Beatbot makes robotic pool cleaners. In fact, the company is showing off a new one with a docking station this week at CES 2025. What really caught our eye on the show floor, however, is RoboTurtle, because, well, its a robot that looks like a turtle.The turtle, sadly, seems to very much be in the concept stages, as the firm focuses on more commercial endeavors.The Robotic Turtle embodies our vision of leveraging Beatbots leading technology to address critical ecological challenges on a global scale, says Beatbot exec, York Guo. It is a partner to help safeguard communities and preserve the safest water levels for all creatures. This unique robot serves the planet for good alongside conservationists, scientists, and emergency responders.The idea is to build a solar-powered robot that can navigate bodies of water, while monitoring their quality via onboard sensors. Beatbot claims that the decision to lean into biomimicry with the turtle design is a bid to, minimize[e] disruption to surrounding ecosystems.At some future date, such a system could be deployed to monitor conditions during oil spills, survey disaster damage, and monitor endangered species in their nature habitat.

For all the chatter about the decline of San Francisco, data repeatedly shows that the Bay Area, including the city itself, is still the best place for venture-backed startups.Startups located in the Bay Area vacuumed up $90 billion of VC investment in 2024, which was 57% of the $178 billion of global venture funding spent last year, new stats released on Tuesday by Crunchbase show.In 2024, OpenAI, headquartered in San Francisco, was obviously the mothership, both in spawning a nearby AI startup industry complete with its own deep-pockets startup fund, and in the VC dollars it scooped up for itself. But others include: San Franciscos Databricks and its record-breaking $10 billion in funding; Elon Musks xAI, which raised $12 billion in two rounds last year and promptly moved into OpenAIs old headquarters in the San Francisco Mission District; Mountain Views Waymo and its $5.6 billion Series C; San Franciscos Anthropic, which raised over $8 billion in 2024; as well as big raises in 2024 from San Franciscos Scale AI and Perplexity.And, as we previously reported, this isnt just happenstance. Its a result of the areas dominance in AI, the biggest tech of 2024, as well as being home to Big Tech (Google, Nvidia, Salesforce, etc.), and a longstanding startup infrastructure there from Y Combinator to the VC-land of Sand Hill Road. This self-fulfilling cycle shows no indications of flagging in 2025, in part because the Bay Area still offers the largest concentration of skilled tech employees. Some 49% of all Big Tech engineers (often the startup founders of tomorrow) and 27% of startup engineers are located there, according to data from SignalFire.With such high density of everything from financiers to engineers, meeting the people necessary to build a startup is just easier, say founders whove relocated to San Francisco in 2024. We feel like the talent pool is better. Also the customer pool is better, Anh-Tho Chuong, co-founder and CEO of open source billing platform Lago, previously told TechCrunch.

Tucked away in the recesses CES 2025s Eureka Hall startup showcase, CaiqueTech showed off a novel take on the tried-and-true baseball radar gun. After building a standalone device, the Korean firm has created a modular version that plugs directly into a phone via the USB-C port.The PI SpeedGun module has radar built in. While the company didnt have anyone tossing a baseball around this week, the system was on display, picking up attendees as they walked by.The speed and other stats are then displayed on the handsets large screen. Of course, its difficult to gauge the systems accuracy simply passing by on a crowded convention center floor.CaiqueTech does plan to bring the product to market in the not-to-distant future. A representative from the company told TechCrunch that the PI SpeedGun will hit Kickstarter around June, with an asking price of around $150.It should be a handy little tool for amateur players.

Disney is set to combine its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo, forming a combined virtual MVPD company. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, Fubo shareholder approval, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Disney will own 70% of Fubo at closing. Disney, FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery will make an aggregate cash payment to Fubo of $220 million. Disney has also committed to provide a $145 million term loan to Fubo in 2026. A termination fee of $130 million will be payable to Fubo under certain circumstances, including if the deal fails to close due to the failure to obtain requisite regulatory approvals on the terms and conditions set forth in the definitive agreement.Fubos existing management team, led by co-founder and CEO David Gandler, will operate the newly combined Fubo and Hulu + Live TV businesses.We are thrilled to collaborate with Disney to create a consumer-first streaming company that combines the strengths of the Fubo and Hulu + Live TV brands, said Gandler. This combination enables us to deliver on our promise to provide consumers with greater choice and flexibility. Additionally, this agreement allows us to scale effectively, strengthens Fubos balance sheet and positions us for positive cash flow. Its a win for consumers, our shareholders, and the entire streaming industry.Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will continue to be available to consumers as separate offerings post-closing. Hulu + Live TV will continue to be streamed in the Hulu app and be offered as part of the bundle with Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+. Fubo, which streams more than 55,000 live sporting events annually, will continue to serve its subscribers in the Fubo app.This combination will allow both Hulu + Live TV and Fubo to enhance and expand their virtual MVPD offerings and provide consumers with even more choice and flexibility, said Justin Warbrooke, Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Development, The Walt Disney Company. We have confidence in the Fubo management team and their ability to grow the business, delivering high-quality offerings that serve subscribers with the content they want and offering great value.In connection with the deal, Disney will enter into a new carriage agreement with Fubo that will allow for the creation of a new Sports & Broadcast service, featuring Disneys premier sports and broadcast networks including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, as well as ESPN+.Fubo has settled all litigation with Disney and ESPN related to Venu Sports, the previously announced sports streaming platform planned by ESPN, FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery. Fubo has also settled all litigation with FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery.Source: The Walt Disney Company Journalist, antique shop owner, aspiring gemologistL'Wrenbrings a diverse perspective to animation, where every frame reflects her varied passions.

Conventional wisdom is not something that filmmaker Robert Zemeckis routinely follows as he pushes the boundaries of technology and cinematic language to pursue his creative vision. Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Richard McGuire, Here chronicles the entire history of a plot of land from primeval to contemporary times. The various storylines are intercut with each other from a singular camera perspective that doesnt change until the concluding shot. Frequent Zemeckis collaborator Kevin Baillie brought DNEG on as the main visual effects vendor with tasks ranging from creating the Dinosaur/Ice Age sequence and a massive tidal wave to a photoreal CG neighborhood environment and an AI tool to assist with the scene transitions from era to era.Setting everything in motion is the four-minute opening sequence that showcases roaming dinosaurs, the meteorite shower that led to their extinction, the Ice Age that engulfed the entire planet, and the renewal of life that followed. That shot was the one we started the project with, and it could have been the last one we finalled, states Alexander Seaman, VFX Supervisor, DNEG. It sums up the broader design aspects of cinematography that we had to continue through the whole show and also the minutia of detail that we needed to think about. The fact that its telling a story over such a long period of time was a challenge enough. Having cinematography where the camera [does not move or shift focus] while still trying to tell something thats exciting and dramatic was another challenge in itself.The first step in producing the sequence was to assemble an animatic. Its made up of about five to six substories which were split into subshots that had appropriate names such as Ice Age and Dino, explains Seaman. We worked on the subshots independently, bringing them all up to the same level, and stitched them together so we could talk to editorial; that went back and forth through the year we were working on it. We did quite a few iterations to make sure youre passing through the right period of time over the right amount of time. As a colleague of mine echoed to me recently, one of the biggest challenges of a static camera is everything has to move all the time in the shot. You have to have bugs crawling on branches. You always have to have your eye wanting to go somewhere. The idea is if you saw the shot five or six times you could still find something to concentrate on and go, I havent seen that before. Development of the scene transitions took place in post-production, in particular for the moments that take place in the interior of the house that gets built on the plot of land. Originally, they started out wanting to have everything morph inside the room or maybe a stool appears for a brief instance, or a TV set changes in the background, remarks Martine Bertrand, Senior Researcher of AI, DNEG. You see some intermediate states of the room as youre traversing these different time periods. Crafting manual transitions would take forever, so the decision was made to develop an AI tool to assist. Generative AI had come out just months before that and these tools were not as evolved as they are today, Bertrand says. We had to generate these intermediate states that still looked like a room, but a slightly different one, because it evolves over time. There was no set recipe to achieve this.I set out on a few months long journey experimenting with the code and tools, and interacting with Johnny Gibson [VFX Supervisor, DNEG] trying to establish this visual language, he continues. Initially it was jaunty. Everything was jumping all over the place. As time went on, by mastering the various parts of these technologies that were available to us, the tool came together. We understood how to create a melting type of transition and string this together with refinement passes to get a more realistic feel and look to the image. Custom tools were constructed inside Nuke in collaboration with the visual effects artists to generate the transitions quickly. According to Bertrand, When the tool came to fruition, we were able to generate hundreds of transitions per day and select those that were interesting to us rather than have one transition in two or three weeks. Then we art directed and modified them. By experimenting, the artists discovered that there were other uses and that triggered an avalanche of possible solutions for various shows.Sharing that dealing with destruction and dinosaurs was fun, Seamon notes, The tricky thing when doing stuff like that is not to reference other CG projects. You have to start looking as best you can at reality, history, and museums for the dinosaurs. It was a popular set of shots for the artists to work on, but it was very complex work. He goes on to say that the macro level of destruction is where real difficulty occurs, such as with leaves and branches, as Baillie wanted to art direct a specific simulation in a particular way. Normally, that is not too much trouble, but when you have a shot that is 6,000 7,000 frames long and want to art direct a piece of the explosion to do something specific halfway through, it becomes unpredictable, and you dont know whats going to happen with the other half of the shot. We had to develop tools to effectively art direct effects simulations but then pick up again or start and stop them in a way that would allow art direction in the middle section instead of letting it simulate as you normally would on a 100-frame shot. Snow and ice were the most complex elemental effects. Because of the screen space and the distance in the volume, we kept having to art direct it as well as having the whole simulation run over a large number of frames, Seamon says. Ice has a difficult lighting model, where it reflects, sparkles and has different states of look depending on whether its snow or crystalized. A significant environmental component was the transforming neighborhood seen outside the living room windows, which contextualized the era being portrayed. Most of that was put together from the production art department, states Gibson. In the cases where we knew there were going to be digital replacements, we wanted to make sure to have the right color temperature from the lighting, so we didnt have to change the foreground that much. In terms of time periods, cars were parked in the background, houses had been destroyed or newly built, how much dirt and grime had been built up over the years, what weather systems are there, and what lighting is there, all of that was meticulously planned out before virtual production because of the interactive lighting scenario.For the final shot, the camera moves outside to reveal the exterior of the house along with the rest of the neighborhood. The design and conceit were the camera starts in the house and for the first time begins to move, remarks Seaman. It was meant to be so subtle that you dont notice it at first and then it surprises the audience because its a heartfelt moment. What was difficult was trying to keep the feeling of that heartfelt moment through the course of the shot. We had to do that in a way that settled on a peaceful happy well-maintained neighborhood that echoes the family that weve been watching. That in itself is not difficult. But when its an entirely CG shot, now were talking levels of difficulty. Kevin Baillie actually captured that shot in a neighborhood in Los Angeles, which became an essential piece of the kit for us to be able to deliver a photoreal shot. Once we established the camera move, the look of the composition became an exercise of adding layers and layers. Its like the dino shot. If you look at the shot five or six times you still wouldnt see all of the little stories that are happening. Down the street there is a woman pushing a baby, someone is sweeping leaves, and the hummingbird comes into the shot. You start to think, What about all of these other people? Throughout the film, the hummingbird is considered to be the spirit animal that appears in different eras. Most birds have a feather system, notes Gibson. But the problem with feathers on a hummingbird is that the feathers are moving so quickly that subframe motions wont suffice. That subframe information needs to be encoded into the entire arc of the wing motion so you have that impression of that figure eight infinity look of the path of the wing. I wouldnt say that the feather system was unique, but how much we had to make it exposed to a digital camera was. Once the camera began to move, transitioning seamlessly from inside the house to the outside via the window was especially tricky. We didnt have the glass when we shot it, reveals Gibson. We werent sure where the edges of the pane were because there was no guide there for the camera operator. We were divorced from the camera track before we approached the glass and that caused so many problems inside of the room. Extensive reconstruction had to be done digitally. Three quarters of the way through it's an entirely CG room, states Seaman. Mostly real actors but not completely. A de-aged Robin Wright created by Metaphysic was composited into the close-up shot of her responding to Tom Hanks, saying, Time sure flies. As Robin is delivering her line, Sure does, She is aging to the next scene, remarks Gibson. It's an amazing morph goal to try to capture someones performance while theyre changing their shape. This was massaged for weeks, much longer than we expected it to go because of necessity. Our compositing supervisor, Ivelina Dobreva, basically owned comping the shot and kept iterating. It took a lot of patience. Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer best known for composing in-depth filmmaker and movie profiles for VFX Voice, Animation Magazine, and British Cinematographer.

The merging of two iconic characters, Deadpool and Wolverine, into a single film created one of the most anticipated cinematic events in 2024. Fans of the X-Men universe were eager to see how the sardonic, irreverent Wade Wilson (Deadpool) would collideboth literally and metaphoricallywith Logans gruff, brooding Wolverine. Bringing this explosive dynamic to life required a complex level of artistry, and at the forefront of this task was the visual effects powerhouse Framestore.No strangers to either the MCU or the merc with the mouth, Framestores creatives brought skill, flair and high-octane action to this hotly-anticipated box office smash. Work included the ambitious oner in which Deadpool and Wolverine cut a bloody swathe through the rampaging Deadpool Corps; Cassandras skin-crawling telekinetic powers and CG augmentation to the beloved Dogpool. In addition to final VFX and animation, Framestore Pre-Production Services (FPS) delivered the entirety of the films previs work, led by Visualisation Supervisor Kaya Jabar.Framestore provided pre-production servicespreviz, on-set support, techviz, and postvizto final VFX. Overseen by VFX Supervisors Matt Twyford (Loki), Robert Allman, Arek Komorowski, and Joo Sita, the VFX team delivered 420 supremely complex shots, building on the groundwork laid by Framestores Pre-Production team (FPS), led by Senior Visualisation Supervisor Kaya Jabar. The FPS team was the films sole pre-production services collaborator, delivering 900+ shots. The VFX team contributed to several key sequences, including the brutally funny opening title and the gripping third act. This involved executing the cameo-filled Deadpool corp and Oner sequences and orchestrating the climactic destruction of the Time Ripper machine, animating Dogpools performance, creating dozens of digi-doubles, building an expansive urban environment, and delivering a plethora of VFX, ranging from a hand passing through Paradoxs head, gallons of blood simulations, plasma energy, and Framestores signature spaghettification FX. Deadpool & Wolverine was directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay he wrote with Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells. The Production Visual Effects Supervisor was Swen Gillbergand, and the Visual Effects Producer was Lisa Marra. As part of our ongoing coverage of films in the lead-up to the Oscar Bake-off on January 11, we spoke with Framestores London Visual Effects Supervisor Matt Twyford.In our fxguide breakdown, Matt Twyford dived into two of the films most standout VFX moments: the surreal fingers through the face sequence and the scene-stealing CGI enhancements for Peggy, the films ugliest-yet-most-adorable dog. Both moments showcased Framestores ability to merge technical precision with artistic flair, creating visuals that were not only technically complex but also deeply connected to the films story and characters.The Fingers Through the Face SequenceIn VFX shot that felt utterly unprecedented, the scene where Cassandras hand penetrates a characters face was a defining moment in Deadpool & Wolverine,. According to Framestores VFX Supervisor Matt Twyford, the sequence was always envisioned as a visceral, photorealistic effect.Our only reference was a single comic book frame, Twyford explained. It was just enough to give us the creative direction we neededfingers intersecting through the skin but not the bone, interacting with facial orifices like the mouth and eye sockets. The challenge was making this look completely real on a fully performing actor. The team began by building an ultra-high-resolution digital double of the actor using a Clear Angle scan rig, capturing every detail down to individual pores. The system has over a hundred lights instead of just a single flash, youve now got the controlled light direction, Twyford explains. So its a 180 frame different light angle, light burst, which allows you then to get all the normals and extract the normal mats from the skin down to poor level Twyford commented that it was very easy to work with Clear Angle Studios. Weve got a close link with them. They fed back to us, we fed back to them, but the quality of the material was stunning. Our first models were just absolutely amazing for the faces.But the real magic lay in animating the interaction between the hand and the facial skin. Framestore decided to move much of the skin distortion work from simulation into animation, allowing the team to preview results earlier in the production process and ensure client confidence.We didnt want to wait until the back end to show results, Twyford noted. By animating the skin distortion early on, we could present rough renders to the client quickly, gaining approval on the gross motion before adding finer details like tension maps and subsurface effects.The final result? A mesmerizing blend of realism and stylization, where skin stretched and reacted with unsettling believability. Subtle details, like hemoglobin redistribution based on skin tension, added to the illusion. It was a balance between anatomical accuracy and Marvel-esque visual logic, Twyford said. The goal was to make it visually stunning without breaking the audiences immersion.Peggy: The Scene-Stealing Dogpool CanineOn the lighter side of the film, Peggya real-life dog and proud titleholder of the UKs ugliest dogstole the show. Framestore worked extensively with Peggy on set, capturing her unique look and mannerisms, including her perpetually hanging tongue, to ensure authenticity in her digital double.Peggy performed brilliantly on set, Twyford said. She did the stunts, the jumps, she worked with blue screens and even handled pyro effects like a pro. She was fantastic. While 90% of Dogpool was live-action, for certain sequences, such as adding goggles and enhancing her expressions, the team relied on her digital counterpart. The VFX team designed and rendered Dogpools goggles late in production, adding a playful yet functional element to her character. Using Framestores proprietary renderer, Freak, they achieved realistic fur interactions and magnified reflections in the goggles, all while maintaining Peggys signature look. The goggle idea actually only came really quite late on, probably less than two months before delivery, he recalls. There was a little discussion about, lets magnify her eyes, lets have that slightly googly eyeglasses effect. And because we are using the physics-based render, we had to do that using the thickness of the glass and the refractive index, which actually proved to be, as you can imagine, very difficult to control, but it is all through the renderer. The goggles allowed us to amplify her personality, Twyford explained. Frmestore kept her eyes true to her natural appearance but gave them life with subtle animations, letting her emotionally connect with the audience in key moments. Crafting Iconic MomentsFor Framestore, Deadpool & Wolverine was a perfect platform to showcase the teams ability to blend creativity and cutting-edge technology. While the film was filled with massive set pieces and intricate effects, it was the smaller, character-driven momentslike Cassandras surreal power display and Peggys charming anticsthat stood out.As Twyford put it, What Framestore loves doing, what we love doing, is the different stuff. Thats what we put ourselves forward for. And because thats what our artists love, they all demand the tricky stuff and the hard stuff. In the end, it was difficult and hard and very complex, but it was also very Marvel!Framestore actually has four films shortlisted for the 2025 Best Visual Effects Oscar: Wicked, Civil War, Deadpool & Wolverine and Gladiator II. These films showcase everything from world-dominating fantasy, epic character animation, blockbuster superhero action and gritty, documentary-style realism, these projects highlight the breadth of Framestores creative and technological skills. Wicked, Deadpool & Wolverine, Civil War and Gladiator II all be presented at the bake-off stage on January 11, 2025. The five final nominations will be announced on January 17. Framestores upcoming slate of projects includesHow To Train Your Dragon, Wicked pt. 2, The Wheel Of Time s3, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, The Gorge, F1 and Three Bags Full.

SPEE3D, a company specializing in high-speed metal additive manufacturing solutions, has demonstrated a significant advancement in additive manufacturing by successfully operating its XSPEE3D system in sub-zero environments. This achievement was showcased during the US Department of Defense (DOD) Point of Need Manufacturing Challenge in Melbourne, Australia, where the printer produced metal parts with material properties comparable to those created in controlled laboratory settings.Selected for participation in the Point of Need Challenge, SPEE3D collaborated with the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) COMET Project and Philips Federal. Managed by LIFT, the Detroit-based Department of Defense Manufacturing Innovation Institute, the initiative aimed to expand expeditionary manufacturing capabilities in extreme cold weather environments. The project concluded that the XSPEE3D system is well-suited to support the DODs objectives for battle damage repair and the production of large metal components under harsh conditions.The XSPEE3D is a containerized metal 3D printer specifically designed for deployment in remote and extreme environments. Encased within a standard 20-foot shipping container, the system integrates all necessary auxiliary components, requiring only a power connection to function. Utilizing Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing (CSAM) technology, the printer propels metal particles at supersonic speeds to form high-density metal parts without the need for high-power lasers or inert gases. This design enables rapid transportation and on-site manufacturing, making it a valuable tool for operations in austere locations.Capable of handling various metal alloys, including aluminum, aluminum bronze, stainless steel, and copper, the XSPEE3D offers flexibility in part production. It can fabricate components up to 0.9 meters in diameter and 0.7 meters in height, with a maximum weight of 40 kilograms. The systems build rate of approximately 100 grams per minute represents a substantial reduction in production time compared to traditional manufacturing methods.Byron Kennedy, CEO of SPEE3D, remarked, The positive results of the Point of Need Challenge demonstrate that the XSPEE3D can print metal parts from anywhere and in any weather conditions with the same successful outcomes. Previously, we partnered with the Australian Army and showed that our technology can print parts in the extremely hot, rugged Australian bush. Now, were proving that we can also successfully print parts in the coldest of environments, helping to support the DODs goal of expanding manufacturing capabilities in austere environments.Noel Mack, Chief Technology Officer at LIFT, emphasized the importance of the achievement, stating, The Point of Need challenge winners have proven to be champions of research and innovation and are helping drive the United States militarys technological advantage through the latest in advanced materials and manufacturing process technologies. The successful demonstration at the US Armys Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire, in late 2023, highlighted the systems potential to address supply chain gaps and enable the on-demand manufacturing of critical equipment in challenging environments.SPEE3Ds approved by US DoD. Photo via SPEE3D.Developments in Defense 3D PrintingIn another defense-focused initiative, the US Navy installed ADDiTECs ElemX 3D printer aboard the USS San Diego, producing high-strength aluminum alloy parts (Al-6061) under maritime conditions. Sailors confirmed that components met performance and quality standards. The printer has a build volume of 300 x 300 x 120 mm and a maximum build rate of 0.5 pounds per hour, enabling rapid manufacturing at sea; ADDiTEC developed this system to handle the unique demands of naval operations.A separate arrangement under AUKUS includes plans to develop hypersonic missiles with assistance from additive manufacturing. Brian Mathews, CEO of ADDiTEC, stated, We have worked tirelessly to ensure that our 3D printing technologies meet the specific needs of maritime operations, continuously enhancing their reliability and efficiency to be fully mission-ready for any operational demands. Mathews remarked that the successful printing of functional parts at sea reflects ongoing collaboration with naval authorities, including efforts to integrate additive and subtractive manufacturing in a single machine.USS San Diego (LPD-22). Photo via ADDiTEC.Ready to discover who won the 20243D Printing Industry Awards?What will the future of 3D printing look like?Which recent trends are driving the 3D printing industry, as highlighted by experts?Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter to stay updated with the latest news and insights.Stay connected with the latest in 3D printing by following us on Twitter and Facebook, and dont forget to subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry YouTube channel for more exclusive content.

Permasteelisa Group, the leading international facade specialist, recently announced its North American expansion with the acquisition of key business assets from Benson Industries, a leader in design, engineering, fabrication and installation of custom unitized curtain wall and glass solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Benson is widely recognized among the architectural and construction community as one of the premier custom curtain wall and external cladding subcontractors in the United States.Established in Portland, Oregon in 1926, Benson maintains offices across California, Washington, and Oregon with additional design and engineering facilities worldwide, including in Singapore, the Philippines, and Mexico. Over the past several decades, Benson worked on many iconic projects, including the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco and The Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles.With the acquisition of Benson, Permasteelisa Group significantly expands the size and scope of its operations across North America, growing its footprint in several key markets. Together, customers of both businesses will now be able to leverage a broader suite of global capabilities and offerings. The expansion of our North American footprint is a crucial component of our long-term growth strategy and this acquisition is an exciting milestone on our path toward achieving it, said Liam Cummins, CEO of Permasteelisa Group. The highly capable team joining us from Benson has an excellent track record and shares our commitment to providing the very best service to our clients. With Bensons West Coast presence and complementary glass and curtain wall offerings, this acquisition is truly a win-win for our customers, suppliers and teams.Supported by Permasteelisa Groups global resources, Benson will operate as a standalone business within Permasteelisa North America. Lance Howard, who served as President of Benson since 2016, has been named chief executive officer of the combined North American business. As a leading international faade specialist, Permasteelisa Group is the ideal destination for Bensons team. Permasteelisas deep industry experience and international presence will enable us to expand our technical offering and access new design and production resources worldwide, said Lance Howard. By leveraging our capabilities with Permasteelisa Groups global reputation for excellence, we will be able to further enhance our ability to service our clients. I look forward to what is ahead in this next chapter for our newly united organization.About Permasteelisa GroupPermasteelisa Group operates in 23 locations on four continents. The companys industry leading brandsJosef Garter, Permasteelisa, Scheldebouw, and Bensonbring visions of architects to life worldwide. They have played their part in the delivery of iconic buildings including Sydney Opera House, One Vanderbilt, Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall, The Shard, and UniCredit Tower. For more information, visit www.permasteelisagroup.com

Coinciding with Paul Rudolphs retrospective at The Met, a new show at Yale centers Tuskegee Chapel, and Rudolphs kindred collaboration with Louis Fry and Colonel John Welch on the project. The Tuskegee Chapel: Paul Rudolph X Fry & Welch opens this week inside New Havens Yale Architecture Gallery. The exhibition tells the story of how two Tuskegee architecture professors, Fry and Welch, worked closely with Rudolph to realize the dazzling, sculptural chapel atop the Alabama campus designed by Robert R. Taylor. Tuskegee Chapel was one of Paul Rudolphs finest projects, completed at the HBCU Tuskegee University between 1960 and 1969.Original drawings, like this master plan perspective, will be on view. (Courtesy Yale Architecture Gallery)Helen Brown Bechtel curated The Tuskegee Chapel with Dr. Kwesi Daniels, Roderick Fluker, Timothy Hyde, and Carrie Norman. In a curatorial statement, the organizers noted that Fry and Welch successfully translated Rudolphs sculptural concrete form into a spiritual home in local brick that echoed and modernized the building vernacular of Tuskegee.Original photography of Tuskegee Chapel by Ezra Stoller will be on view (Ezra Stoller/Courtesy Yale Architecture Gallery)The exhibition simultaneously shows how the design by Rudolph, Fry, and Welch was in contextual dialogue with the campus architecture, built promptly after Tuskegee University was established by Dr. Booker T. Washington over a century ago. On view at Yale Architecture Gallery will be architectural models of Tuskegee Chapel, as well as full-scale brick replicas of masonry retails by Fry and Welch. There will also be rarely seen construction drawings by Fry and Welch, but also concept sketches, correspondences with Rudolphs team, photography by Tuskegee alumnus Chester Higgins, and more.The show will feature rarely seen construction drawings of brick detailing by Fry and Welch. (Courtesy Yale Architecture Gallery)Full-scale models that show Tuskegee Chapels brick detailing will be on display. (Courtesy Yale Architecture Gallery)Major Holland, the last living member of the design team at Fry and Welchs studio, was interviewed for the exhibition; that exchange between Holland the curators will be available for public consumption.Last but certainly not least, Ezra Stollers iconic photographs of the building will also be on view, matched by a newly commissioned masonry sculpture by Myles Sampson, and recordings from Tuskegees famous Golden Voices Concert Choir.Live recordings of Tuskegee Universitys Golden Voices Concert Choir will be available at the exhibition. (Courtesy Yale Architecture Gallery)The Tuskegee Chapel: Paul Rudolph X Fry & Welchis open from January 9 through July 5.

Its been just a few days since a heavy truck rammed through a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people, and injuring many more. The New Orleans attack on New Yearscoincided with recent ones in Las Vegas and Magdeburg, Germany, prompting discussions about how best to fortify pedestrian spaces from weaponized cars. It also elicited conversations about the psychological state of U.S. military veterans, and the rise in recent years of domestic terrorist attacks carried out by service members. Not long after the New Orleans catastrophe, reporters found that the new bollards planned for Bourbon Street, scheduled to be installed by February ahead of the Super Bowl, wouldnt have been strong enough to thwart the drivers Ford F-150, which weighed approximately 6,000 pounds, sparking concerns for many.An extensive rehab plan was underway on Bourbon Street at the time of the New Years Eve attack. (New Orleans Department of Public Works)The area known colloquially as Bourbon Street is a strip eight blocks long that starts to the south at Canal Street and terminates at St. Ann Street, to the north. The driver came from the south, entered from Canal Street, and then proceeded to drive north early the morning of January 1.The bollards which are employed to protect pedestrians at the mouth of Canal Street had been swapped out several times in the past few years. The older versionsmanufactured by a British company, Healdwere stronger than the ones being installed on the street for the Super Bowl. In 2017, New Orleans Department of Public Works officials chose to replace bollards from Heald that could withstand a strike by a 15,000-pound truck going 40 miles per hour with different bollards that were much less resistant.These new versions were S-10 rated, a type of bollard typically installed in front of glass storefronts at shopping malls, not pedestrian thoroughfares. The proposed bollards would be removable to allow for ease of passage for delivery and emergency vehicles.S-10 bollards are meant to withstand pedal misapplication, not terrorism, according to Scott Rosenbloom, who owns a Louisiana-based bollard supply plant. According to the city, S-10 was chosen to eliminate pedestrian tripping hazards, but they could stop only a 5,000-pound vehicle moving 10 miles per hour.Conceptual rendering of the bollards in place (New Orleans Department of Public Works)Conceptual rendering of the bollards stored (New Orleans Department of Public Works)Jeff Halaut, a security consultant, called S-10 the lowest of the low. Halaut added: I dont know any consultant or any engineering or design firm that knows anything about crash ratings that would put an S-10 in a target-rich environment.Construction began on the current street improvement project in November 2024. A construction update from the city published in late December 2024 shared images of the work underway in the French Quarter. Mott MacDonald is the local engineering firm behind the project.At a news conference on Sunday, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city is again looking into the proposed bollards. The question of how to protect pedestrian spaces from terrorism without stripping them of their vitality has perplexed planners for some time now. Theo Deutinger, an Austrian architect and educator, has dedicated significant time and attention to this subject, namely to the militarization of urban spaces.State of Tyranny, a show Deutinger curated at Storefront for Art & Architecture in 2019, explored how Lower Manhattan had been transformed after 9/11 for counter-terrorism purposes, meticulously mapping every single bollard south of Canal Street.Over the last years, at least as landscape architects based in the Netherlands, we have seen security move up earlier in the design process, Deutinger recently wrote. But now, It is increasingly included in the first project brief.