Java development remains a cornerstone for building enterprise-grade systems, especially when scalability, security, and performance are top priorities. Interestingly, the importance of structured, efficient coding extends across domains, including game development. For example, the discussion around clean and optimized code in game engines can provide valuable insights for enterprise-level applications.If you're seeking a team with expertise in creating high-performance, scalable Java

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Doomsday preppingmaking yourself and your home ready for some amorphous stuff-hits-the-fan eventhas gone mainstream. About 20 million Americans are actively prepping for the apocalypse in some sense, which could come in many different forms. No matter how the world as we know it ends, the thinking goes, folks with enough food and water, gold (or crypto), and ammunition salted away will survive to help rebuild society. Or fight zombies.A lot of doomsday prepping is kind of silly, of course. Youre probably not going to be fighting those zombies (or hordes of Mad Max-style warriors), and having a thousand cans of beans probably isnt going to be the difference between life and death. But preparing for extended emergencies isnt a bad ideayou just have to do it in a practical, thoughtful manner. Heres what you should consider if you want to feel at least slightly prepared for a SHTF event.Test stuffDoomsday prep is big business, and there are a lot of gadgets designed to help you survive the End Times in (relative) comfort and safety. Most are uber-practical and arguably necessary, like generators or a Lifestraw, but simply buying this stuff does not mean youre actually prepared. If the first time you actually unpack and try to use it is the day the bombs drop or civilization collapses, youre going to be under extreme stress while trying to parse an instruction manualand you might discover that you bought a lemon in the first place.Buy whatever you think might be useful in an emergency, but as a best practice you should unbox it, set it up, and get it running at least once. This way youre familiar with its operation and certain you have a working unit. Its also a good idea to re-test everything once a year to refresh your memory and make sure nothing has degraded while in storage.Hard copy and manual toolsSometimes we forget how reliant weve become on having all the worlds information (and disinformation) in our pockets at all times. But in the event of doomsday you should probably assume both the internet and the electrical grid will be out of commission, which means it will be a huge mistake to rely on anything digital or powered. A few things to consider:Paper copies. You should have hard copy of any crucial informationinstructions, directions, repair manuals, etc. Even if you have a plan for getting power during the apocalypse, relying on files stored on a hard drive is a bad idea.Manual tools. Power tools are one of the great blessings of civilization, but when civilization itself goes bye-bye you might not be able to operate them effectively. Manual, hand-powered tools and appliances (like a can opener!) will always be usable, so have at least a few basics on hand for when the power vanishes.Renewable everythingThe classic image of a prepper is someone with a stockpile of canned and dried food and a humming generator (zombie-blasting shotgun optional). Thats a fine plan for a short-term emergency like a natural disaster or extended blackout, but if you really want to be prepared for doomsday you need to think in more renewable terms. Canned food rusts and spoils, bottled water can go bad, and gasoline runs out (and also spoils), so having renewable sources of energy and food is key:Power. Solar or wind setups (ideally with a whole-house battery) will help stretch fuel supplies and can provide electricity long after all the power plants have exploded.Water. A crate of plastic water bottles will get you through a short-term emergency, but rebuilding civilization in the wake of Armageddon is thirsty work. Ideally, you want a continuous supply of filtered fresh water. If you have a well on your property, thats ideal, but you can also have a rainwater collection and filtration system installed (rainwater has to be filtered pretty thoroughly to be safe to drink) that will guarantee a water supply unless the apocalypse is a very dry version.Food. You dont want to be completely reliant on ultra-processed preserved food if youre going into a long-haul survival period. Sure, those packs of instant Ramen might keep you alive, but ideally you should have a garden set up to feed you. A self-sustaining garden for one person can be set up in about 200 square feet, and if nothing else, will stretch your dry goods and canned food until the local groceries rebuild.MedicinesApocalyptic fantasies on television tend to focus on guns and video game-like action, and medical treatment usually involves a quick dash to an abandoned CVS and some instinctive knowledge of antiseptics and bandaging. In real life, you probably dont need an entire crate of automatic weapons, but you will need some medical stuff. A few things to consider:First aid. Yes, you need a First Aid kit. But you also need to know how to use it, so learn first aid. Having a kit from Amazon wont do you much good if you dont have some basic training, including how to do stuff like applying tourniquets or setting broken bones.There are several excellent online first aid courses (Save a Life by NHCPS is free and accredited, and the American Red Cross offers online first aid classes as well as class-based courses). You might also consider taking a Wilderness First Aid Course (like this one), as they focus on first aid and emergency medical treatment when youre far away from a hospital or an easy 911 call. And dont forget what we just said about hard copies: Add some reference books to your survival library, like The Field Guide of Wilderness and Rescue Medicine from Wilderness Medical Associates, or The Survival Medicine Handbook: The Essential Guide for When Help is NOT on the Way by Joseph Alton, M.D.Medical supplies. First aid kits are intended for rapid response, short-term solutions. If youre planning to spend decades without a modern hospital system, youre going to need a lot more stuff, like antibiotics, more gauze and wound dressings than you think, and other basics. You should also stock up on necessary prescriptions, because that abandoned CVS may not be opening up again any time soon.Medicinal herbs. No matter how well-stocked your personal pharmacy and medical supply cabinet is, if its really the end of the world youll more than likely run out of stuff much faster than expected (apocalyptic scenarios tend to be filled with sharp edges, collapsing buildings, and those pesky, hungry zombies). If youre setting up a garden to feed yourself, consider putting space aside for medicinal herbs. Plants have been used for centuries as pain relievers (turmeric), antibiotics (garlic), and as treatments for indigestion (ginger).Some caveats: Medicinal herbs are not drop in replacements for the drugs in your medicine cabinet, and youll need to know a lot about their preparation and dosage to safely use them. A book like the Peterson Field Guide To Medicinal Plants & Herbs Of Eastern & Central N. America by Steven Foster and James A. Duke can give a start. And not all herbs will grow in all climates, so some research into what you can and cant grow will be necessary.Rotate stockSpeaking of dry goods and canned foodthese are not set it and forget it items. You cant dump 500 cans of Spam into your basement and assume youll be fine, because all that food, no matter how well-preserved or stored, will eventually spoil (or be eaten by organisms). The key to a solid apocalypse pantry is rotationeat the stuff as part of your normal, everyday meals just before they hit their expiration date, then replace them with fresh versions.Similarly, consider the medical supplies and prescriptions youve stockpiledthese will also need to be checked for freshness and replaced on a regular basis. While some medicines and drugs dont necessarily go bad, they do lose effectiveness over time.Consider a communityFinally, consider your community as a resource. Most apocalyptic fantasies imagine its you (and your family) against the world, but in real life, your friends and neighbors will probably be right there with you, which can mean shared resources and assistance. A practical approach to doomsday prepping wont rely on thisjust in case you are all on your own, or in case your neighbors turn out to be selfish jerksbut ignoring this potentially rich source of assistance and shared supplies entirely would be unfortunate.

No one wants to deal with tangled cables anymore. Thats one of the reasons why wireless headphones have taken over as the go-to choice for music lovers, gamers and anyone who just wants a little more freedom. No more fighting with wires in your bag or accidentally yanking your headphones out mid-song. With Bluetooth connections now more reliable than ever, wireless headphones have become a no-brainer for most people.But its not just about cutting the cord. The best wireless headphones pack some serious tech, offering fantastic sound quality that can rival their wired counterparts. Many even come with advanced features like active noise cancellation (ANC), so you can block out distractions and fully immerse yourself in your tunes, podcasts or calls. Whether youre looking for something lightweight and portable or over-ear headphones with killer battery life, theres a wireless option for everyone and every budget. Table of contents Best wireless headphones for 2025 How to choose the best wireless headphones for you How we test over-ear headphones Other wireless headphones we tested Wireless headphones FAQs Best wireless headphones for 2025 How to choose the best wireless headphones for you When it comes to shopping for a good pair of wireless headphones, the first thing youll need to decide on is wear style. Do you prefer on-ear or over-ear headphones? For the purposes of our buyers guide, we focus on the over-ear style as thats what most noise-canceling headphones are nowadays. Sure, you can find on-ear models with ANC, but over-ear designs are much more effective at blocking sound. Speaking of noise cancellation, youll want to determine early on if you even want that. If you frequently crank up the beats in noisy environments, youll want to not only make sure its there, but also make sure its good, preferably with adaptive ANC. If you plan to use your new headphones in quieter spaces, skipping ANC can save you some money. The next area to consider is features. We recommend trying to get the most bang for your buck, but as youre shopping around you should determine which items are must-haves and what you can live without. And dont take basic things like automatic pausing and Bluetooth multipoint connectivity for granted, as not all companies include them. We also suggest reading reviews to see how well a companys more advanced features work. This will help you decide if those are something youre willing to (likely) pay extra for. Keep an eye on better battery life estimates to avoid disappointment, as some manufacturers promise more hours than real-world testing delivers. And dont be easily swayed by lofty promises about call quality without verifying them. Sound can be subjective, so we recommend trying before you buy if at all possible. We understand this isnt easy at a time when were doing most of our shopping online. But trying on a set of headphones and listening to them for a few minutes can save you from an expensive case of buyers remorse. We also recommend paying attention to things like Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, 360 Reality Audio and other immersive formats. Not all headphones support them, so youll want to make sure a perspective pair does if that sort of thing excites you. If you plan to use your headphones for other media besides music, checking for latency is also a must some delay can impact playback for things like movies or games, even if most true wireless headphones now offer minimal lag. How we test over-ear headphones The primary way we test wireless headphones is to wear them as much as possible. We prefer to do this over a one- to two-week period, but sometimes embargoes dont allow it. During this time, we listen to a mix of music and podcasts, while also using the earbuds to take both voice and video calls. Since battery life for headphones can be 30 hours or more, we drain the battery with looping music and the volume set at a comfortable level (usually around 75 percent). Due to the longer battery estimates, well typically power the headphones off several times and leave them during a review. This simulates real-world use and keeps us from having to constantly monitor the process for over 24 straight hours. To judge the best Bluetooth headphones, we focus on higher-quality audio by listening to a variety of genres and paying close attention to how each style sounds. We also test at both low and high volumes to check for consistency in the tuning. To assess the quality of phone calls, well record audio samples with the headphones microphones as well as have third parties call us. When it comes to features, we do a thorough review of companion apps, testing each feature as we work through the software. Any holdovers from previous models are double checked for improvements or regression. If the headphones were testing are an updated version of a previous model, well spend time getting reacquainted with the older set. Ditto for the closest competition for each new set of headphones that we review. Other wireless headphones we tested AirPods Max Apples AirPods Max are premium, well-designed over-ear headphones that incorporate all of the best features you find on standard AirPods: solid noise cancelation, spatial audio and easy Siri access. However, their $550 starting price makes them almost prohibitively expensive, even for Apple users. There are better options available at lower prices, but if you can pick up the AirPods Max at a steep discount, they might be worthwhile for the biggest Apple fans among us. Dyson On-Trac The On-Trac headphones have an almost infinitely customizable design, and thats whats most unique about them. The sound profile offers some nice detail, but lacks dynamic range overall. ANC is average at best and there arent any advanced features that will make your life easier. Well, except for the hearing health monitor which is actually handy. All told, thats not a lot in a set of $500 headphones. Sonos Ace The Sonos Ace is an excellent debut for the companys first headphones. The combination of refined design, great sound quality and home theater tricks creates a unique formula. However, ANC performance is just okay and key functionality is still in the works for many users. Sony ULT Wear If most headphones dont have the level of bass you desire, the ULT Wear is an option to consider. The low-end thump isnt for everyone, but there are also plenty of handy features and a refined look to make the $200 set more compelling than many in this price range. Sony WH-CH720N While the WH-CH720N are a great affordable option, we prefer the Audio-Technica in the budget category. Sonys cans are lightweight with good sound quality, but ANC struggles at times and theyre made with a lot of plastic. Beats Studio Pro The Studio Pro lacks basic features like automatic pausing, and multipoint connectivity is only available on Android. Moreover, theyre not very comfortable for people with larger heads. Overall sound quality is improved, though, and voice performance on calls is well above average. Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones Boses latest flagship model has a lot to offer, but its trademark Immersive Audio feature can be inconsistent across different types of music. Theres still world-class ANC, excellent comfort and a clearer transparency mode, but for the price, the non-Ultra model is a better choice right now. Master & Dynamic MH40 (2nd gen) The MH40 are a great set of headphones if you favor crisp, clear and natural sound that isnt overly tuned. This pair showcases the companys affinity for leather and metal too, but limited customization and short battery life for non-ANC cans kept this set from making the cut. Bowers & Wilkins Px8 The companys trademark pristine sound is on display here, but the Px8 are more expensive and not nearly as comfortable as the Px7 S2. Wireless headphones FAQs How can you tell the quality of wireless headphones? I typically look at three factors: design, sound quality and features. In terms of design, Im usually looking to see if the build quality of the headphones feels cheap and plasticky. Plenty of companies use plastic, but they can do so in a way that doesnt look or feel like budget models. For sound quality, I want to hear a nice, even tuning where highs, mids and lows are all well represented. No overly boomy bass or scooped out mids. I also want good clarity where you can pick up fine details and an open, immersive soundstage. Features is typically a distant third, but if a company doesnt cover basic functionality (automatic pausing, transparency mode, multipoint Bluetooth, etc.) it can be an indication of overall quality. How do I choose the best quality wireless headphones? Best can be pretty subjective, but I always recommend going to a place where you can listen to the headphones youre thinking about buying before you commit. Sometimes this isnt possible, so youll want to check return policies. I also recommend doing some research to determine what your priorities are in a new set. Are you an audiophile who wants the best sound quality? Is powerful active noise cancellation (ANC) the most important? Would you rather have conveniences like automatic pausing? Which brand has the best wireless headphones? Sony consistently tops our list with its 1000X line. This is mostly due to the combination of sound quality, ANC performance and the truckload of features these headphones pack in. Ill be the first to tell you that there are better sounding options and other companies, like Bose, offer more effective noise cancellation. But when you add everything up, no one comes close to the full slate of tools Sony puts in its premium headphone line. Do expensive wireless headphones sound better? Exorbitant price tags dont mean better audio quality. Bowers & Wilkins headphones are on the high end for wireless noise-canceling models and they sound amazing. However, Audio-Technicas M50xBT2 is much more affordable and doesnt have ANC, but these headphones have a warm, natural sound profile that I find very inviting. At the end of the day, it will come down to personal preference, but you dont need to spend a lot to find great headphones.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-headphones-wireless-bluetooth-120543205.html?src=rss

I love air fryers. They offer microwave-like convenience, but stuff actually tastes good. If you want to see what all of the fuss is about, a standout Cosori air fryer is on sale via Amazon for $90. This is a fairly substantial discount of 25 percent, as the original price is $120. This particular model made our list of the best air fryers, and for very good reason. Its a great device that gets the job done. Its a six-quart model that offers plenty of cooking space, which we found ideal for side dishes like sweet potato fries and onion rings. However, its no slouch with mains like chicken wings, tofu and more. The rounded basket is particularly roomy. The touchscreen is easy to use and there are plenty of preset cooking modes, including a handy preheating option for starting things off. Most people will rely on the standard air fry mode, I know I do, but its nice to have the option for broiling, baking and roasting. We also appreciated the basket release button, which is a nice safety feature. This is pretty much the ideal air fryer, so its tough to find complaints. There isnt a see-through window, for those who like taking a look at tater tots crisping up. This particular unit is also on the wider side, which could make placement difficult in tiny kitchens. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-air-fryers-is-25-percent-off-right-now-161542670.html?src=rss

A non-password-protected database was recently discovered with millions of entries.

Google TV is experimenting with AI news on its TVs, and this isn't going to end well

Brandedis a weekly column devoted to the intersection of marketing, business, design, and culture.TikTok is fighting for its life in the U.S. over concerns about its parent companys relationship to the government of China. But TikTok has also just enjoyed one of the best branding weeks ever, as its potential demise has been treated as a national emergency.That sounds like hyperbole, but as youve no doubt heard, the president of the United States has literally intervened to pluck the popular video platform from its deathbedfor now, at least. Protecting this vital component of the internets attention-suck and dubious-trend infrastructure might not seem like a top government, or even societal, priority. But in the days leading up to a possible TikTok ban, Americans dependence on this virality machine went massively viral.Content creators and influencers said goodbye and posted teary videos. Fans shared serious and jokey goodbyes of their own. Brands and ad agencies lamented the loss; as one marketer moaned, Theres no substitute. The platforms wide-ranging cultural impacts were enumerated in the past tense. The New York Times asserted that TikTok had changed the way we cook, and publishers warned of an impending vacuum for bookselling. The frantic search for a replacement made an unlikely hit of a Mandarin-language app called RedNote. Rivals YouTube and Instagram angled to capitalize on the platforms demise. Even Kevin OLearythe Shark Tank guymanaged to drum up attention for claiming he might buy TikTok. Concerns about espionage were waved away with sarcastic Goodbye to my Chinese spy memes.More than a collective obituary, the outpouring amounted to an endless series of advance eulogies in honor of an entity that we, apparently, could never truly replace. It was, in short, a PR bonanza for TikTok.This has been quite a turnabout. While clearly popular, with 170 million users, TikTok owner ByteDance has long been painted by detractors as a potential tool of the Chinese government, for collecting data on or even influencing its audience. During his first term as president, Donald Trump called for banning TikTok unless it found a U.S. buyer. The Biden administration later voiced similar concerns, and backed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed by Congress with wide bipartisan support. The upshot was that ByteDance had to find a buyer by January 19, or it would become illegal for key service providers including Apple, Google, and Oracle to distribute or support the app, effectively killing it in the U.S. The platform fought this all the way to the Supreme Court, which unanimously upheld the act, seeming to seal TikToks fate.But as the pro-TikTok outcry swelled, the political appetite for actually shutting it down seemed to wobble, and the company took full advantage. Two days before the shutdown deadline, it blamed the Biden White House for failing to offer clarity and assurance to TikTok service providers to buy more time to find a solution, declaring that unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called this a stunt, insisting there was no reason for action before the second Trump administration took office: TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them. That night, TikTok video feeds stopped working, replaced with a pop-up message blaming a law banning the app but adding: President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok.And indeed the next morning, Trumpwho, lets not forget, had set the whole TikTok ban idea in motion in 2020promised to stall the new laws enforcement to work out a deal. The platform was operating again within hours. (Apple and Google have yet to make it available again in their app stores, however.) According to Similarweb, by the end of the day, it hit a record 106.8 million active daily users, well above its pre-ban average.The legality of this maneuver is murky at best, and the Wall Street Journal has calledit an illegal amnesty. Nevertheless, its safe to say that the narrative around TikTok has changed decisively. Trump now professes a warm spot in my heart for the platform, which he says helped him win over younger voters. And in a somewhat surprising and oddly timed chain of events, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew met with Trump last month at Mar-a-Lago, later received an invitation to his inauguration, and was seated front and center next to Americas Big Tech CEOs. Still, the details of whatever Trump has in mind beyond the 75-day extension are vague, and the app could die again; foreign policy hawks are complaining about placating China, and some TikTok creators may not want to be part of a platform too-associated with Trump. In what sounds like a negotiating feint, the president is now suggesting the United States government itself should own like half of TikTok, which he says could be worth hundreds of billions, but would have no value without its U.S. audience. (Again, the legality of such an arrangement is questionable.)Meanwhile, the TikTok faithful have been rewarded for their vocal support, the TikTok Shop sales barely missed a step, and hardly anybody seems worried about the app as an espionage toolleast of all Trump, who dismissed the importance of a geopoliticalrival spying on young kids watching crazy videos. Rumors of potential buyers include MrBeast and Elon Musk. And within a day or two of its resurrection, TikTok had spawned a fresh health trend that involves pouring castor oil in your navel. Yup, back to normal.

Imagine this for a pitch: a Broadway musical about the making of a fake Broadway musical based on a real TV show about the making of a fake Broadway musical.If that made you dizzy, you might not have what it takes to work alongside Drew Hodges and Callie Goff, the creative team that was tasked with creating the ad campaign for Smash, a new musical comedy based on a short-lived NBC series from more than a decade ago.The musical is set to begin preview performances in March at Broadways Imperial Theatre. Like the series, it pokes fun at the backstage intrigue and inflated egos that drive the madcap world of New York theater, all while charting the wayward creation of a fictional musical about Marilyn Monroe. Chaos, drama, and plenty of hijinks ensue in anticipation of one unforgettable moment, the kind that Hodges says is uniquely Broadway: a pulsating, blissful, adrenaline-filled opening night.Thats the moment he sought to recreate for the campaign.Its a really specific American piece of iconography, Hodges tells Fast Company. Youre a hit, and people drink too much, and they jump on top of a table and read a review. When youre in the middle of an opening night like that, its kind of funny because its this classic idea of what a Broadway opening night isbut it actually still happens.Hodges should know. He has worked in the business for well over three decades, helping to create the visual identity for musical hits from Rent to Avenue Q to Hamilton. He founded New Yorks SpotCo advertising agency in the 1990s and now works as an independent creative and designer. For Smash, he collaborated with Goff, SpotCos managing director and chief creative officer, along with noted portrait photographer Jason Bell.We wanted it to be realThe team captured the impromptu emotional purity of an opening night with an elaborate red-carpet photoshoot that included the entire cast, members of the Broadway press, and plenty of easter eggs for theater lovers.The result is a splashy campaign thats as meta as the musical itself, one you can stare at for hours and still find something new. Look closely beyond the red-carpet barricades and youll spot theater-industry stalwarts such as NY1s Frank DiLella, Broadway.coms Julie James, and Tony-recognized theater publicist Irene Gandy, along with theater-press newcomers, including teen influencer Joel Crump.Hodges calls it a Broadway Wheres Waldo? or maybe a Sergeant Peppers thing. And its not an overly Photoshopped composite. Everyone in the photo is actually there in real time.We wanted it to be real, he says. Thats the fun of working on Broadway. You get to have these pinch-me moments. We wanted to bring everyone else into that.The shoot took place at Pier59 Studios on Manhattans West Side and made use of a curved, high-definition screen that stretched some 70 feet wide, projecting the Imperials exterior. A 3D title treatment was added once the image was set. (Hodges says his original plan to shoot in front of an actual venue proved logistically impossible given that most Broadway theaters are filled with audiences and peoplerunning the shows.) Outfits had to be built specifically for the photoshoot because costumes for the final production werent finished yet.Goff, who has worked at SpotCo since the beginning of her career, admitted to feeling some trepidation early in the process for Smash when it came time to enlist real-life industry types for the shoot.We werent sure what was going to happen when we started reaching out to them, Goff says. The exciting moment was when we started getting positive responses. For me, that was the moment when I was like, Oh, this could come together. The community is rallying behind this.'Plenty of Broadway shows wink and nod at their target audiences with theater references and inside jokes about the business and fandom of Broadway. What makes Smash different is that it is overtly about the business of making theater, an insider comedy for an industry where proximity is everything.Only time will tell if that premise will work for or against the show when it opens this spring, although putting prominent members of the theater press in your actual campaign is not a bad way to hedge against negative reviews.If it stumbles, it wont be for lack of talent: Smash features a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman; direction by Susan Stroman; and it counts Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron, and Steven Spielberg as producers. The NBC series was created by playwright Theresa Rebeck.For Hodges and Goff, the goal was simply to create something entirely new. If Smash doesnt look like other Broadway campaigns that came before it, well at least it made you lookprobably more than once.I mean, you could just make a mask logo and call it a day, but Im a more-is-more kind of person, Hodges says.

Indian studio SJK Architects has completed The Light House, a home in Nagpur lined with openable wooden shutters that evoke traditional perforated screens or jaalis.Located in a dense urban area in the city, the five-storey home is designed to provide more space for a multi-generational family on a plot adjacent to their previous home, which was demolished to make way for a garden.Responding to Maharashtra state's warm climate and the family's memories of traditional Indian architecture, Mumbai-based SJK Architects stacked the home around a central atrium and added projecting balconies to its perimeter that are sheltered by openable wooden shutters.SJK Architects has completed The Light House in Nagpur"Hailing from north India, the family held deep nostalgia for haveli, large residences with communal courtyards called chowks, projecting balconies called jharokhas and intricate brick or stone lattice screens called jaalis, vernacular to many western and northern regions of India," said SJK Architects partner Vaishali Mangalvedhekar."These climate-responsive dwellings, along with the timber-based 'wada' residential architecture more predominant in Maharashtra served as an inspiration for the design of the new house," she told Dezeen.On The Light House's ground floor, a shared living and dining space sits at the base of the full-height atrium, overlooked from balconies on the upper floors.The five-storey home is designed around a central atrium with projecting balconiesThis communal living space's position not only marks it as the heart of the home but also helps pull daylight deep into the plan and creates visual connections between the more private areas for each part of the family above.The grandmother of the family has a bedroom at the back of the ground floor to enjoy its easy access to the garden spaces via sliding glass doors, while her two sons and grandson each have a dedicated floor above with ensuite bedrooms.Each bedroom extends onto a balcony partially sheltered by wooden screensPositioned on the edges of the plan, each of the bedrooms extends onto a projecting balcony.These balconies are divided to offer both fully outdoor space and areas partially sheltered by wooden screens, which help ventilate and shade the rooms as well as enliven the home's exterior.Read: Edition Office cloaks multi-generational Melbourne home with pale bricks"The lattices are an essential climate control device that diffuses the region's harsh sunlight and facilitates airflow, effectively cooling and ventilating the interiors," explained Mangalvedhekar."[They are] a single tool that satisfies climatic needs, creates an emotional connection with the family's roots and addresses privacy concerns while contributing to the overall aesthetic of the house," she added.Dark Accoya pine wood is used for the screens and interiorsThe dark Accoya pine wood used for these screens has been carried through the interiors in panelling for the living areas, furniture and balustrades.On the uppermost floor, a slightly smaller glass volume contains a spa, gym and jacuzzi finished in dark stone, wrapped by an area of planting and wooden decking overlooking the surrounding city.The shared ground-floor living space is overlooked from aboveElsewhere in India, architecture studio Cadence Architects recently completed a home in Tamil Nadu with semi-open terraces that were created by "carving out" sections of the facade.Other new Indian homes featured on Dezeen include the gridded House XO in Kerala by 3dor Concepts and the affordable Tiny House prototype by Harshit Singh Kothari and Tanvi Jain on the outskirts of Indore.The photography is by Niveditaa Gupta.The post SJK Architects wraps multi-generational Indian home with wooden shutters appeared first on Dezeen.

The Brutalist leads the Oscar nominations but as a film about architecture it's a little underwhelming, writes Will Wiles.You wait ages for an architectural epic and then two come along (almost) at once. Last year Francis Ford Coppola's misfiring fable Megalopolis was released, with a story about a visionary architect struggling to realise a utopian project in the face of political intrigue and opposition. Now, from director Brady Corbet, comes The Brutalist, in which a visionary architect rises out of the horrors of the second world war and the grime of post-war poverty to realise a utopian project in the face of personal disasters and opposition.The Brutalist and Megalopolis are very different films, but they are also very similar, not least in their relationship to a third film, in some ways the defining architectural drama: King Vidor's The Fountainhead (1949), adapted from Ayn Rand's 1943 novel of the same name, in which a visionary architect struggles to realise a utopian project in the face of scheming, petty rivals. The template, by now, is pretty clear: a singular genius, an architectural dream, and an unready world filled with meaner minds.The Brutalist has been eagerly anticipated in architectural circlesWriting for Dezeen about Megalopolis last year I remarked that its celebration of the blank-slate architectural prophet was oddly old-fashioned, a mid-20th-century sort of story rather out of step with the present. And The Brutalist roots its own version of the myth in that time and milieu.But perhaps it's not so old-fashioned after all. If we've been given not one but two retellings of the same parable, then it might have more relevance than expected. It's worth considering what that might say about architecture in the present moment.In The Brutalist which was written by Corbet and Mona Fastvold Adrien Brody plays Lszl Tth, a Bauhaus-trained architect who survives the Nazis and arrives in the USA immediately after the second world war. Eventually, after various trials, he comes to the attention of wealthy industrialist Harrison Van Buren (Guy Pearce). Van Buren makes himself Tth's patron, and commissions him to design a community centre on a prominent hilltop, dedicated to the memory of Van Buren's mother.Read: "There is no more controversial style of architecture" says The Brutalist director Brady CorbetThis ambitious project consumes both men. Tth, ravaged by trauma, is stubborn and self-destructive, self-medicating with heroin and occasional debauches. The handsome and mannered Van Buren, meanwhile, is vain, capricious and philistine. His appreciation for Tth's work comes not from the designs themselves but from the fashionable praise they attract.Although eager for Tth to realise a great work, "something boundless, something new", he lacks any real sympathy for the artist. Tth, dragged into the project by the force of Van Buren's personality, is fatally unsuited to the role of servant. The relationship is doomed.The Brutalist has been eagerly anticipated in architectural circles. I anticipated it eagerly myself. These are anti-intellectual times. Art and architecture are battered by cultural headwinds and punishing economic conditions. Here, it appeared, was a grand statement against all that, which in addition was sticking up for a scorned architectural style presently experiencing a wave of political antipathy.When a film like this addresses architecture, it is clearly talking about more than just bricks and mortarThe themes encompassed by The Brutalist couldn't be weightier: the Holocaust, Jewish identity, the American Dream, the immigrant experience, the nature of art and beauty. Uncompromising seriousness seemed written into its very fabric, not least its substantial three-hour, thirty-five minute run-time (with intermission), and its tremendous score by Daniel Blomberg.So when a film like this addresses architecture, it is clearly talking about more than just bricks and mortar or poured concrete and cut stone.Tth is making things that have outlasted the extremists who tried to murder him, and will outlast the vicious snobs who exploit and violate him, and all the other dolts and yahoos. It is the revenge of the intelligent on the unintelligent.Read: "Megalopolis is a reminder that the heroic conception of the architect is an intoxicating one"This is distilled in the moment when Tth confronts and insults the plodding commercial architect who Van Buren brings in to keep an eye on costs. In the cinema, this scene got a hearty laugh that was almost a cheer. It was the psychological moment the audience wanted, when the artist puts the value-engineer in his place. It is the kernel of the appeal of this whole fable.To ensure that we ordinary folk can relate, the artist in The Brutalist, is not a rarefied aesthete. Like Howard Roark in The Fountainhead, Tth is the genius as working man. Just as Patricia Neal finds Gary Cooper's Roark labouring in a quarry, Van Buren finds Tth shovelling coal. He's no egghead. His art comes out of pain and when he is thwarted he rages and smashes things up. Brody sells this with a magnetic performance, splendidly complimented by Felicity Jones as Erzsbet, his wife."My buildings were devised to endure [the] erosion of the shoreline," Tth says. He talks about them having an immovable "hard core of beauty", a phrase which gives the second half of the film its title. One can see the appeal of all this mass, solidity and permanence to film directors, whose medium is light dancing on reflective fabric.Tth's creation is a monumental, windowless hulkArchitecture in The Brutalist couldn't be weightier, earthier and stonier. Railcars groan under the burden of it. But is it anything more than a giant work of sculpture? Does it have life beyond endurance?Here is where things start to get a bit disappointing. Tth's creation is a monumental, windowless hulk. Is it beautiful? It doesn't matter, because it's a symbol. It just represents itself: a bold, uncompromising, obdurate creation, around which lesser men will cluck and cavil. It is the big, dumb object we are here to root for, just as for all his human failings there's never much doubt that in the film's moral cosmos the "ugly" Tth is meant to have our full sympathy and his creation our full support.We want to see the artist triumph, just as we want to see Captain America triumph. But the problem with this art-for-art's sake approach is that it surrenders any actual sense of what Tth is doing with his building and why.Read: Sacred Modernity showcases "unique beauty and architectural innovation" of brutalist churchesTth promises that within the unadorned shell, extraordinary interior effects of space and light will play out, but they are only ever glimpsed. One of the compromises he is obliged to make early on is to include a Christian place of worship, which makes him uncomfortable. This chapel appears to consume the entire project, which ends up surmounted by a tower bisected by a cross, and the light effects he creates are cruciform.What happens to the other functions? Presumably they are still there, but we don't see much of them. The film wants to portray Tth's architecture as spiritual, but it can't manage to do that without making it literally religious.We are encouraged to feel that the building that Tth designs is more than a building, but it ends up being rather less. It is just a gesture, a symbol.I am not convinced it makes a meaningful case for architectureThe outward message here is that architecture really matters: it's important, it's lasting, it should be made with an eye on the transcendent, not the bottom line. So it's strange that the actual building that Tth makes seems to matter so little.The aesthetic stakes the difference between success and failure are never really examined. A clunky coda tries to cover some of this with a curatorial lecture, which only really draws attention to the lack of explanation in the film. The Brutalist is a compelling human drama; as architectural drama it does not wholly convince.It's only natural that the architecture world should be enthusiastic about The Brutalist, when the profession is presently experiencing a good deal of indifference and scorn. And whatever their flaws, it's genuinely terrific to see two big, fascinating films about visionary architecture in less than a year. But while it might raise morale among the brutalists in the cinema, I am not convinced it makes a meaningful case for architecture. It's a depiction of creativity from the outside, not from the inside.Will Wiles is a design writer and the author of four novels, most recently The Last Blade Priest.The photography is courtesy of Universal Pictures.Dezeen In DepthIf you enjoy reading Dezeen's interviews, opinions and features,subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.The post "As architectural drama The Brutalist does not wholly convince" appeared first on Dezeen.