The Panama Playlists exposed the Spotify listening habits of some famous people and two journalists who didnt know as much about protecting their privacy as they had thought.

MacworldLabor Day deals usually mean discounts on grills or TVsbut this ones all about upgrading your productivity. Right now, you can score a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for Mac for just $42.99 (MSRP: $229). Thats a one-time payment,no monthly subscription fees, and permanent access to all the apps.This version of Office was designed specifically for Mac, taking advantage of features like Retina display support and full-screen mode. Whether youre a small business owner, freelancer, student, or just someone who wants to keep work and home life more organized, this deal delivers.Hereswhat youll unlock with Office 2019 for Mac:Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Teams ClassicOne-time install on one Mac device, at home or workInstant delivery and free customer supportYou can stop worrying about recurring subscription fees and instead just own the software outright. For less than $50, youre set for years to comeand thats a bargain worth acting on before this pre-Labor Day price disappears.Get a lifetime license toMS Office Home & Business 2019 for Macfor $42.99 (MSRP: $229) for a limited time.Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for MacSee DealStackSocialprices subject to change.

Apple is seeing rapid growth in enterprise markets, and in the wake of theCrowdstrike disasterand Microsofts forced Windows 11 upgrades, theres no good reason for that trend to end. Its no wonder its platforms have become such a big target fororganized crime meaning constant security vigilance is necessary for every user as thescale of attacks intensifies.That doesnt mean Apples products are insecure; theyre not. But no platform is completely secure, and as more enterprise data is held on those platforms it becomes increasingly essential to ensure you have the correct security stance in place.How much is too much?Apples highly-skilled security teams are the first line of platform defense to protect system integrity, and they know how constant the attempts against its platforms have become. We dont know how constant, but only this week weve heard of two relatively serious security warnings, including the seventh zero-day attack this year.CrowdStrike (remember it?) recently warned of a spike in exploits targeting Macs on the part of a bunch of cybercriminals known asCookie Spider. These attacks use malware infested advertising to trick people into visiting fraudulent help websites where they are fooled into executing malicious commands that steal their data.The second, perhaps more disturbing, zero-day exploit is one that has been actively exploited in extremely sophisticated attacks against specific targeted individuals. That strongly suggests it to have been used in a sophisticated spyware campaign. Known asCVE-2025-43300, it enables attackers to compromise Apple device security just by getting the user to open a malicious image file. How severe is this exploit? Very.The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)hasgiven this vulnerability a severity rating of 8.8 out of 10.One reason the latter attack exploits malicious images is because Apple has made it much harder to use more conventional link-based attacks. These barriers are far from being complete Apple has now patched a total ofseven zero-day attacksthis year and its only August.In discussing this, Adam Boynton, senior security strategy manager atJamf, suggested the zero-day attack might have been used by one of thesurveillance mercenaries. While Apple has not confirmed whether this specific flaw was linked to spyware, similar vulnerabilities in ImageIO and WebKit have previously been used in Pegasus campaigns, he said.Surveillance-as-a-servicePegasus is just one of a hungry horde of amoral, zero-day spyware attacks to be sold for profit by surveillance-as-a-service firms, many of which seem toemanate from Israel.This is a zero-click exploit that requires no user interaction, and can be triggered simply by processing a maliciously crafted image file, which could be delivered through various channels including messages, emails, or web content, according to Qualys security research manager Mayuresh Dani.Developing such attacks is very costly, which suggests the level of resources being thrown into breaking Apple device security. (Its worth noting that these are the kinds of resources that would also be used toidentify and exploitany security backdoorsput in place at an operating system level in the event authoritarian surveillance-loving governments get their way.)That cost certainlydoesnt seem to be a massive turn-offto the highly sophisticated and well-resourced companies profiting from the delivery of digital chaos. Many of these firms, such as NSO Group, have faced international sanctions and lawsuits, which doesnt seem to have stopped them at all. Meanwhile, many of the exploits they create are sold to repressive governments that use them against journalists, dissidents, political rivals and others. Beyond that, older, patched exploits have reportedly been traded on the dark web, meaning these dangerous attacks can proliferate.The danger of such attacks should be top of mind for any prominent business executive, as enterprises can be targets, too particularly as corporate execs jet around the world. Travelers should now carry burner phones with only limited access to important corporate (or personal) data.Dont be paranoid, but be awareThe growing sophistication and frequency of attacks reflect Apples growing ecosystem but underline the obvious need to maintain a robust security posture. That includes keeping all your devices updated with the latest security patches and ensuring that all the systems you do use are running or capable of running the latest security updates.While Apple is evolving, attackers are evolving in tandem. Are all your systems updated with the latest security patches?You can follow me on social media! Join me onBlueSky, LinkedIn, andMastodon.

The Netherlands Gambling Authority (Ksa) has banned gambling ads from the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix.The Ksa has issued guidance ahead of the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, contacting the organizers to say that no teams sponsored by gambling providers will be allowed to participate in the Grand Prix. This is regardless of whether those parties are licensed in the country of the teams origin, as sports teams cannot display visible sponsorship messages for gambling providers in the Netherlands.It is strictly prohibited to display advertising or other visible advertisements from gambling providers without a Dutch license, said the Ksa. Such advertisements from unlicensed providers constitute promotion of illegal gambling.The Ksa has called on all involved parties to be alert, inviting them to contact the agency if they have any doubts about the admissibility of specific statements.Gambling ads and Formula 1 teams ahead of the Dutch Grand PrixThe immediate thought when gambling sponsorships are banned is of Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber. Online casino company Stake is a name sponsor and the logo features prominently on the car, helmets, and racesuits, to name just a few of the promotional areas.However, the Sauber team has already had to navigate avoiding gambling sponsorships at previous Grands Prix, including last years Dutch race. In such cases, Sauber tends to race simply as Team Kick Sauber, with no mention of the gambling company.Sauber is not alone in having gambling sponsorships, of course. Red Bull Racing also has a partnership with PokerStars, with branding appearing on cars, driver suits and helmets, while McLaren has a similar promotion withAllwyn, the operator of the National Lottery. Williams began working with online sports betting and gaming business Betway and casino brand Jackpot City, with logos for both appearing on the cars.These teams will need to adjust their sponsorships ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, held between August 29 and 31, 2025. Interest in Formula 1 from gambling companies as a whole has gone up, so more teams could take on other gambling sponsorships in future years, making this an obstacle for more of the grid.Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0The post Netherlands Gambling Authority bans gambling ads at Dutch Grand Prix appeared first on ReadWrite.

In October, a new academic conference will debut thats unlike any other. Agents4Science is a one-day online event that will encompass all areas of science, from physics to medicine. All of the work shared will have been researched, written, and reviewed primarily by AI, and will be presented using text-to-speech technology.The conference is the brainchild of Stanford computer scientist James Zou, who studies how humans and AI can best work together. Artificial intelligence has already provided many useful tools for scientists, like DeepMinds AlphaFold, which helps simulate proteins that are difficult to make physically. More recently, though, progress in large language models and reasoning-enabled AI has advanced the idea that AI can work more or less as autonomously as scientists themselvesproposing hypotheses, running simulations, and designing experiments on their own.James Zous Agents4Science conference will use text-to-speech to present the work of the AI researchers.COURTESY OF JAMES ZOUThat idea is not without its detractors. Among other issues, many feel AI is not capable of the creative thought needed in research, makes too many mistakes and hallucinations, and may limit opportunities for young researchers.Nevertheless, a number of scientists and policymakers are very keen on the promise of AI scientists. The US governments AI Action Plan describes the need to invest in automated cloud-enabled labs for a range of scientific fields. Some researchers think AI scientists could unlock scientific discoveries that humans could never find alone. For Zou, the proposition is simple: AI agents are not limited in time. They could actually meet with us and work with us 24/7.Last month, Zou published an article in Nature with results obtained from his own group of autonomous AI workers. Spurred on by his success, he now wants to see what other AI scientists (that is, scientists that are AI) can accomplish. He describes what a successful paper at Agents4Science will look like: The AI should be the first author and do most of the work. Humans can be advisors.A virtual lab staffed by AIAs a PhD student at Harvard in the early 2010s, Zou was so interested in AIs potential for science that he took a year off from his computing research to work in a genomics lab, in a field that has greatly benefited from technology to map entire genomes. His time in so-called wet labs taught him how difficult it can be to work with experts in other fields. They often have different languages, he says.Large language models, he believes, are better than people at deciphering and translating between subject-specific jargon. Theyve read so broadly, Zou says, that they can translate and generalize ideas across science very well. This idea inspired Zou to dream up what he calls the Virtual Lab.At a high level, the Virtual Lab would be a team of AI agents designed to mimic an actual university lab group. These agents would have various fields of expertise and could interact with different programs, like AlphaFold. Researchers could give one or more of these agents an agenda to work on, then open up the model to play back how the agents communicated to each other and determine which experiments people should pursue in a real-world trial.Zou needed a (human) collaborator to help put this idea into action and tackle an actual research problem. Last year, he met John E. Pak, a research scientist at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. Pak, who shares Zous interest in using AI for science, agreed to make the Virtual Lab with him.Pak would help set the topic, but both he and Zou wanted to see what approaches the Virtual Lab could come up with on its own. As a first project, they decided to focus on designing therapies for new covid-19 strains. With this goal in mind, Zou set off training five AI scientists (including ones trained to act like an immunologist, a computational biologist, and a principal investigator) with different objectives and programs at their disposal.Building these models took a few months, but Pak says they were very quick at designing candidates for therapies once the setup was complete: I think it was a day or half a day, something like that.Zou says the agents decided to study anti-covid nanobodies, a cousin of antibodies that are much smaller in size and less common in the wild. Zou was shocked, though, at the reason. He claims the models landed on nanobodies after making the connection that these smaller molecules would be well-suited to the limited computational resources the models were given. It actually turned out to be a good decision, because the agents were able to design these nanobodies efficiently, he says.The nanobodies the models designed were genuinely new advances in science, and most were able to bind to the original covid-19 variant, according to the study. But Pak and Zou both admit that the main contribution of their article is really the Virtual Lab as a tool. Yi Shi, a pharmacologist at the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved in the work but made some of the underlying nanobodies the Virtual Lab modified, agrees. He says he loves the Virtual Lab demonstration and that the major novelty is the automation.Nature accepted the article and fast-tracked it for publication previewZou knew leveraging AI agents for science was a hot area, and he wanted to be one of the first to test it.The AI scientists host a conferenceWhen he was submitting his paper, Zou was dismayed to see that he couldnt properly credit AI for its role in the research. Most conferences and journals dont allow AI to be listed as coauthors on papers, and many explicitly prohibit researchers from using AI to write papers or reviews. Nature, for instance, cites uncertainties over accountability, copyright, and inaccuracies among its reasons for banning the practice. I think thats limiting, says Zou. These kinds of policies are essentially incentivizing researchers to either hide or minimize their usage of AI.Zou wanted to flip the script by creating the Agents4Science conference, which requires the primary author on all submissions to be an AI. Other bots then will attempt to evaluate the work and determine its scientific merits. But people wont be left out of the loop entirely: A team of human experts, including a Nobel laureate in economics, will review the top papers.Zou isnt sure what will come of the conference, but he hopes there will be some gems among the hundreds of submissions he expects to receive across all domains. There could be AI submissions that make interesting discoveries, he says. There could also be AI submissions that have a lot of interesting mistakes.While Zou says the response to the conference has been positive, some scientists are less than impressed.How do you get leaps of insight?Lisa MesseriLisa Messeri, an anthropologist of science at Yale University, has loads of questions about AIs ability to review science: How do you get leaps of insight? And what happens if a leap of insight comes onto the reviewers desk? She doubts the conference will be able to give satisfying answers.Last year, Messeri and her collaborator Molly Crockett investigated obstacles to using AI for science in another Nature article. They remain unconvinced of its ability to produce novel results, including those shared in Zous nanobodies paper.Im the kind of scientist who is the target audience for these kinds of tools because Im not a computer scientist but I am doing computationally oriented work, says Crockett, a cognitive scientist at Princeton University. But I am at the same time very skeptical of the broader claims, especially with regard to how [AI scientists] might be able to simulate certain aspects of human thinking.And theyre both skeptical of the value of using AI to do science if automation prevents human scientists from building up the expertise they need to oversee the bots. Instead, they advocate for involving experts from a wider range of disciplines to design more thoughtful experiments before trusting AI to perform and review science.We need to be talking to epistemologists, philosophers of science, anthropologists of science, scholars who are thinking really hard about what knowledge is, says Crockett.But Zou sees his conference as exactly the kind of experiment that could help push the field forward. When it comes to AI-generated science, he says, theres a lot of hype and a lot of anecdotes, but theres really no systematic data. Whether Agents4Science can provide that kind of data is an open question, but in October, the bots will at least try to show the world what theyve got.

InsightsWhy the Tortoise Doesnt Win Anymore: Speed to Skill as a Competitive AdvantageMark Marone, PhDAugust 18, 2025Richard Drury/Getty ImagesIn brief:In a fast-changing market, sustainable advantage comes from how quickly organizations can identify skill needs, acquire them, and apply them in real timebefore the competitive landscape shifts again.Firms like Google, OpenAI, and Unilever integrate learning directly into work, leveraging data, rapid iteration, and internal mobility to create a continuous cycle of skill acquisition, application, and impact.Accelerating speed to skill requires more than faster trainingit demands strategic alignment on future skills, psychologically safe environments to apply them, and performance metrics that reward learning agility.For 2,000 years, the fable The Tortoise and the Hare has offered a lesson in patience and persistence. Slow and steady wins the race, the story goes. Deliberate, methodical progress beats speed.But in todays business landscape, that moral increasingly feels outdated.Welcome to an era where speed to skillhow quickly individuals and organizations can learn, adapt, and apply new capabilitieshas become a defining competitive advantage. In fact, it may be the only sustainable competitive advantage left. The new race is to see who learns fastest, applies that learning in real time, and gets maximum ROI before the landscape and the skills needed to navigate it shift again.The Hare Learns a LessonIn the classic tale, the hare loses. The advantage of his natural speed is undermined by his arrogance and complacency. But imagine a different version: one where the hare has learned his lesson and recognizes there is no time for napping under a tree. Instead, he scans the terrain for the best way forward, learns from every misstep, and uses those lessons immediately to move ahead, smarter and faster.Thats todays winning strategy in business. Companies are now consciously improving their speed to skill, making them more agile and adaptive. And theyre pulling away from competitors, even those making slow but steady progress.Institutionalizing Learning at SpeedOn the cutting edge are companies like Google and OpenAI, which approach learning like an extreme sport. OpenAI, for example, has built systems that treat every launch as a learning opportunity. Nearly 100% of releases are A/B tested, and those insights feed back into rapid cycles of iteration, dramatically increasing what some call their learning velocity.At Google, speed to skill is also measured with surgical precision, especially on engineering teams. Through its DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) framework, Google tracks how long it takes teams to deploy new code, recover from failures, and iterate changes. These metrics reflect how fast teams learn from the real world and integrate that learning into the product.Speed to Skill at ScaleLearning velocity isnt limited to tech companies. Unilever has become a global model for what it means to build speed to skill at scale. Through its internal talent marketplace, employees can map their own career paths and identify the skills theyll need. They can access relevant learning and apply their new capabilities immediately by volunteering for short-term internal gigs. For instance, a marketing professional can learn basic data analysis and then test that skill in a data-driven project in a time frame of just weeks.This integration of learning, doing, and performing creates a virtuous cycle: faster skill acquisition, faster application, and a faster impact on the business. Its no coincidence that Unilever consistently ranks among the most future-ready global companies.Why This Matters NowThe half-life of skills is shrinking, quickly. The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2027 44% of workers core skills will be disrupted. AI is transforming job roles at a pace that is making some training programs obsolete before they can be completed.And the pressure for speed is mounting. According to our 2025 Fast, Fluid, and Future-Focused study, 55% of organizations say that incorporating gen AI, AI, or machine learning into business practices is a top priority this year. It follows that nearly half also said there are significantly increased expectations of leaders to upskill their teams in AI.Faster training delivery alone isnt the full solution to the problem of accelerating speed to skill. Organizations must first understand the skills they will need, something that must go hand in hand with setting strategy. Second, the training must be effective and applicable. Third, it all needs to happen within an organizational culture that embraces the application of new skillsa change-seeking organization. It is a task for which many business leaders and organizations arent fully prepared.A New Moral for a New RaceSo whats the takeaway for business leaders?The lesson isnt that speed always wins. Its that learning speed wins in a world that rewards insight, agility, and action.If youre a leader, ask yourself:Is learning embedded in our C-suite strategy discussions?How quickly can our teams integrate new technologies, tools, or processes? How do we know?Knowing our strategy, do our people have the opportunity to help identify the skills they are going to need?Does our leadership create a psychologically safe environment that is conducive to applying new skills?Are our performance measurements and incentives aligned with accelerating our organizations learning velocity?To compete in this new race, organizations must design for speed to skill. Its not just about training programs but also systems and environments that make learning continuous, contextual, and integral to performance.When it comes to learning, its time to retire the old fable. The new one is being written every day by companies that are learning their way to the finish linefaster than ever before.Leadership DevelopmentStrategic AlignmentShare this resourceShare on LinkedInShare on FacebookShare on XShare on WhatsAppEmail this PageConnect with usChange isnt easy, but we can help. Together well create informed and inspired leaders ready to shape the future of your business.Contact usLatest InsightsTalent ManagementScale Innovation with Speed: The ABCs of Leading InnovationInnovation is an organization-wide capability requiring leaders who can foster collaboration, experimentation, and execution at Read more: Scale Innovation with Speed: The ABCs of Leading InnovationArticleStrategic AlignmentWhy the Tortoise Doesnt Win Anymore: Speed to Skill as a Competitive AdvantageIn a fast-changing market, sustainable advantage comes from how quickly organizations can identify skill needs, Read more: Why the Tortoise Doesnt Win Anymore: Speed to Skill as a Competitive AdvantageArticleTransformationBreaking Through: People-Centered Transformation Powered by LearningOrganizations can embed learning measures into learning for more immediate impact to enrich the experience Read more: Breaking Through: People-Centered Transformation Powered by LearningArticleFuture of WorkFPT Partners with Harvard Business Impact, Empowering Global Workforce with AI-Driven Learning SolutionsFPT partners with Harvard Business Impact to boost leadership development and talent growth. Read more: FPT Partners with Harvard Business Impact, Empowering Global Workforce with AI-Driven Learning SolutionsNewsThe post Why the Tortoise Doesnt Win Anymore: Speed to Skill as a Competitive Advantage appeared first on Harvard Business Impact.

The Black Friday Sales 2024 are here, and with it comes a flurry of deals for digital artists, 3D enthusiasts, and creatives alike. Whether youre looking for a professional 3D modeling tool, a high-quality graphics tablet, or powerful rendering software, this curated list has you covered. Lets dive into these unmissable discounts to upgrade your workflow without breaking the bank!3D Scanning and Modeling SoftwareKiri Innovations Kiri EngineWhat: 3D scanning app Kiri Engine (annual Pro subscription)When: Until January 2025 (Consecutive Black Friday and Christmas sales)Discount: 55%How to claim: Install and log into the Kiri Engine app, then view it from the ME page.Pilgway 3DCoat and 3DCoatTexturaWhat: 3DCoat, 3DCoatTexturaWhen: Until 2 DecemberDiscount: 26% on 3DCoat, 18% on 3DCoatTexturaGraphics Tablets and AccessoriesXP-PenWhat: All products (pen displays and graphics tablets)When: Until 9 DecemberDiscount: Up to 45%HuionWhat: Selected products (pen displays, graphics tablets)When: Until 2 DecemberDiscount: Varies, with up to 20% off Kamvas Pro pen displaysAnimation and Motion Capture ToolsReallusion ActorCore AssetsWhat: ActorCore assets (motion-capture moves and 3D characters)When: Until 30 NovemberDiscount: 30% on standard assets, 77% on Mega BundlesReallusion iClone and Character CreatorWhat: iClone, Character Creator, and pluginsWhen: Until 30 NovemberDiscount: 50%KeenTools FaceTracker and FaceBundleWhat: Blender and Nuke facial mocap pluginsWhen: Until 31 DecemberDiscount: 30%Rendering and Texturing ToolsFox RenderfarmWhat: Online renderingWhen: Until 31 DecemberDiscount: Coupons for future rendering on recharges over $100InstaMaterial InstaMAT SubscriptionsWhat: Startup and Pro subscriptions for InstaMAT material authoring toolsWhen: Until 2 DecemberDiscount: 50%Specialized Tools for ArtistsRizom-Lab RizomUVWhat: UV mapping tools (Real Space and Virtual Spaces editions)When: 29 November 8 DecemberDiscount: 30% with code RIZOM-30Sitni Sati FumeFXWhat: Smoke and fire simulation software for 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, and MayaWhen: Until 31 DecemberDiscount: 50%Geometryy Architectural Asset PacksWhat: Geometryy and GeoFusion packs for 3ds MaxWhen: Until 5 DecemberDiscount: 40% with code BF2024Video Editing and Graphics ToolsWondershare FilmoraWhat: Filmora video editing softwareWhen: Until 6 DecemberDiscount: 25% off perpetual licensesReady to Elevate Your Creativity? With discounts spanning high-quality 3D modeling tools, graphics tablets, and rendering software, theres no better time to invest in your creative toolkit. Act fastmany of these deals are available for a limited time only. Whether youre a seasoned professional or just starting your creative journey, these offers are your ticket to taking your projects to the next level.Happy creating and happy saving!

On September 4, NFL Retro Bowl 26 is launching exclusively on Apple Arcade, and Jeopardy! Daily and My Talking Tom Friends+ also join the service.

Apple will be keeping audiophiles waiting a long time for new AirPods Max, in part due to it being simultaneously too popular and not popular enough.AirPods MaxIt has been over four years since the introduction of the AirPods Max, and Apple has still not issued a second-gen model. Aside from adding a USB-C port in September 2024, there have not been any major alterations to the headphones.While being long overdue an upgrade, a report claims that the AirPods Max are in an odd position that stops Apple from actually updating it. Rumor Score: Likely Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The latest edition of Architizer: The Worlds Best Architecture a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe is now available for pre-order. Secure your copy today.Architecture is not made of buildings alone. The spaces left unbuilt including those areas in-between and unoccupied are equally essential. They shape how buildings breathe, how people move, and how atmospheres unfold. In the right hands, these voids become active tools of orientation, comfort and expression. This is especially true in hospitality design, where guests arrive as strangers and need to feel settled quickly. In these spaces, the void becomes a guide. It organizes circulation, frames views, invites rest, and helps regulate light and air, often without attracting a lot of attention.This idea is not new. Architects have long used courtyards, breezeways and cloisters to solve spatial and environmental problems. But in the following A+Award-winning hospitality projects, voids are playing an active role in the architectural strategy itself. This collection breaks down how each project uses emptiness as function and not a filler.1. Void-Led Modular PlanningDongmingshan Senyu Hotel by GLA Architects, Hangzhou, ChinaJury Winner, Hotels and Resorts, 13th Architizer A+AwardsIn this forest retreat outside Hangzhou, GLA Architects let the voids lead. They studied the metasequoia forest and chose to build around its natural gaps instead of carving into the land. These small, naturally occurring clearings shaped every spatial decision that followed.They designed modular pinecone-shaped guest rooms and positioned them like seeds between the trees. GLA also tapered the tops inward and lifted the bases to reduce disruption to the canopy and terrain. The voids beneath and between each unit were also left untouched, allowing the forest floor to breathe. From above, the buildings disappear into the woodland rhythm.This approach reversed the usual role of voids in design. GLA didnt treat empty space as an afterthought. They used it to orient the architecture and protect the ecology. In this case, the voids didnt follow the form; they formed it.2. Environmental Mediation With A Linear VoidAruma Split Garden by RAD + ar, Jakarta, IndonesiaJury Winner, Restaurants, 13th Architizer A+AwardsRAD+ar carved a semi-open spine through this multi-tenant complex, forming a linear void for light and some movement of air. Instead of sealing the mass or stacking functions, the architects split the building diagonally, anchoring the layout with a continuous central void. They oriented the structure north-south to preserve existing trees and used the spine to link a restaurant, mezzanine bar, and a rooftop garden. This spine became the anchor of the scheme, organizing spatial connections, ventilation strategies and flow of functions.The architects designed around the void from the beginning. They positioned the structure north-south to preserve the existing trees, then used the central split to link a ground-floor restaurant, a mezzanine bar and a rooftop beer garden. These levels are tied together visually by diagonal pathways and shifting floor plates, which mirror the spines angle and amplify movement through the site.Though the spine is not fully open to the sky, it is partially exposed and layered with ribs with colorful cove lighting. This semi-open condition allows for passive air movement. Cooler air enters at shaded edges while warm air rises to the top, relieving thermal buildup in the deep interiors. It is not a literal wind tunnel, but a calibrated thermal seam that buffers the internal climate while guiding circulation. The spine also limits direct solar gain and introduces filtered daylight across multiple levels.3. Staging Light and Movement Through Layered VoidsRitual Space by GEOMIM, Bodrum, TurkeyJury Winner, Spa and Wellness, 13th Architizer A+AwardsIn Ritual Space, GEOMIM used voids as spatial and atmospheric tools. The project arranged subterranean and elevated volumes around open corridors, skylights, and courtyards that bring light, air, and movement into the architecture. The designers carved narrow transitional voids between structures, creating moments of pause and layering experiences along the visitors journey. These interstitial spaces filter daylight and guide circulation through a quiet sequence of shaded paths, glowing interiors and open terraces.They raised the central meditation pavilion above the ground and surrounded it by low, semi-buried chambers. This height contrast creates a sectional void that pulls focus upward. Skylights were also introduced in the underground spaces to channel natural light from above and produce a vertical rhythm that reinforces the projects spiritual program.By layering the void both horizontally and vertically, GEOMIM defined how people move and feel. The result is a spatial gradient of stillness, elevation and ritual that transforms emptiness into experience.4. Embedding Voids in the FaadePopulus Hotel by Studio Gang, DenverPopular Choice Winner, Hotels & Resorts, 13th Architizer A+AwardsIn this case, the architects didnt carved the voids from the plan; they carved them into the faade as view apertures, shading elements and daylight catchers. Studio Gang transformed a triangular lot into a layered hospitality vessel driven by facade logic. The faade design was inspired by Colorados native Aspen trees. The designers used large eye-shaped window openings on the ground floor that transition into smaller, shapeshifting apertures above. These voids bring in daylight, frame the city, regulate solar gain and provide mini-niches where guests can pause.Rather than punch holes in a flat faade, the architects carved dynamic voids calibrated to program, orientation and climate. The windows lids break the mass down and shape the experience of the visitors.5. Using Voids to Regulate Light and PrivacyONDSAUNA by Amane Archi, Takeo, JapanPopular Choice Winner, Spa and Wellness, 13th Architizer A+AwardsAt ONDSAUNA, Amane Archi used gaps between vertical timber walls as intentional voids to manage privacy, light and social comfort. They arranged thick CLT panels in a rhythm that mimics the surrounding forest. Instead of building a completely solid enclosure, they created a loose perimeter where slits of space act as light filters and visual buffers.These stacked voids frame selective views of the forest while softening how bathers see each other. The layout avoids direct lines of sight and gives users the sense of being together without being watched. This design balances openness with discretion, which aligns with the Japanese culture.The absence of beams allows the walls to rise cleanly from floor to ceiling. This reinforces the vertical experience and keeps the gaps uninterrupted. Inside, these slits guide air movement and let the forest atmosphere bleed into the sauna space.6. Using Voids to Organize Flow and Navigate TerrainKimpton Huangshan by line+ studio, Huangshan, ChinaJury Winner, Unbuilt Hospitality, 13th Architizer A+AwardsThe architects behind Kimpton Huangshan used courtyards and skywells to shape both the experience and performance of the hotel. They studied the traditional spatial logic of Huizhou home and reinterpreted it to suit a steep, uneven site. Instead of building a continuous mass, they split the architecture into clusters and wove in courtyards as structural and environmental devices.These courtyards control light, guide movement, and connect guests to the terrain. They sit between public and private spaces and appear at the heart of each guest room unit. As guests move from terraces to alley to skywells, the voids create a consistent rhythm of compression and release. Each space transitions naturally into the next.By placing the courtyards along the sloped site, the architects let the building follow the land. The voids create clarity, orient visitors and soften the scale of the architecture. They also protect privacy without cutting off views.In these projects, voids are active design tools. They organize movement, frame views, regulate climate, and create atmosphere. By treating emptiness as structure, these architects show that what is unbuilt can be just as impactful as what is built, especially in spaces meant to host, comfort, and connect.The latest edition of Architizer: The Worlds Best Architecture a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe is now available for pre-order. Secure your copy today.The post Making Space for Nothing: 6 Times Hospitality Architecture Left Room to Breathe appeared first on Journal.