Trends in Hotel Common Spaces: From Lounges and Co-Working Rooms to Terraces and Swimming PoolsSponsored ContentSave this picture!Courtesy of onixThe evolution of new technologies, innovative applications, and a shift towards sustainable solutions are central to contemporary hotel architecture. These developments aim to raise awareness about environmental care while enhancing indoor comfort and well-being. From expansive resorts and tourist complexes to cabins and remote retreats, the design of common areas incorporates essential furniture for effective activities, proper climate control equipments, and wall and floor finishes that align with specific needs.Today's architects and interior designers are embracing diverse concepts, notably incorporating biophilia into indoor spaces, utilizing renewable energy for interior comfort, and involving local artists and artisans in the creation of furniture, equipments, and artworks. The design of communal placessuch as lounges, meeting rooms, co-working areas, restaurants, terraces, and sports facilitiesfocuses on providing a range of services and experiences that enhance external views, lighting, ventilation, and overall user comfort.Save this picture!International fairs, seminars, conferences, and business meetingslike Feria Hbitat Valencia, Cersaie in Bologna, and Marmomac in Verona serve as platforms for companies in construction, architecture, and design to showcase their products, detailing from manufacturing processes to design methodologies and specific material properties. The public entity ICEX Espaa Exportacin e Inversiones aims to promote the internationalization of companies through various programs and supports businesses seeking to expand into global markets. One of ICEX's core activities includes organizing trade missions and participating in international fairs and exhibitions while offering training and consulting services to Spanish companies. This support equips businesses with the tools they need to thrive in the global market. Companies like Actiu, Ezarri, Grespania, and Flexbrick are exploring materials, designs, finishes, and textures to improve facility efficiency and user experiences.Actiu and Andreu World: Blending Work and LeisureWhat are digital nomads, and how do their needs impact contemporary hotel architecture? Following the COVID-19 pandemic, global work practices have shifted towards hybrid or fully remote models, depending on the industry. The trend of combining work with leisure presents a significant opportunity for hotel architecture. By integrating co-working zones, meeting rooms, and areas equipped with multiple outlets and high-speed Wi-Fi, hotels are continuously adapting their services to meet the demands of this emerging and growing sector.Save this picture!At Casa de Mareas in Escalante (Cantabria), common areas have been transformed into co-working spaces designed to promote the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of guests. Actiu has equipped these spaces with versatile, operational solutions, installing professional tables and chairs to provide flexibility for individual and collaborative work tasks. Meanwhile, Andreu World focuses on creating quality products with comfortable furniture and innovative designs for large conference spaces like in the Hotel Arenas Valencia and individualized meeting rooms like those in the Gensler project in California.Save this picture!Ezarri and Onix: Beyond Wellness SpacesThe growing interest in self-care, treatments, and wellness experiences indicates a trend that is leading hotels to incorporate new spaces and uses that meet these needs. Beyond traditional beauty and relaxation services, there is an increasing range of personalized diagnostics and treatment plans related to health, sports performance, nutrition, emotional balance, and sleep. What requirements do spaces for spas, saunas, meditation, and yoga demand? What materials can enhance the performance and functionality of floors and walls?Save this picture!Onix considers glass mosaics a fundamental element in both interior and exterior decoration due to their aesthetic possibilities and customization. For instance, at the Hotel Capella Sydney, they utilized various models of glass mosaics in shades of gray and beige that harmonize with other materials. By blending tradition and modernity, they provided customized pieces with a smooth, slip-resistant finish, ensuring comfort and safety in wet areas. Ezarri offers a range of slip-resistant, easy-to-clean designs, applicable in projects from private spas in the UK to wellness spaces like Banya Wellness in Montenegro and Hotel Stary Zdrj in Poland.Save this picture!Gresmanc and Flexbrick: Facade Solutions for Interior ComfortIn terms of sustainability, reducing carbon footprints and waste in construction, along with the economic benefits of lowering a building's energy consumption, are current priorities for many hotels and resorts. Utilizing renewable energies such as solar and wind power, sourcing local materials, and implementing passive bioclimatic architectural strategies from the design phase are critical. It's essential to consider how strategies like smart lighting, efficient heating systems, water recycling, composting systems, etc., will support activities and meet the needs of guests, visitors, and employees.Save this picture!From residential projects to office buildings, hospitals, and hotels, Gresmanc Group's ventilated facades offer a range of solutions in extruded ceramics, with designs that meet the creative and efficient demands of professionals. Their participation in Cersaie 2024 showcases their energy performance, aesthetics, and a production model based on the circular economy that promotes responsible production and consumption. Meanwhile, Flexbrick's ceramic fabrics contribute to this global paradigm shift in facade installation, made from recycled and recyclable materials and installed using dry mechanical fastenings for complete recyclability. For example, the Parking Saint-Roch features a ceramic mesh as a smart curtain, connecting with the environment while saving time and energy by eliminating the need for forced ventilation.Save this picture!Grespania and Piedra Paloma: Purity and Naturalness in Interior Finishes for Dining AreasArchitecture and gastronomy have always been related, as many construction materials are like culinary recipes, following specific instructions to create a finished product. In hospitality, common areas like breakfast spaces, daily dining rooms, and evening restaurants are constantly busy hosting guests, employees, and visitors. Using interior finishes for floors and walls can create fresh, natural, warm, and elegant environments through the application of porcelain and ceramics resembling stone, marble, and wood.Save this picture!At Cersaie 2024, Grespania introduced a new concept symbolizing a return to the origins where the true essence of raw materials lies. Through CarvedTechnology, they achieve maximum realism with a very natural look for their pieces, while 3DTechnology creates an aged stone or marble effect. Grespania's porcelain applications, available in various formats, proportions, textures, and colors, aim to create feelings of spaciousness and visual continuity. Additionally, companies like Piedra Paloma specialize in marketing natural stone sourced from their own quarries. Their installation in the interiors of the Hotel SeaMarq in Seoul showcases potential uses in circulation areas and dining spaces.Save this picture!Gres Aragn and Daplast: Recreational Areas and Outdoor SpacesAmong the various amenities offered by hotels and resorts, recreational areas are becoming increasingly important in guests' vacation routines, in children's leisure time, etc. Just as Daplast develops specific seating solutions for sports facility bleachers, Gres Aragn creates ceramics for recreational and sports pool floors, demonstrating the capacity of extruded gres to merge top technical performance with a range of finishes, from warm wood and elegant marble to the natural look of stone and modern cement designs.Save this picture!Ceramics are considered one of the safest and most timeless construction options due to their versatility, durability, and resistance, qualities that carry over to outdoor applications. Within ceramics, extruded gres is a low-maintenance material with high versatility, applicable to floors, walls, stairs, facades, and pools, among other uses.Save this picture!A tip of the hat to these companies for offering a truly customer-centric travel experience. By continually raising the bar in hotel architecture, they are boldly venture into uncharted territories, stretching beyond the trends of the moment to bring new insights and thoughts. From the artistry of ceramics to the final frontier of space travel, these trailblazers are redefining the very essence of leisure, enriching it with innovative solutions and a thoughtful, design-led approach.Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorAgustina IiguezAuthorCite: Agustina Iiguez. "Trends in Hotel Common Spaces: From Lounges and Co-Working Rooms to Terraces and Swimming Pools" 18 Nov 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1022465/trends-in-hotel-common-spaces-from-lounges-and-co-working-rooms-to-terraces-and-swimming-pools&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?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

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has commented on the success of the Fallout TV series on Prime Video, saying it helped the "quirky" Fallout game series appeal to a wider audience.This was made possible, he said at a Variety event, in part because of the creative trust and collaboration between Fallout executive producer Jonathan Nolan and game developer Todd Howard from Bethesda."It was critical early on to have that creative trust so that our game teams could both understand what they brought to the equation in terms of the world, the setting, some of the camp humor, but also be willing to step back and let another very talented creator take the reins in a medium that we don't have an expertise in," Spencer said. "Anytime we try to do something new it should be advancing what that world is. One thing I really loved about the television show is it made the somewhat quirky world of Fallout more accessible to more people."Continue Reading at GameSpot

Despite prominent Disney-owned Marvel heroes like Spider-Man and Wolverine having long-term deals on Sony's PlayStation 5, Xbox has deals for a few Disney properties of its own including Marvel's Blade and Lucasfilm's Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has previously expressed his wariness towards licensed games, but he recently praised Disney and Lucasfilm for being strong partners on their upcoming projects together."I feel great about our partnership with Lucas and Disney," Spencer told Game File. "They've been good partners. We're obviously doing Blade with Arkane Lyon with them. I was just out there visiting with that team."During the same interview, Spencer explained that one of the reasons he dislikes dealing with licensed titles is that the licenses can expire, which leads to games being delisted over time. Instead, he prefers to focus on IP owned by Microsoft's umbrella of developers and studios. But for games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Spencer is willing to make some exceptions in part because the developer--MachineGames--has such an intense passion for the property.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Pokemon TCG Pocket is a free-to-play mobile version of the popular card-collecting phenomenon, allowing players to open two packs daily for free. Of course, you can head into the shop and spend real-world money to open as many cards as you want, but it's totally doable if you want to go the F2P route.

Half-Life 2 is widely recognized as a landmark title in gaming history, celebrated for its engaging narrative, dynamic gameplay, and impeccable level design. This timeless classic continues to attract new players, challenging them with its balance between action and puzzle-solving. Knowing some initial strategies can transform the experience, making it even more satisfying and immersive.

UnderPath A Survival Horror Game in Development for 3.5 YearsUnderPath is an atmospheric survival horror game that blends intense exploration, strategic puzzles, and a deep narrative experience. Developed over the past 3.5 years by a solo developer, this project is the result of years of dedicated work, with the goal of delivering a unique and engaging indie horror experience.About the GameIn UnderPath, players explore dark forests,

We are a live project looking for additional talented Graphics Programmers to join our team on a full-time basis.Were looking for someone with strong experience in DirectX (like shader programming and rendering). We need someone who thinks about performance first, making sure new features don't slow things down. Developing new things at the cost of performance is a big no-no to us. Someone who shares our vision to update and improve this game as much as we can. Also, confidentiality i

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for all of the brilliant reactions to LEGO Horizon Adventures launch this past week. Weve been enjoying all of your comments and content, and on behalf of Guerrilla and Studio Gobo: we really appreciate you!Of course, weve also seen the plethora of comments since the games announce back in June asking for a new LEGO set and some of our eagle-eyed fans already spotted a tease in our recent Building Aloys World Brick by Brick behind-the-scenes video. Surely we couldnt create a LEGO game without also working together with our friends over at the LEGO Group on something extra special:Play VideoWere excited to announce the new LEGO Horizon Adventures Aloy & Varl vs. Shell-Walker & Sawtooth playset.This 768-piece set allows LEGO fans to recreate the iconic adventures of Aloy and her loyal ally Varl. Armed with their trusty bow and spear capable of producing fire, shock or chill attacks, join the duos battle in jungle surroundings against two fully jointed machines, Shell-Walker and Sawtooth.The Shell-Walker has posable legs and arms, opening claws and a detachable cargo pod and energy shield, while the fully articulated Sawtooth has opening jaws, a swivelling torso and a posable neck, head and legs.The set will be available from March 1, 2025, but you can already pre-order from today via LEGO.com and selected retailers around the world. In the meantime, we hope you continue to enjoy LEGO Horizon Adventures out now across PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.

Good news for Diablo 4 players who picked up Vessel of Hatred: future seasons will have content exclusive to players who own the expansion, Diablo franchise boss Rod Fergusson told Polygon in an interview earlier this month. The goal, Fergusson said, is for expansion owners to continue to feel theyre getting value from their purchase beyond the current season.Typically, each season of Diablo 4 has been self-contained, so players can enjoy starting new characters (the games Seasonal Realm requires a fresh start) and power through the new seasonal content. Sometimes, a seasons content and features are shared with the games Eternal Realm, where non-seasonal characters and characters from previous seasons live.Fergusson, the general manager of the Diablo franchise, explained that Blizzard launched season 6 alongside Vessel of Hatred so players could start fresh with the expansions new Spiritborn class but then worried the expansion could feel too much like a single moment in time that future seasons might move beyond.Because we know that the beginning of a season is sort of a fresh starting point, we wanted to launch the expansion at the same time as the beginning of a season, Fergusson said. Thats why we launched at the beginning of season 6, so you could roll a Spiritborn as your new thing. So it can feel like a little bit like this expansion is just a single moment in time, and I just wanted to highlight that thats not the case. Were going to continue to develop features that will be, essentially, exclusive to Vessel of Hatred owners.Fergusson mentioned that Blizzard thinks of Diablo 4 as being divided into chapters, which are chunks of seasons in between major expansion releases. Season 1 to Vessel of Hatred was chapter one of Diablo 4, he said, and season 7 to the future is chapter two the future presumably being the games second expansion.As we continue chapter two, as a Vessel of Hatred owner, youll get access to other stuff in chapter two as part of your ownership, Fergusson said. So were going to continue to have [Vessel of Hatred] be valuable beyond season 6 as well.Fergusson didnt mention what these exclusive seasonal features might look like. Vessel of Hatred has plenty of elements that are ripe for modification and expansion, including customizable companions in the form of Mercenaries, new build customization options via Runewords, and new dungeon playstyles in Kurast Undercity and Dark Citadel.Blizzard is on a promotional push for Diablo 4 through the rest of November. The base game and Vessel of Hatred are currently on sale on Battle.net and Xbox, and starting Tuesday, Nov. 19, a selection of free-trial and character-boost options go live to tempt new and returning players to dive in.From that date, players can select one character on the Eternal Realm to boost to level 50 with a Welcome Back Booster. A boosted character can pick from three preset builds for that class, each of which comes with a full set of Legendary gear. All Altars of Lilith (stat-boosting collectables) are unlocked, and some currency and other useful items are thrown in. Vessel of Hatred owners can select two characters to boost to level 50.From Nov. 19 to Dec. 2, players who havent bought Vessel of Hatred yet can try the Spiritborn class for free up to level 25. Therell be a free trial for the base game over the same period, also capped at level 25.Fergusson said that the booster and free trials were motivated by a desire to show off the many changes and improvements to Diablo 4 over its first 18 months, including the game-changing itemization update in season 4, Loot Reborn, and the overhaul of character progression released alongside Vessel of Hatred.We were looking at ways of creating a boost for players to be able to say, Hey, welcome back, Eternal player. Maybe you havent played in a while. Lets get you cleaned up. Lets give you a shave and haircut here. [] So you dont have to do all the, I got to spend two hours just cleaning up before I can go and play, he said. In the last 18 months, so much has changed. But if youre an Eternal player who played the campaign and then stopped, you dont know. You havent felt this 18 months of evolution.

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for Arcane season 2 Act 2.]For eagle-eyed League of Legends fans, the reveal of Warwick in Act 2 of Arcane season 2 was a heartbreak we saw coming; too many things lined up just right between the disappearance of Powder and Vis father figure and the creation of the horrifying werewolf creature to be a coincidence. What we might not have seen coming, however, is just how incredibly Warwicks perspective would come across on screen. Then again, excellent animation in Arcane probably shouldnt come as a surprise anymore. Fortiche has been delivering impressive visuals from the very beginning, and Warwick is a great example of how the studio gets inside its characters heads.Showing how terrifying Warwick is would be one thing, but what makes Fortiches presentation of the character so effective is the way it shows us the world through his eyes. Whenever we see him chasing down his prey, the show shifts into a highly stylized vision of the world. Its played at a lower frame rate than normal, giving the whole thing a stilted, hazy, slow-motion effect, and the entire screen is tinted with a red glow that makes everything read like bloodied prey.It beautifully transports us inside the head of Warwick, a drug-fueled, mutated hunter in constant search of blood, but its also a tremendous way to show the pieces of Vander that are still left over. When Warwick spots Jinx or Vi, Vanders softness comes back; the world loses its red hue and for a moment, and hes a loving father again. We understand it perfectly because were seeing it through his eyes, a passenger to the perspective of the character.This idea of letting the audience inside a characters head is something that Fortiche has proven itself to be particularly adept at. In Arcane, the studio is constantly swapping in new and unique animation styles to communicate that its taking us out of the world of the show and into the world of a character. In the first season, this mostly crops up when Jinx starts hearing voices, with the faces of the friends she killed popping up behind her with sketches over their faces. All of this lets Fortiche flex its animation muscles, all while giving the audience a more intimate look at the characters interior lives than we could ever get from simple dialogue. Its a beautiful testament to the power of animation, and an incredible storytelling technique. But leave it to Fortiche to have been working toward something even more clever on top of the clearly beautiful art.In the second season, the studio ramps these ideas up even more, with moments like the first episodes black charcoal segment to show Caits grief. By the time we reach the conclusion of season 2s second act, Fortiche starts using its motif of unique animation as a way inside characters heads to show us how the characters entire perception of the world might be changing. Take Mel, for example. When we see her locked inside the Black Roses thorny prison, its clearly an unreal space. Were seeing her mind wrapped up in the horrifying psychological prison the organization is enveloping her in.Even more important is how Fortiche uses unique animation for Viktor. Plenty of movies and TV shows, both in live action and animation, have depicted characters ascending past regular humanity and growing disconnected from it, but few have given us the kind of perspective Arcane does on Viktors glorious evolution. Its easy to see the ways that Viktor is starting to disassociate from humanity but once we see how he perceives things now, its easy to see why. The brilliant bright lights, the constant presence of Skye in his ear and at his side, the way he sees straight through the appearance of people and creatures and machines and directly into their heart and head are equally beautiful and disorienting. Suddenly it becomes easy to see why someone who experiences the world like this enveloping cosmos might subtly lose his grasp on moment-to-moment human concerns.Each of these examples (just to name a few from the show so far) feels like a perfect display of the incredible way that Fortiche approaches animation with Arcane. Sure, animation as a medium allows Arcane to have a neat visual style, and provides a vehicle for excellent fight scenes. But it also lets the series pull viewers deeper into the emotional lives of its characters, exploring complicated points of view in a way thats more elegant than dialogue. Whether its a person ascending to machine-infused godhood or a werewolf on the hunt, Fortiche has proven that it can find the perfect animation style to let us into the head of any of its characters, and even more impressively, the studio manages to make every single one of these unique art styles fit within Arcanes beautiful world.