The Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art by Danish studio BIG, engineering firm Arts Group and architecture studio Front has topped out in China, with curved metal roofs designed as a "fifth facade".Located on Jinji Lake near the Suzhou Ferris Wheel, images of the museum's construction progress show a series of tiered buildings connected by swooping metal roof planes.The Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art has topped out in China"Against the open space of the lake, the gentle catenary curvature of the roofs forms a graceful silhouette on the waterfront," said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels."Its nodular logic only becomes distinctly discernible when viewed from the [ferris wheel] gondolas above," he continued. "The stainless roof tiles form a true fifth facade."Curving roof planes connect the museum spacesAiming to combine art and nature, the museum was designed by BIG in collaboration with Arts Group and Front as a series of pavilions that connect indoor and outdoor spaces.Once complete, the curving roof will create sheltered walkways through gardens populated with artworks and water features. According to BIG, the design was informed by corridors typical of traditional lng gardens in Suzhou.Its dynamic roof was designed to be best viewed from the nearby ferris wheelThe museum's facades will feature rippled, curved glass panes with warm-toned stainless-steel elements designed to reflect outdoor gardens."Our design for the Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art is conceived as a Chinese garden of pavilions and courtyards," said Ingels."Individual pavilions are woven together by glazed galleries and porticoes, creating a network of interconnected sculpture courtyards and exhibition spaces."Read: BIG completes twisting One High Line skyscrapers in New YorkScheduled for completion in 2025, the Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art will contain main galleries in four of the pavilion-like spaces. A multifunctional hall, theatre, restaurant and main entrance space will be spread across the other structures.Bridges and tunnels lined with stone will connect the tiered building at different levels, providing indoor and outdoor routes throughout for visitors to explore.The building will have glass facades once complete"We envision the lng, a traditional element of Suzhou gardens, gracefully winding through the landscapes and transforming into pavilions," said BIG partner Catherine Huang."In doing so, it frames the contemporary gardens, making them an integral part of the exhibition, as significant as the artwork within."Artwork and water features will be added to the gardens. Render by Atchain, BIG and Bucharest StudioProjects recently completed by BIG include a curved tower in Ecuador made up of L-shaped stacked blocks and a pair of twisting residential skyscrapers in New York.The photography is by Justin Szeremeta unless stated.The post BIG tops waterfront art museum in Suzhou with swooping roof planes appeared first on Dezeen.

"Our goal is to deploy autonomous humanoid workers to support us on a global scale," writes robotics and AI startup Figure, who recently revealed their Figure 02 'bot. "As we reach the upper limits of our production capability, humanoids will join the workforce with the ability to think, learn, and interact with their environment safely alongside us.""Figure 02 is AI-powered and self-reliant, ready to produce an abundance of affordable, more widely available goods and services to a degree which humanity has never seen."For them to achieve their goal, their Figure 02 'bots have to be able to interact with humans. This is a fairly stunning demonstration of where they're at right now:Three things jumped out at me.One, the delay while it "thinks" is a bit eerie.Two, I was surprised at how human-sounding they've got the voice, and I'm not sure I like the hesitancy they've programmed in, where it actually says "uh;" it's one thing to make the robot human-shaped so that it can work in human spaces, but I think it's a bad idea to lull people into feeling that they're interacting with another human. I think robots should sound like robots, so that we never forget what we're interacting with. Barriers to forming subconscious emotional connections with these machines should be designed in.Three, check out those graphics on its face. While the visual language is not yet clear, you can see the designers are trying to convey to the interactee that something is happening; the 'bot is sensing now, the 'bot is processing now. To me, those face graphics are the most interesting part, and they remind me of the early days of GUIs. Rather than render a human face with expressions, the designers are using low-resolution white-on-black shapes to provide visual feedback to the human. I'll be curious to see how this visual language develops, and how competitors will handle it. Your thoughts? Would you be comfortable interacting with one of these?

While LEGO sets were probably originally built for kids to enjoy, most of the people I know who play with these patented bricks and sets are grownups. Granted, these are adults who were somehow deprived of owning some of these pretty expensive sets, its just one of those toys that can be enjoyed by children and adults of all ages. There are sets however that are especially built for grown-ups as they are pretty detailed and contain a lot of intricate and authentic parts. Designer: LegoThis new LEGO set theyre releasing in particular is meant for adults and will appeal to those who are into space travel. The LEGO Technic NASA model set includes a displayable model version of the Lunar Rover Module that was aboard the historic Apollo 17 mission back in 1972. It also includes 3 attachable equipment sets that includes a lot of authentic details. Basically, this LEGO set is for the big boys and girls who are very much interested in outer space and everything NASA.If you are a frustrated (or aspiring) astronaut, you can test out some of the steering and suspension included in the set and play around with equipment like the model battery pack (with its heating and cooling elements), a TV camera with antennae, communications unit, and even a shovel and drill so you can pretend to find LEGO Moon rock elements. Theres even a Traverse Gravimeter Experiment that was carried by the Apollo 17 during NASAs very last Apollo mission. Aside from the enjoyment of building this LEGO set, you will also get a deeper insight in the Apollo missions (if you didnt already know everything there is to know about it). The young ones may need adult assistance for this as there are a lot of detailed equipment with this and its a hefty 1,913-piece set. The post LEGO Technic NASA model set brings the Lunar Rovel Module to your table first appeared on Yanko Design.

No Kiryu vs Kazuya anytime soon.Please no, I want Kiryu in Tekken so bad.

The best design portfolios come in all shapes and sizes.

When we think of the biggest movie franchises, generally it's stuff like Marvel, Harry Potter, Star Wars, DC, James Bond--mainstream pop culture around the world, spanning generations. One property that should be in that conversation of the Fast & Furious movies. Amazingly, the Fast & Furious franchise is the sixth biggest movie series of all time in terms of worldwide box office receipts--and there's at least one more movie to come.It's astonishing, because no one could have guessed we'd end up here during the early days. The first four movies in the series combined to gross just under a billion dollars at the global box office. It's a great total considering all of them had sub-$100 million budgets, but not much of an indication of what would come next: The seven Fast & Furious movies we've gotten since, starting with Fast Five and including the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff, have earned a combined $6 billion worldwide. It's a completely unique track record for a franchise that isn't based on any existing beloved IP--that extremely rare blockbuster movie franchise that's popular on its merits.We're now 11 movies deep, including a spin-off movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, video games, a Netflix animated series, and more. Still, what's being labeled the final movie in the main series is series due in 2026. So you've got plenty of time to rewatch this whole epic car saga before then--and you absolutely should, because this series is one of a kind. Scroll on to find out the best place to stream each Fast & Furious flick. The Fast and the Furious (2001)Where to stream: TubiIt's funny to remember that when The Fast and the Furious first came out, it was mocked as just being a car-based ripoff of Point Break. Which is true, honestly--this is the story of LAPD cop Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) infiltrating the truck hijacker #family of Dominic Torretto (Vin Diesel) and developing a lifelong LA bromance in the process. In a vacuum it's kinda a meh film, but it improves once you come back to it after watching the others--when you really care about what happens to Brian and Dom, The Fast and the Furious hits different. 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)Where to stream: TubiVin Diesel opted out of this sequel, and instead we get the adventures of Brian and his childhood pal Roman (Tyrese Gibson) in Miami, where US Customs forces them to go undercover with a Cuban cartel run by Yellowstone star Cole Hauser. It's a pretty sloppily edited film, but this is the one where the series found its identity largely thanks to Tyrese's and Hauser's delightfully unhinged performances, not to mention the extra-long climactic chase sequence that involved a hundred-car scramble and concluded when Brian ramps his car from land onto a yacht that's moving down a river. It's not as pretty as the big stunts they do in later movies when they had budgets over $200 million, but it's still my favorite stunt in the series. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)Where to stream: TubiIt's hard to figure out what Universal was trying to do with this film. Without any returning cast members from the first two, aside from a two-second cameo by Diesel, Tokyo Drift had the air of a DTV sequel that was released in theaters by accident. It's got a pretty solid saving grace, though: The first of these directed by franchise stalwart Justin Lin is a good freakin' movie, pretty much functioning as a car-based Karate Kid. Here we've got Sean Boswell, a redneck white boy from Alabama who's sent to live in Tokyo with his military dad after he totals his car in a high school street race. There he hooks up with Han, another American living in exile who's involved with some yakuza dealings, and things get really heavy really quickly. In a very real way, this was the movie that saved the franchise, even while it had the lowest box-office take of all the movies.While this one was the third movie released in the series, it's actually seventh in chronological order--Han was so popular that they just kept bringing him back. Fast & Furious (2009)Where to stream: TubiAfter Tokyo Drift, Universal decided to move forward more earnestly, reuniting Walker and Diesel in what amounts to a direct sequel to the first movie, with Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin returning. So Dom is in Mexico still hiding from the law, but he comes back to LA when he hears that his longtime girlfriend, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), was murdered by drug runners while working undercover for Brian, who is once again a cop. So Brian and Dom cooperate uneasily to infiltrate the cartel responsible, and eventually they have to invade Mexico to get their revenge. I enjoy this one, but others find it grating because it's overly serious like the original movie was--but with Lin behind the camera, it's a much better movie, so I don't mind the tone. Fast Five (2011)Where to stream: TubiIt's here that Fast & Furious turned into the franchise we know today. After Brian and Dom's sister Mia break Dom out of prison, they all go on the run until they end up in Brazil--where they naturally have to do some car-based crimes so they can eat. All the while they're caught between the local crime lord and Hobbs, a US government agent played by Dwayne Johnson in full heel mode. So what do they do? They call in a bunch of supporting characters from the previous movies, including Tyrese, Ludacris, Gal Gadot, Don Omar, Tego Calderon and, of course, Sung Kang's Han. The final sequence, in which Brian and Dom have to pull a huge vault safe in tandem through the streets of Rio--is an all timer. Fast & Furious 6 (2013)Where to stream: TubiI've always had an excess of affection for this one, in which our group of heroes basically become car-based superheroes who have to go up against up against essentially the dark versions of themselves: a crew of amazing drivers who don't care about each other and whose boss (Luke Evans) is happy to get rid of any of them he deems expendable--and Letty, who we thought was dead for the past two movies, is on that team. It's also the last one of these that Paul Walker was in all the way through, since he would die a year later during production on Furious 7, so there's a big element of nostalgia involved as well. It's not the best of these movies, but it feels like the end of something even so. The franchise still hasn't really recovered from Walker's death, and Lin's exit from the franchise after this film didn't help either. Furious 7 (2015)Where to stream: MaxFurious 7 is actually the biggest movie of the franchise, and the biggest movie of all of 2015 outside the US--its foreign-box-office total actually beat that of The Force Awakens, which is astonishing to think about. It made some sense--Walker's death was shocking, and this would be his last movie. Without those raw emotions, though, Furious 7 is pretty hard to watch, especially in the later action sequences when Brian is clearly being played by Walker's non-actor brother. Director James Wan does what he can, though, and Furious 7 is worth watching just for the incredible Azerbaijan car-skydiving sequence, which was filmed before Walker died. The Fate of the Furious (2017)Where to stream: Prime Video rent/buyStraight Outta Compton director F Gary Gray took over for the first Fast/Furious without Paul Walker, and it turned the franchise on its head by having new villain Cipher (Charlize Theron) force Dom to do her bidding by kidnapping his ex-girlfriend and secret baby son that he didn't know about. This, in turn, forces all of Dom's #family to fight him.This one caught tons of flack for giving Jason Statham's character a chance to redeem himself after he was revealed to have murdered Han in Tokyo Drift, but that never bothered me because his redemption task is suitably difficult and heroic--and also because the film lays it on thick with the "Dom turns enemies into #family" thing from the start. But Fate is also a good movie because it actually successfully changed up the franchise formula in a fun way. That's not easy to do this far into a series--as evidenced by all the movies that came after this one. Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & ShawWhere to stream: Prime Video rent/buyThis spin-off from director David Leitch came about as a result of a feud between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel, with Johnson and, for some reason, franchise screenwriter Chris Morgan, being exiled to this spin-off. The action is legitimately dope, and Idris Elba is always a great villain, but nothing about this movie makes any sense at all--Hobbs and Shaw became BFFs over the course of The Fate of the Furious, but they start this movie hating each other again with no explanation, and it never gets any more coherent after that. But if you're just here for action nonsense, Hobbs & Shaw will do it for you. F9: The Fast Saga (2021)Where to stream: Prime Video rent/buyThere's a really interesting idea here, going deep into Dom's past through flashbacks like it's Fast & Furious trying to pull a Godfather II. Unfortunately, the particulars of the story are pretty hinky, and it's a little bit too late in the franchise to introduce Dom and Mia's secret brother (John Cena) who no one has ever mentioned or hinted at--much less make him the villain. The action is still pretty good, especially the giant magnet stuff during the final big chase, but there are fewer brain cells than usual in this one. Fast X (2023)Where to stream: Prime VideoThe son (Jason Momoa) of the baddie from Fast Five is here to be the most ridiculous person imaginable and cause a whole lot of carnage in the process. While Momoa himself is a delight, new director Louis Leterrier's aesthetic is overly cartoonish, and the story just flails around randomly--Cipher and Letty basically have their own separate movie going on and they never participate in the main plot or interact with the other main characters, the big twist is an out-of-left-field rehash of Fast & Furious 6, and it has what could be the most nonsensical cliffhanger anybody's seen in a cinema since they were running weekly serials a hundred years ago. It's the kind of thing you should probably see once just because it's so outrageous, but it's not a good movie. How to Watch the Fast & Furious Movies in Order of Story TimelineWhile, for the most part, the Fast & Furious films have been released in order of where they are set in the timeline, there's one massive exception. The third movie, Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift, was retroactively moved in continuity to actually happen after the events of Fast & Furious 6. With that in mind, if you're dipping into the franchise for the first time and want to experience the series in storyline order, follow our guide below. That said, chances are we will still be watching them in release order. However you watch, there is no bad way to experience this series of movies.The Fast and the Furious movie timelineThe Fast and the Furious2 Fast 2 FuriousFast & FuriousFast FiveFast & Furious 6The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo DriftFurious 7The Fate of the FuriousFast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & ShawF9: The Fast SagaFast X

With Hearts of Iron 4 considered one of the most comprehensive grand strategy games set in World War 2, fans of wargames may appreciate the level of depth the game offers, especially from the perspective of wartime production and overall warfare. After players research improvements and other advancements for their ground troops, they can engage in intense land battles against enemy forces - with much of their units' strength reliant on Combat Width.

Editors note: This post is part of the AI Decoded series, which demystifies AI by making the technology more accessible, and showcases new hardware, software, tools and accelerations for RTX PC users.AI powered by NVIDIA GPUs is accelerating nearly every industry, creating high demand for graduates, especially from STEM fields, who are proficient in using the technology. Millions of students worldwide are participating in university STEM programs to learn skills that will set them up for career success.To prepare students for the future job market, NVIDIA has worked with top universities to develop a GPU-accelerated AI curriculum thats now taught in more than 5,000 schools globally. Students can get a jumpstart outside of class with NVIDIAs AI Learning Essentials, a set of resources that equips individuals with the necessary knowledge, skills and certifications for the rapidly evolving AI workforce.NVIDIA GPUs whether running in university data centers, GeForce RTX laptops or NVIDIA RTX workstations are accelerating studies, helping enhance the learning experience and enabling students to gain hands-on experience with hardware used widely in real-world applications.Supercharged AI StudiesNVIDIA provides several tools to help students accelerate their studies.The RTX AI Toolkit is a powerful resource for students looking to develop and customize AI models for projects in computer science, data science, and other STEM fields. It allows students to train and fine-tune the latest generative AI models, including Gemma, Llama 3 and Phi 3, up to 30x faster enabling them to iterate and innovate more efficiently, advancing their studies and research projects.Students studying data science and economics can use NVIDIA RAPIDS AI and data science software libraries to run traditional machine learning models up to 25x faster than conventional methods, helping them handle large datasets more efficiently, perform complex analyses in record time and gain deeper insights from data.AI-deal for Robotics, Architecture and DesignStudents studying robotics can tap the NVIDIA Isaac platform for developing, testing and deploying AI-powered robotics applications. Powered by NVIDIA GPUs, the platform consists of NVIDIA-accelerated libraries, applications frameworks and AI models that supercharge the development of AI-powered robots like autonomous mobile robots, arms and manipulators, and humanoids.While GPUs have long been used for 3D design, modeling and simulation, their role has significantly expanded with the advancement of AI. GPUs are today used to run AI models that dramatically accelerate rendering processes.Some industry-standard design tools powered by NVIDIA GPUs and AI include:SOLIDWORKS Visualize: This 3D computer-aided design rendering software uses NVIDIA Optix AI-powered denoising to produce high-quality ray-traced visuals, streamlining the design process by providing faster, more accurate visual feedback.Blender: This popular 3D creation suite uses NVIDIA Optix AI-powered denoising to deliver stunning ray-traced visuals, significantly accelerating content creation workflows.D5 Render: Commonly used by architects, interior designers and engineers, D5 Render incorporates NVIDIA DLSS technology for real-time viewport rendering, enabling smoother, more detailed visualizations without sacrificing performance. Powered by fourth-generation Tensor Cores and the NVIDIA Optical Flow Accelerator on GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs and NVIDIA RTX Ada Generation GPUs, DLSS uses AI to create additional frames and improve image quality.Enscape: Enscape makes it possible to ray trace more geometry at a higher resolution, at exactly the same frame rate. It uses DLSS to enhance real-time rendering capabilities, providing architects and designers with seamless, high-fidelity visual previews of their projects.Beyond STEMStudents, hobbyists and aspiring artists use the NVIDIA Studio platform to supercharge their creative processes with RTX and AI. RTX GPUs power creative apps such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Autodesk, Unity and more, accelerating a variety of processes such as exporting videos and rendering art.ChatRTX is a demo app that lets students create a personalized GPT large language model connected to their own content and study materials, including text, images or other data. Powered by advanced AI, ChatRTX functions like a personalized chatbot that can quickly provide students relevant answers to questions based on their connected content. The app runs locally on a Windows RTX PC or workstation, meaning students can get fast, secure results personalized to their needs.NVIDIA ChatRTX user interface.Schools are increasingly adopting remote learning as a teaching modality. NVIDIA Broadcast a free application that delivers professional-level audio and video with AI-powered features on RTX PCs and workstations integrates seamlessly with remote learning applications including BlueJeans, Discord, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex and Zoom. It uses AI to enhance remote learning experiences by removing background noise, improving image quality in low-light scenarios, and enabling background blur and background replacement.NVIDIA Broadcast.From Data Centers to School Laptops @dannylum_ The GeForce RTX 40 Series Laptops are perfect for your back to school all-in-one computer! Get one today #STEM #Gaming #engineering #student #BeyondFast #ad @NVIDIA GeForce original sound Danny Lum NVIDIA RTX-powered mobile workstations and GeForce RTX and Studio RTX 40 Series laptops offer supercharged development, learning, gaming and creating experiences with AI-enabled tools and apps. They also include exclusive access to the NVIDIA Studio platform of creative tools and technologies, and Max-Q technologies that optimize battery life and acoustics giving students an ideal platform for all aspects of campus life.Say goodbye to late nights in the computer lab GeForce RTX laptops and NVIDIA RTX workstations share the same architecture as the NVIDIA GPUs powering many university labs and data centers. That means students can study, create and play all on the same PC.STEM Application Performance for GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU versus Laptop without GeForce RTX GPU.Learn more about GeForce RTX laptops and NVIDIA RTX workstations.

Image: Drive/Adult Swim The spiral curse will finally be unleashed this season Continue reading