WINNER OF A 2024 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARD OF EXCELLENCEThoughtful, elegant, and inclusive. This strong intervention into the Brutalist architecture of the Confederation Centre of the Arts is an example of how 1960s architecture can be elevated to todays standards of community. Prioritizing a street-level entrance changes the proportions of the existing faade, creating an entry that feels like it has always been there. The additional masses reference the heritage forms while skillfully creating contrast through materiality, considered fenestration, and a slight reveal that allows the forms to visually slide past each other. Ultimately, the new intervention strengthens the entire site. Matthew Hickey, jurorA new entrance opens up the Brutalist building to the street, while new additions are skillfully inserted between the existing volumes of the former library.LOCATION Charlottetown, Prince Edward IslandThe Confederation Centre of the Arts (CCoA), in Charlottetown, PEI, is a textbook example of how an initially acclaimed effort by architects of one generation to design something noble, egalitarian, and enduring can look exclusionist and problematic several decades later.Designed by Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold and Sise and completed in 1964, this Brutalist National Historic Siteconceived as Canadas national memorial to the Fathers of Confederationoriginally consisted of library, theatre, and art gallery buildings, extruded up through a podium edged with terraced planters, and framing a sunken courtyard. The original intent of Brutalist architecture, as Abbott Brown Architects notes in the award submission, was to dislocate it from the normative iconography of power and make it accessible and empowering to all.A stage-sized rehearsal and production hall occupies a new volume, situated on a former covered plazaToday, however, the CCoAs physical inaccessibility and aloofness feels alienating and out of step with Canadas heterogeneity. Prior to design work on this project, Abbott Brown co-sponsored a conference at which artists and others from diverse backgrounds explained why the very cultural centres meant to embody their voices felt uncomfortable and unwelcoming. Drawing from the insights of that gathering, the Phase 1 Revitalization will transform and expand the former library pavilion into a new National Cultural Leadership Institute, which will offer a hub for convening on important Canadian issues, arts and cultural learning programs, as well as spaces for Canadian arts creation and hosting community events.A cross-section shows how the mass timber addition sits under an existing free spanning waffle-slab roof.Abbott Browns intent is to preserve the integrity of the original architecture, while subverting its impenetrable character. New construction is restricted to the interstitial zones between the existing volumes, and to the adjacent plaza. Removing a swath of the perimeter terracing along Richmond Street, inserting new glazing, and situating a new atrium floor at grade opens one of the pavilions directly to the street. Within, the mass timber structure of the new connecting volumes takes the chill off the existing expanses of exposed concrete. Removing portions of the original Level 2 and Level 3 floors and inserting a translucent, load-bearing stair just below street level creates new atrium space at street level. The interstitial interventions also establish a new opening to the CCoAs sunken Garden Courtyard.Mass timber bridges and structural elements weave through the existing volumes, introducing barrier-free access routes and adding warmth to the concrete heritage building.In contrast with the original complexs monolithically blank sandstone exterior walls, the cladding of the new additions combines generous glazing with panels formed from irregular, glazed, terracotta ribs. While keeping within an overall bone-white tonal range, the ribs will vary in profile, texture, and glazing. In this way, the manufactured panels will recall the subtle variations that are celebrated in the traditions of Japanese and Korean handcrafted ceramics. The cladding itself is a subtle, luminous mosaic, offering the onlooker lively shifts and divergent impressions at different scales, the award submission states. It is an intentional, experiential metaphor for the complexity and diversity of contemporary society.Targeting CaGBC Zero Carbon Building Design certification, this first phase of the CCoAs revitalization preserves most of the existing mass-concrete structure, while introducing large central skylights, stack-effect ventilation, PV rooftop arrays, and many other strategies for improved energy performance.ScreenshotCLIENT Confederation Centre of the Arts | ARCHITECT TEAM Alec Brown (MRAIC), Jane Abbott (MRAIC), June Jung, Katelyn Latham, Karen Mills, Blake Klotz, Brittany Dwyer, Camila Lima, Saejin Lim, Celina Abba, Leanna Letterio, Kaley Doleman, Jack Ziemanski, Tony Rukongwa, Will McInnes | STRUCTURAL/CIVIL SCL Engineering | MECHANICAL MCA Consultants | ELECTRICAL Richardson Associates | LANDSCAPE NIPPAYSAGE | QUANTITY SURVEYOR QSolv | SUSTAINABILITY reLoad Sustainable Design | CODE LMDG | ACOUSTICS Fox Technologies | CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT Brighton Construction | AREA 4,000 m2 | BUDGET $60 M | STATUS Under construction | ANTICIPATED COMPLETION May 2026ENERGY USE INTENSITY (EUI)116 kWh/m2/year | THERMAL ENERGY DEMAND INTENSITY (TEDI)34.9 kWh/m2/year | GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS INTENSITY (GHGI)24 kg CO2e/m2 | WATER USE INTENSITY (WUI) 0.17 m3/m2/yearAs appeared in the December 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazineSee all the 2024 Awards of Excellence winnersYou can read ourjurys full comments here.The post Confederation Centre of the Arts Revitalization appeared first on Canadian Architect.

WINNER OF A 2024 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARD OF EXCELLENCEThis quiet infill project feels inevitable and fresh. The design strikes an intelligent balance between the modern and the historic as it rebuilds and abstracts the footprint of a previous structure that burned down in 1959. A modern mansard roof doubles as a shroud for unsightly mechanical equipment, a change in stone texture marks the parapet of the previous building, and each floors efficient planning responds to the stairs and exits of the adjacent building. DArcy Jones, jurorRounded corners refer to the original building on the site, which burned down more than 50 years ago; a change in stone texture marks the earlier buildings parapet line.LOCATION Montreal, QuebecAn 18 x 80-foot sliver of real estate in Montreals Old Port district has been vacant since 1959, when the modest 19th-century warehouse that formerly occupied the site burned down. To state the obvious, any land parcel that has remained a pocket-size parking lot for more than six decades in this bustling tourism, dining, and shopping district must be fairly resistant to redevelopment. However, the owner of both this corner lot and the mixed-use heritage building adjacent to it determined that an infill building would be viable if it shared elevator and stair access with its neighbour to the east. Architecture cologiques efficient design makes this happen, and it addresses the sites challenges with urbane grace.Historic drawings and photos served as key references in the design.Due to the topographys southward slope, the existing building has five storeys along its Rue de la Commune faade, which overlooks the St. Lawrence River, and only four on its north faade, along Rue Saint-Paul. It has retail tenancy at street level on Saint-Paul, and on the first two floors along Rue de la Commune, with two levels of office space above that and a residential loft on level five. The infill building will have a similar disposition of retail space, plus five apartments on its upper four levels, ranging in size from a studio to a three-bedroom unit. The top two apartments are each two-floor stair-connected units, with an upper-level terrace. A mansard-like roof, echoing the form of many others in the district that became Montreals main port in the 1600s, tucks the mechanical equipment out of sight.Openings on all elevations respond carefully to the adjacent building.While clearly a building of its own time, the infill structure subtly alludes to its predecessor, echoing the fire-destroyed buildings rounded corners and marking the height of its parapet with a shift in stone texture.Best known to date for rural, single-family residences, architecture cologique founder Etienne Lemay demonstrates a deft touch on this project for mixed-use infill in a heritage district. And as his firms name suggests, this building will have a small footprint, sustainably as well as literally: its above-ground structural system will be cross-laminated timber; its heating and cooling will be geothermal.Diagrams show how the previous structure informed the composition of the faades.CLIENT Pierre Bouvrette | ARCHITECTS Etienne Lemay, Odile Lamy | STRUCTURAL Latral | MECHANICAL Canope | CODE Technorm Inc. | AREA 965 m2 | BUDGET $4.5 M | STATUS Design development| ANTICIPATED COMPLETION 2026As appeared in the December 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazineSee all the 2024 Awards of Excellence winnersYou can read ourjurys full comments here.The post Montreal Old Port Infill appeared first on Canadian Architect.

A curated list of the latest industry news, eye candy, trailers and tons of inspiration on ADAPT.one. Discover our new home-page! Updated every week day!https://adapt.one

Armored Core | Secret Level TrailerPart of the Secret Level anthology to be released on Prime December 10th! This looks good of course!https://adapt.one/editorial/link/256/Armored+Core+%7C+Secret+Level+Trailer/

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Stock effects site ActionVFX has made a pack of 20 stock effects clips of rendered CG asteroids available to download for free for the rest of the day.The assets, which are suitable for use in VFX and motion graphics projects, are available free until 11.59pm ET on 3 December 2024.Stock FX clips of asteroids and asteroid fields for use in deep-space VFX shotsThe Asteroids pack consists of 20 stock clips of rendered CG asteroids, for compositing into VFX or motion graphics projects.It includes clips of individual rotating asteroids, small drifting groups of asteroids, and entire asteroid fields, moving towards or away from the camera, or drifting into frame from the side.The 30fps videos are provided at 2K and 4K resolutions in ProRes 4444 format, on a black background with an alpha channel.More stock assets available to download for free from ActionVFXIf youre too late to download the asteroid clips for free, ActionVFX has a range of other free assets, including stock FX clips of fire, smoke, dust, snow and lightning.The site also hosts a free online library of stock footage aimed at students learning VFX.Its commercial assets are priced on a credit basis, and are now only available via subscriptions.Individual subscriptions, for artists earning under $200,000/year, start at $59/month; Startup subscriptions, for studios with under $3 million/year in revenue, start at $199/month.License and system requirementsThe Asteroids clips are licensed for commercial use, and can be used in any compositing software that imports ProRes files. They are available until 11.59pm ET on 3 December 2024.To download them, you will need to register for a free ActionVFX Free Forever subscription, confirm your email address, and fill out a questionnaire.Download ActionVFXs Asteroids pack of stock effects clips(Free on 3 December 2024)Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.

A world divided into writes and write-nots is more dangerous than it soundsPublished inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter3 min read1 day ago-- Weve got 9% of 2024 left to live. Lets make it count.Issue #219: why books flop, surrounding yourself with freedom, and the mechanics of inefficiencyOne of the strangest things you learn if youre a writer is how many people have trouble writing, begins Y Combinator founder Paul Graham in his latest essay. Im not really a Grahamhead, and I havent (yet) set up an RSS feed for his posts, but a friend sent me this one recently. It stood out.This friend has published four novels. Shes working on a fifth. Whenever she tells someone shes a writer, one of the first things they say is: Ive always had an idea for a book. Everyone has an idea for a book! But the chasm between idea and execution is always wider than it seems.If youve been reading this newsletter for a while, you know weve touched on the future of writing, specifically as it relates to AI. (See: Can AI make art?) Grahams essay gave me a new way to think about this topic. His argument is essentially that AI is both widening and narrowing the gap between idea and execution. Narrowing it because you can just ask AI to write your book for you. And maybe, with enough time, the book will turn out good. Widening it because more people will lose touch with writings real, intangible utility: helping you become a better thinker.In a few decades, Graham argues, society will be split between writers and write-nots: Those who choose to write as a way to clarify their thinking, and those who dont because they wont have to. He draws a parallel between writing and going to the gym. Before the industrial revolution, manual labor made most people strong. Now, if you want to be physically fit you work out. Strong people exist, but only by choice.A world divided into writes and write-nots is more dangerous than it sounds, he writes. It will be a world of thinks and think-nots. I know which half I want to be in, and I bet you do too.What do you think? You might find writing helps you figure that out if so, reply to this email or jump into the comments. Harris Sockel 3 of my open tabsAuthor Scott Muska gets brutally honest about why his latest book of poetry flopped: I rushed something to publication that was not only not as great as it potentially could have been, but not really great to begin with. Never in my life have I heard an author go this deep into why something they wrote failed to sell.Dont surround yourself with smarter people. Surround yourself with people who are free in ways you are not. (Ribbonfarm via Nix)Kenny Minker, in Peru, pens an ode to the classic VW Beetle (theyre everywhere in Peru). Modern car brands prioritize fuel efficiency and aerodynamics, but the Beetle is one of the only design-forward cars in history its engine is in back to make it as compact and cute as possible.Your daily dose of practical wisdomThere are three ways to waste time: working on the wrong stuff, using inefficient methodology, and hesitating out of caution. (Martina Ivaniov)

After the varnish is removed, the painting appears matte and gray. Rijksmuseum / Henk WildschutVisitors to theRijksmuseum in Amsterdam are watching one of Rembrandts mostfamous paintings,The Night Watch, change before their eyes. Behind a glass barrier, conservators are removing the paintings old varnish as it hangs on its gallery wallthe first step in the masterpieces restoration.Rembrandts 12.5- by 15-foot painting is being restored as part ofOperation Night Watch, the Rijksmuseums ongoing study of the 17th-century Dutch masterpiece. During the projects five-year research phase, experts re-stretched the canvas and examined the paintings physical components, discovering arsenic sulfide pigments behind its golden glow andlead in its base layer. The second phase of Operation Night Watch began this month when eight conservators started stripping away itsvarnishclear, protective layers often applied atop paintings.The varnish that is now on The Night Watch is discolored, has yellowed and it saturates poorly, so it really impacts the legibility of the paint surface, says conservatorIge Verslype in avideo from the Rijksmuseum. To treat this, we have to remove the old varnish. And as well, you can see on the paint surface there are many old, discolored retouchings. They often have been applied very broadly, covering original paint. So we want to remove those and apply new, fine retouchings.The Night Watch,Rembrandt, 1642 Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsThe Night Watch has undergone several revarnishings: one in 1975, after a manslashed the artwork with a bread knife; one in 1981; and one in 1990, after another mansprayed the painting with acid, reportsAgence France-Presse (AFP).Former restoration projects happened very quickly, as Rijksmuseum directorTaco Dibbits tells AFP. The current restoration will involve the application of a new varnish, bringing the painting as close as possible to its former glory, he adds.Finished in 1642, The Night Watch depicts a group of civicguardsmenAmsterdams 17th-century local police force. Rembrandt painted The Night Watch at theheight of his career, and its famous for the artists masterful treatment of light and shadow. Eight conservators are working to restore the painting. Rijksmuseum / Henk WildschutConservators are cleaning The Night Watch by applying small pieces of tissue, each lightly soaked in solvent, to the paintings surface, says Verslype. With that, we remove the bulk of the old varnish. They then use cotton swabs to remove remaining remnants of older varnish.I think the most exciting and perhaps the scariest bit is that the people are watching over our shoulders, conservatorEsther van Duijn tells AFP. But once you are working, you tend to forget that.Where the varnish has been removed, the painting appears matte and very grayish, Verslype says. As Dibbits says in astatement, It will be a truly unique experience for the visiting public to be able to follow the process from so close by. He tells AFP, You will be able to see The Night Watch, in a sense, naked, without makeup. Conservators are applying solvent-soaked tissues to the painting to remove old varnish. Rijksmuseum / Henk WildschutFor a conservator, removing a paintings varnish is an absolute privilege, asPaula Dredge, a conservationist at theUniversity of Melbourne, tells theWashington Posts Kelsey Ables. Its a moment of contact with the artists creation that very few people experience.Dredge adds the restoration is a process of discovery, in which we may find more of Rembrandt. She lauds the museums decision to open the operation to visitors.Collections in public institutions belong to the people, and they have the right to know what is being done to them, she says.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art, Art History, Artists, Arts, Museums, Netherlands, Painters, Painting, Rembrandt, Renovation and Restoration, Visual Arts

Cohere's new Rerank 3.5 AI search model processes queries in 100+ languages and improves enterprise search accuracy by 30%, revolutionizing how global businesses access and utilize their data.Read More

Ryosuke Yoshida leaves Ouka Studios to join Square EnixThe Visions of Mana director says he quit at the end of OctoberImage credit: Visions of Mana, Ouka Studios/Square Enix News by Marie Dealessandri Deputy Editor Published on Dec. 3, 2024 Ouka Studios director Ryosuke Yoshida has announced that he has left the NetEase-owned developer to join Square Enix.Yoshida shared the news on social media, saying he quit his role on October 31, and started at Square Enix this December. His exact role at the Japanese firm is unclear.Yoshida directed Visions of Mana alongside Kenji Ozawa, with the title released last August and published by Square Enix.A report earlier this year indicated that Ouka Studios was being shut down by NetEase, after originally launching the studio in 2020.Prior to joining Ouka at the studio's creation, Yoshida spent over a decade at Capcom."We were a new studio, but we were able to release Visions of Mana," Yoshida commented about his departure from Ouka. "I am grateful to the development team and NetEase for their support. It was a very good experience."

Riot Games has warned its content creator community that off-platform conduct and behavior connected to its franchises is now subject to its terms of service.In short, that means the studio could punish offensive behavior that occurs during livestreams featuring titles such as League of Legends and Valorant with in-game penalties."If you say or do things that break our Terms of Service while broadcasting or creating content about our games, we can restrict access to your Riot accounts (and suspend your Partner privileges if you are part of our Partner Program)," reads a post on the Riot Games website."Though we arent going to proactively monitor everything that happens across social media, it is now within our rights to issue penalties in-game when that content is brought to our attention. As an example, if a creator uses hateful slurs about an opposing player or teammate on their stream, but not in game over chat or voice comms, we can still issue a penalty as if that behavior occurred in-game."Riot said its updated terms of service will only apply to content where its titles are featured, but noted it will also cover actions that compromise the competitive integrity of Riot products such as stream sniping and questionable promotions."If a creator is sponsored by a boosting website, promotes ways for players to buy and sell accounts, or otherwise does anything that encourages players to break our rules, we may suspend access to your Riot accounts," continues the post. "This can happen formally, through sponsored posts on social media accounts, videos, or streams, or just in casual conversation that occurs during the course of content."Riot added that bad actors who violate its terms of service in particularly egregious ways could be subject to Riot-wide bans. "Problematic behavior in one game may result in penalties across all of our games," said the company.You can learn more about Riot's updated terms of service by clicking here.