, the linear megastructure has lain mainly empty in recent years. In 2018 the council knocked back a scheme by Hawkins\Brown, which included infilling the building’s colonnaded undercroft – an application which prompted objections from Historic England and The Twentieth Century Society. Responding to Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt’s proposals, The Twentieth Century Society said the designs were a ‘a significant improvement’ on Hawkins\Brown’s application. And, while having ‘some concerns’ about the replacement of the existing single-glazed aluminium windows with triple-glazed composite timber and aluminium windows, the campaign group added it was ‘broadly supportive of the proposed work’. Source:Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt Approved by Wokingham Borough Council, the approved renovations aim to bring the URS building back into full use, housing new teaching space. The plans, the practice claims, will deliver ‘substantial environmental improvements’, such as improved thermal performance and repairs to the external envelope while ‘respecting and preserving’ the listed fabric.Advertisement The practice is working with heritage consultant Purcell on the proposal, which, as part of its intention to ‘retain, refurbish and enhance as many elements as possible’, will renew all windows and external doors, add a new roof and insulation, replace rooflights and repair the existing concrete. Source:Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt/University of ReadingThe existing URS building at the University of Reading’s Whiteknights campus Timber glazed screens will be revarnished and upgraded with new fire-rated glass, while wood wool ceilings will be removed. These will be replaced with baffles made from the same material to improve acoustics. The building’s main entrance will be given a major overhaul, the second entrance ‘significantly upgraded’ and additional staircases added to the south and east façades. Internally, smaller ‘cellular’ spaces will be grouped on the narrower first floor. Larger teaching spaces for up to 120 students will be created within the deeper second floor plan. Existing lecture theatres will be refurbished and modernised with new seating, timber panelling and suspended acoustic panels. Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt director Dominic Gaunt said: ‘We’re confident that we’ve achieved a good balance between respecting the original architecture and introducing new elements to improve not just the performance but also the experience of URS for the students and staff who will use it.’ The phased work programme is expected to start later this year for completion in 2028. Section Project data Location Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire Local authority Wokingham Borough Council Type of project Education, refurbishment Client University of Reading Architect Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt Heritage consultant Purcell Planning consultant BNP Paribas Structural engineer Curtins M&E consultant Couch Perry Wilkes Quantity surveyor Edge Principal designer Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt Funding University of Reading Tender date First Stage Tender November 2024 Start on site Late 2025 Completion 2028 Contract duration 2 years Gross internal floor area m² 7,600 m² Total cost Undisclosed

More on this topicAJ Small Projects 2025 shortlist: Part 1 This year we’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of AJ Small Projects. To mark this milestone – and to reflect the quality and variety of the almost 170 entries we received – we have, for the first time in the award’s history, shortlisted 30 projects. The shortlist includes every typology of project from saunas and wellbeing spaces to new parks and outdoor classrooms – and all completed well within a tight budget of £399,000. The intention has remained the same throughout the award’s existence – to give well-deserved recognition to projects realised on more modest budgets. The award champions the idea that big budgets aren’t everything; that a project’s success comes from thought, collaboration, environmental and social considerations, and judicious material selection. But small projects have also always been crucial in the experimentation and testing of ideas. They also teach valuable lessons about prioritisation and prudent choices, which then feed into more established practice. Everyone starts small.Advertisement This year’s winners will be announced at a free-to-attend event at Orms’ recently fitted-out offices in Old Street. The shortlisted practices will each present their projects to the jury in a crit-style, live judging session on the same day as the awards event. To attend the event click here Come back tomorrow to see the final ten schemes shortlisted for AJ Small Projects 2025, and be sure to vote for your favourites in our reader poll. If you’re a subscriber, you can also read the Small Projects issue here. AJ Small Projects is sponsored by Marley Daniel Koo Architects Hertfordshire Annexe Extension £204,000 Located on the fringe of St Albans, this project is an extension to a family home accommodating a one-bedroom annexe. The brief called for a living space that was independent of the main family unit yet one that maintained connection.The design responds to two key characteristics of the site: topographical level changes and the mundane, repetitive aesthetics of suburban rear gardens. The rear garden slopes gently towards the main house, while a steeper decline to the front leads across a quiet road to open fields. The extension sits to one side of the long rear garden. Its elongated cuboid volume is partially submerged into the sloping lawn and a roof overhang shares a datum between the existing house and garden. Internally, a glazed vestibule marks the transition between house and annexe. The narrow, front elevation between houses has a large, glazed door. The rooms are laid out in a sequence to the rear, with rooflights punctuating key moments. Blockwork provides a plinth for the façade and forms part of the retaining wall, and the same finishes are applied to a new patio. The scheme is clad in fibre cement panels, hung in a tapered arrangement over timber-frame construction and modulated by powder-coated aluminium profiles at regular intervals across the façade, providing order, texture and abstraction. FW Location St Albans, Hertfordshire | Start on site April 2023 | Completion April 2024 | Gross internal floor area 48m2 | Client Private | Funding Undisclosed | Structural engineer RAVIM Consulting | Services engineer N/A | Main contractor Arco Construction | Annual CO2 emissions Not supplied | Embodied carbon 200 kgCO2/m2 (predicted) | Whole-life carbon Not supplied | Design life 60 years | Photography Matthew Blunderfield See more photos and drawings of this project in the AJ Buildings LibraryAdvertisement Dow Jones Architects St Mark’s Schoolhouse £363,000 This project repurposes a derelict Grade II-listed Victorian schoolhouse as the architects’ own studio. The building’s openness has been maintained, with the teacher’s office becoming a library and a two-storey ‘tower’ structure installed, forming an upstairs meeting room with dining room below. A service yard was enclosed to make a kitchen and WCs. Reversible conservation techniques retain the space’s character, combined with an environmental upgrade. This consists of high levels of insulation and improved air tightness, with timber-frame lining providing insulation to external walls, external roof insulation above the sarking boards and new hardwood double-glazed windows – while an ASHP, MVHR and phase-change thermal battery provide low-carbon heating and hot water. The project featured extensive reuse of materials, with dilapidated roof tiles crushed as hardcore below the new slab and the new tower’s structure and cladding made from old floor joists and pine floorboards. RGW  Location London SW11 | Start on site October 2023 | Completion April 2024 | Gross internal floor area 100m2 | Client Dow Jones Architects | Funding Private | Structural engineer Momentum | Services engineer cc|be | Main contractor Silverfern | Annual CO2 emissions 4.48 kgCO2/m2 | Embodied carbon 124 kgCO2eq/m2 (estimated) | Whole-life carbon 300 kgCO2eq/m2 (estimated) | Design life 60 years | Photography Anthony Coleman See more photos and drawings of this project in the AJ Buildings Library Edward McCann Architecture Artist Studio in a Converted Garage £148,500 A conversion of a former garage into a studio for an artist, this project was commissioned for Fiona Stevenson, a painter with Down’s Syndrome. Her primary needs were good quality light, space to spread out and gallery space to showcase her work. Although living independently, the project’s site is located close to her parents’ house, allowing her needs to be met with more ease. The key feature of the design involved replacing the existing roof with a polycarbonate-clad lantern structure to diffuse light and add height in a heavily wooded area. The existing brickwork of the garage was retained, with some openings blocked up and others introduced – including a glazed sliding door framing a Japanese garden to the rear. Internally, interior finishes, timberwork and steel structure have been left exposed, as a ‘crude’ industrial aesthetic appropriate to its purpose. The existing masonry has been insulated externally with a Viroc cement board cladding. Where possible, attention was given to the detailing and junctions between elements, with quality of light prioritised. FW Location Hertford | Start on site August 2024 | Completion December 2024 | Gross internal floor area 36m2 | Client Andrew and Mari Stevenson | Funding Private | Structural engineer Barnard & Associates | Services engineer Studio Dekka | Main contractor Datum Contracts and Construction Management | Annual CO2 emissions 23.4 kgCO2/m2 | Embodied carbonWhole-life carbonDesign life 25+ years | Photography Agnese Sanvito See more photos and drawings of this project in the AJ Buildings Library George Bunkall Architects Marble and Minarets £235,000 This project is the reconfiguration and extension of a loft in Hackney. The house and its garden back onto the Madina Mosque. Wraparound timber glazing, stained black, is used to frame  this unique vista. Many materials were reused, including existing roof slates taken off and relaid and the existing oak floorboards taken up and reconfigured, with new rush ‘mat’ infilling added to accommodate the greater floor area. When selecting new materials for the project, natural ones were prioritised: the structure is timber, the walls are insulated with wood fibre and internally finished with a lime plaster. Copper dressing to the slates and marble internally are used in small quantities but with big impact. An existing void under the roof eaves has been reworked as a cave-like bed space. Its found geometry, together with that of the adjacent mosque, is echoed within the design of elements in the new space. RGW Location London E5 | Start on site May 2023 | Completion October 2023 | Gross internal floor area 45m2 | Client Private | Funding Private | Structural engineer Webb Yates Engineers | Services engineer N/A | Main contractor Ask Interiors | Annual CO2 emissions Not calculated | Embodied carbon 162 kgCO2/m2 | Whole-life carbon Not calculated | Design life Not supplied | Photography Max Creasy See more photos and drawings of this project in the AJ Buildings Library Gianni Botsford Architects The Old Byre £375,000 Set on a ridge above West Cowes on the Isle of Wight, this project is a conversion of two old farm buildings on a smallholding into a home that also offers residencies and studio space for  visiting artists and writers.  Insulated and wrapped in corrugated cement board, the scheme leaves the barns largely intact. From a central courtyard, the domestic exterior unfolds, framed by a translucent polycarbonate façade, punctuated by large, glazed doors. These provide a separate entrance to each of the living and working spaces inside. The two buildings have been purposely left disconnected to allow for movement between the private and social places to take place outside – through full-height doors that don’t have traditional handles or locks. A house has been built inside the older barn from spruce plywood. A back alley connects these interior spaces, while a concrete plinth supports the façade. FW Location Cowes, Isle of Wight | Start on site January 2021 | Completion August 2023 | Gross internal floor area 166m2 | Client Joseph Kohlmaier | Funding Private | Structural engineer Horne & Littlemore | Services engineer N/A | Main contractor Imp House | Annual CO2 emissions 32 kgCO2/m2 (actual) | Embodied carbon 207 kgCO2/m2 (actual) | Whole-life carbon 220 kgCO2/m2 (actual) | Design life 50 years | Photography Schnepp Renou See more photos and drawings of this project in the AJ Buildings Library Invisible Studio House in an Olive Grove £130,000 The design and construction of this holiday home was consciously rooted in the local materials, techniques and resources of a small Greek island. The site is in an earthquake and fire danger zone and the house is constructed of reinforced concrete – using local limestone aggregate, as there is limited alternative material to build with. Making formwork is a key local skill. The main volume, containing simple rooms, is made entirely from concrete – walls, floors, ceilings, kitchen and some furniture. Above, a large, shaded living space sits under a corrugated roof supported on red oxide reinforcement bar trusses – again drawing on local skills and materials. There is no glass, only galvanised weld mesh sliding screens, separate insect screens and plastic curtains: cheap materials that are readily available from the hardware store in the village. All the process of the build and any ‘mistakes’ – marks of eccentric formwork and so on – are left evident. RGW Location Corfu, Greece | Start on site December 2020 | Completion July 2024 | Gross internal floor area 240m2 | Client Piers Taylor and Sue Phillips | Funding Private | Structural engineer Lakis Voutsinases | Services engineer Lakis Voutsinases | Main contractor Invisible Studio | Annual CO2 emissions 1 kgCO2/m2 | Embodied carbon 62.5 kgCO2/m2 (actual) | Whole-life carbon Not calculated | Design life 50-100 years | Photography Jim Stephenson See more photos and drawings of this project in the AJ Buildings Library Material Cultures with Central Saint Martins Clearfell House £125,000 Developed as part of Central Saint Martins’ Regenerative Construction unit on the MArch course led by Material Cultures, Clearfell House was designed and built as a construction teaching tool. This new building for Forestry England in Dalby Forest in Yorkshire will be used as a multifunctional room for learning about woodlands through interpretation, as well as about the wildlife and habitat of the forest. The project looks at the impact of plantation woodlands on the landscape and demonstrates that recalibrating landscapes away from extractive practices can create opportunities for innovation in construction using underutilised timber species and materials. The project has been designed using a material palette drawn from British forestry systems. The structural frame is of ash and larch – species both compromised by climate change and disease – and the lengths of the boards are constrained by what can be feasibly grown in British woodlands. Each timber is applied differently: the ash sits under the external envelope of the building, while more resilient larch buttresses the frame. Both are connected using splice joints. FW Location Dalby Forest, Scarborough | Start on site September 2024 | Completion October 2024 | Gross internal floor area 20.7m2 | Client Dalby Forest, Forestry England | Funding SOM Foundation, Forestry Commission Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Fund | Structural engineer Structure Workshop | Services engineer N/A | Main contractor Yorkshire Oak Frames | Annual CO2 emissions Not calculated | Embodied carbon Not calculated | Whole-life carbon Not calculated | Design life Not supplied | Photography Henry Woide See more photos and drawings of this project in the AJ Buildings Library Nina+Co with ROAR Nina’s House £300,000 This project is a deep retrofit of a cold, leaky 1970s house in London’s Tottenham, using natural, local and recycled materials to create a warm, fossil fuel-free home with good air quality and modest electricity bills. Rather than extend the property, budget was spent on upgrading environmental performance. The ground floor was remodelled as open plan, bringing the garage and porch into the thermal envelope. The gas supply was removed and an air-source heat pump and underfloor heating installed, while insulation and airtightness were improved with new doors and high-performance windows and the addition of cork cladding – providing a distinctive insulated façade with softly rounded corners. One wall unable to be accessed externally is lined with a lime plaster layer containing insulating cork granules. Joinery was fabricated locally using British Douglas fir tri-ply board and the timber kitchen island was made from a London plane tree felled by Camden Council. Pine floorboards were reworked as ceiling cladding. RGW Location London N15 | Start on site May 2023 | Completion December 2023 | Gross internal floor area 112m2 | Client Nina+Co | Funding Private | Structural engineer Michael Barclay Partnership | Services engineer Waxwing Energy | Main contractor N/A | Annual CO2 emissions 13 kgCO2/m2 | Embodied carbon Not calculated | Whole-life carbon Not calculated | Design life 15-25 years (minimum) | Photography French + Tye   See more photos and drawings of this project in the AJ Buildings Library OEB Architects Lewisham Loggias £378,000 Inspired by the clients’ love of castles, Classical compositions, Italian urbanism, secret gardens and decorative tiles, this project is unike other polite London roof extensions. This loft extension forms a new main bedroom suite, giving the parents of a growing family their own floor. It includes a sleeping area, open plan bathroom and dressing room, and compact WC between – all positioned to maximise the panoramic view over Canary Wharf. Externally, the two halves are expressed as separate bays, reducing the roof’s impact while still creating volume inside. Between the bays, a ceiling sweeps up to a large rooflight, adding a sense of drama to the circulation space. The bays have been constructed from simple painted timber to visually link with the existing sash windows below. Bold red square columns, inspired by the house’s existing dogtooth brickwork, provide a sense of enclosure and, when the sliding glazing is fully open, a pair of open loggias overlooking the garden is formed. Internally, concealed pocket doors open to create movement through the full width of the property and a circular mirror to one side reflects a new circular opening in the gable to the other. FW |  Location London SE13 | Start on site August 2023 | Completion May 2024 | Gross internal floor area 175.4m2 | Client Private | Funding Private | Structural engineer Bailiss & Company | Services engineer N/A | Main contractor John D Construction | Annual CO2 emissions Not calculated | Embodied carbon Not calculated | Whole-life carbon Not calculated | Design life 50 years | Photography Taran Wilkhu See more photos and drawings of this project in the AJ Buildings Library OGU Architects and MMAS with Matilde Meireles DRIFT £198,000 DRIFT, a floating pavilion on the River Lagan at Belfast, was moored at two locations – Stranmillis Weir and Waterfront Hall – over September 2024 and reformed in response to each site. Part of the Belfast 2024 cultural programme, the project aimed to connect people to the river and create flexible public space at the water’s edge. A collaboration between the architects and sound artist Matilde Meireles, the pavilion was open to the public daily from 10:00 until 18:00, with sonic work by Meireles amplifying the multisensory experience of the river. Five live public performances of a site-specific work by Meireles were also held. The pavilion was constructed using materials symbolising the connection between river and people. Blue cotton rope referenced the rope used by people working with water and Belfast’s rope-making history; fabric screens with punched eyelets evoked tarpaulins and sails, while the aluminium scaffold and brackets echoed the language of utilitarian river infrastructure. RGW Location Two locations in Belfast | Start on site August 2024 | Completion August 2024 | Gross internal floor area 54m2 | Client Belfast 2024 (Belfast City Council) | Funding Belfast 2024 (Belfast City Council) | Structural engineer Design ID | Services engineer N/A | Main contractor DRIFT SPACE | Annual CO2 emissions N/A | Embodied carbon Not calculated | Whole-life carbon Not calculated | Design life Up to 50 years | Photography Joe Laverty See more photos and drawings of this project in the AJ Buildings Library AJ Small Projects is sponsored by

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Where to buy Switch 2 consoles, accessories & games Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information. On this page: Switch 2: All New Accessories First-Party NS2 Accessories These accessories will release on launch day, June 5th. We've listed all of the accessories you'll be able to purchase on release date below, along with the price in both North America and the UK, where applicable. Note that as of 18th April 2025, Nintendo of America has announced that it has increased the retail price of accessories for the Switch 2. These price increases only affect those in the US and not in Canada. We've listed the new price below, along with the original. Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller - $84.99 / £74.99 (was $74.99) "Take your gaming to the next level with the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller. This controller includes a C Button for opening the GameChat menu at any time, GL/GR Buttons that you can freely map to any button you choose, an audio jack for headphones and headsets, and other features." Pre-Order Nintendo Switch 2 Pro-Controller USAUK Joy-Con 2 Controllers - $94.99 / £74.99 (was $89.99 "The updated Joy-Con 2 controllers have motion controls and HD rumble 2, along with the new C Button for easy GameChat* access and all-new mouse controls in compatible games. This set includes both a left and right Joy-Con 2 controller (along with a pair of Joy-Con 2 straps)—perfect for local multiplayer with a friend in compatible games." Pre-Order Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con Controllers USAUK Joy-Con 2 (R) Light RedJoy-Con 2 (L) Light BlueJoy-Con 2 Pair (L+R) Joy-Con 2 Charging Grip - $39.99 / £29.99 (was $34.99) Con 2 controllers to the Joy-Con 2 charging grip to use as a classic-style controller—or a handy charging station with the included USB-C charging cable. It also features the GL/GR Buttons, which can be custom mapped." Pre-Order Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con Charging Grip USAUK Joy-Con 2 Strap - $13.99 (was $12.99) "Each of these Joy-Con 2 straps can be attached to a Joy-Con 2 controller for use. The strap may also allow for more stability when using mouse controls in compatible games. The strap can be easily snapped into place and removed with a push of the release button. Only for use with the Nintendo Switch 2 system and Joy-Con 2 controllers." Joy-Con 2 Wheel (set of 2) - $24.99 / £16.99 (Was $19.99) "Place your Joy-Con 2 controller into the Joy-Con 2 wheel to enjoy more realistic control and a better grip in racing-style games. The smooth magnetic connection helps keep your Joy-Con 2 controller secure even in the most wild of races! Set includes one light blue and one light red wheel accessory." Pre-Order Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con Wheel USAUK Nintendo Switch 2 Dock Set - $119.99 (Was $109.99) "Replace your Nintendo Switch 2 dock—or set up a second one! Adding an extra Nintendo Switch 2 dock lets you easily set up a second TV in your house for big screen gaming action! Includes a Nintendo Switch 2 dock, AC adapter, USB-C® charging cable, and Ultra High-Speed HDMI™ Cable." Images: Nintendo Nintendo Switch 2 Camera - $54.99 / £49.99 (was $49.99) "Whether in TV mode, tabletop mode, or handheld mode, you can video chat with friends or use other in-game camera features by plugging this camera into the USB-C® port on top of the system. Place the Nintendo Switch 2 camera wherever you like and adjust its angle to get the best shot. The lens can capture a wide view, too, so even big rooms or groups of people can get in on the fun! Its compact size makes the camera easy to move and place where you need it to be. The wide-angle lens can be freely adjusted to get everyone in on the action, no matter the room size. Plus, a high-sensitivity image sensor can adjust the brightness automatically to detect faces." Pre-Order Nintendo Switch 2 Camera USAUK StandardPiranha Plant (HORI) Nintendo Switch 2 Carrying Case & Screen Protector - $39.99 / £20.99 (was $34.99) "Help protect your Nintendo Switch 2 system with this stylish and sturdy carrying case, along with a screen protector and cleaning cloth." Pre-Order Nintendo Switch 2 Carrying Case & Screen Protector USAUK StandardAll-In-One Carrying Case Nintendo Switch 2 All-In-One Carrying Case - $84.99 / £66.99 (was $79.99) "The case can store and carry all equipment needed to play in TV mode, including the Nintendo Switch 2 system, Nintendo Switch 2 dock, Joy-Con 2 controllers, various cables, and up to six game cards." Images: Nintendo Nintendo Switch 2 AC Adapter - $34.99 / £29.99 (was $29.99) "This is a replacement for the AC adapter included with each Nintendo Switch 2 system. It can be connected to either the Nintendo Switch 2 system or Nintendo Switch 2 dock. The AC adapter and cable can be separated for easier storage. Includes USB-C charging cable" Switch 2 GameCube Controller - £58.99 For use when GameCube titles hit Switch Online via Switch 2 exclusively! This will no doubt pack all the same functions and style as the N64 pad we got a while back. Image: Nintendo Official Nintendo-branded microSD Express Card - $59.99 / £49.99 (was $54.99) Image: Nintendo "Licensed microSD Express cards, recommended for Nintendo Switch 2, are sold in select retail stores (while supplies last)." Third-Party NS2 Accessories The most popular third-party accessories that Switch 2 players will need are sure to be microSD Express cards - a new form of microSD card that's different from the type used in Switch 1. Repeat: your old microSD cards will not work in Switch 2! The huge 1TB card from Lexar will be popular, if it ever comes back into stock (and if you've got $200 to spare!), but smaller cards may be more budget-friendly. Check out our microSD Express Card guide for more info and storage options: Your old Switch cards won't work, it's time for an upgrade Let us know if you're gonna be picking up any accessories and make sure you check out our ultimate Switch 2 resources guide for all the details on the new console. Up Next: Battery Life See Also Share:0 0 PJ is a staff writer across Pure Xbox and Nintendo Life. He's been playing video games pretty much nonstop since the early 1980s, and enjoys boring people with tedious stories about how long ago that really is. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... Related Articles Paul Rudd Returns In An Awesome SNES-Style Switch 2 Commercial Super together! 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