Kokako Heights House / ArkhSave this picture! Hunter StudioArchitects: ArkhAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:115 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2023 PhotographsPhotographs:Hunter Studio Lead Architects: Diego Marangoni More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Located at the Matata Conservation Estate, the site enjoys abundant native vegetation and breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean, and Moutohora Whale Island. The clients keen trampers and conservationists tented on-site for over one year after walking the length of Aotearoa New Zealand, on the Te Araroa Trail, becoming intimate with living only with what is essential.Save this picture!The design brief called for a measured response: shelter from the elements, seamless integration with the site, and direct access to the views, prioritizing regard for the surroundings above all else. The design response consists of a modest-sized ensemble of structures arranged along the western and northern edges of the site, ensuring easy site access and optimal alignment with views and sunlight. The unique folded roof format times unassuming from ground levelgradually rises towards the east, where maximum sunlight is captured through a fully glazed corner and clerestory windows. The shed follows a similar principle, with its roof gently rising towards the western bank, mimicking the site's morphology.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The main dwelling is situated along the northern edge, maintaining visual access to the ocean and Moutohora Whale Island. On the eastern side, the main bedroom benefits from the apex ceiling height and abundant natural light. On the opposite end, the guest bedrooms interface with native bush. At the center, the open-plan living area uses full-width sliding doors and a raking clerestory window to maximize engagement with the surrounding vistas.Save this picture!Charred and brushed Japanese cedar cladding brings natural tactility to crucial areas. In contrast, robust metal cladding blends with the surrounding shades of green, subduing the building's presence against the native bush. Inside, the muted and often moody dark tones contrast with the golden hues of the striking birch plywood raking ceiling.Save this picture!The modest footprint and passive design principles ensure minimal embodied and operational energy throughout the building's lifetime. Orientation and sun-shading provided by the verandah along the northern elevation deflect high-angle sun during the warm months while allowing the lower winter sun to heat the concrete flooring passively. The house also employs a highly efficient in-slab heating system as its only active heat source, combined with high-performance glass wool insulation and low-emission double glazing, minimizing heating loads during the cold months without compromising thermal comfort. Generous windows, stackers, and ceiling fans ensure adequate natural ventilation during the warm months. Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officeArkhOfficePublished on January 30, 2025Cite: "Kokako Heights House / Arkh " 29 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026113/kokako-heights-house-arkhe&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Nature, Published online: 29 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08477-8A modelling approach predicts SARS-CoV-2 variant dynamics on the basis of immunity and cross-neutralization, which was shaped by a regions SARS-CoV-2 infection history.

Nature, Published online: 29 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08463-0Epicardial engineered heart muscle allografts from induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes can safely and effectively remuscularize chronically failing hearts in rhesus macaques, leading to improved cardiac function and paving the way for human clinical trials.

Ahead of the release of Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, I spoke to developer Gareth Damian Martin about what it's been like to come back to the world of the dice-driven RPG in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 world and how this sequel ensures the action remains interesting even during failure. Citizen Sleeper 2 uses a very aggressive auto-save feature, preventing players from recovering from their mistakes or circumnavigating difficult rolls through save-scumming. As Damian Martin puts it, they're "trying to be a game master for a million people," and that means honoring player's choices and incentivizing them to keep going even when it might feel like the deck is stacked against them.In Citizen Sleeper 2, you once again play as a sleeper, sentient android that's an emulation of a human mind that's then housed in an artificial body. The story begins with your body on the fritz and a bounty placed on your head, and no immediate means to repair yourself or escape the asteroid belt-located settlement you find yourself on. You pick a class to curate your ideal playstyle and then set out, using dice rolls to determine the outcome of the choices you make and shape the relationships with the crew you begin to recruit. Each class now also has its own unique push ability, allowing you to potentially reroll the dice in certain circumstances to transform a failure into success.Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector launches on Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass, PS5, Switch, and PC on January 31.Continue Reading at GameSpot

With its release coming in just one day, Insomniac Games and Nixxes have revealed the PC requirements for Marvel's Spider-Man 2. The specs do not require for a ray-tracing-compatible GPU, as has been the case with some recent and upcoming games such as Doom: The Dark Ages and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.Insomniac provided six different preset levels, three without ray tracing and three without. Those with beefier PCs can enable ray tracing for more realistic reflections. A slider allows you to adjust the range at which objects are considered for ray tracing reflections. If you're hoping to play on more modest hardware, the low end--which is for Very Low graphics settings and 720p resolution at 30fps--only calls for a GTX 1650 or RX 5500 XT. There's no word on Steam Deck compatibility as of yet.The game supports Nvidia DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3.1 upscaling and frame generation. Intel XeSS upscaling is supported too. Ultra-wide monitor support includes 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios. With a triple monitor, the aspect ratio can even go up to 48:9.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Tanks pose a great danger to players as they can almost one-shot Hawker in Sniper Elite Resistance. If you use normal bullets or grenades against one, its tough armor will simply repel all damage and the tank will start targeting you. However, destroying a tank is not impossible as there are two easy ways that you can use to do this. However, it'll require you to sneak close enough to the tank and avoid detection at all costs.

Path of Exile 2 takes a slightly different approach to its skill system than the previous game. Rather than having slots in a player's gear to combine skill and support gems, skill gems now come with slots to socket support gems into by default. That means no more hunting or rolling for gear with the right linked slots before support gems can be used.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Do you want to haul out your fridge every time you clean under it? I'm not strong or motivated enough to do all that. Frankly, I'm lazy enough to avoid even moving shelving or furniture unless I absolutely have to. This trick from TikTok allows you to clean under larger piecesand while you'll still have to yank them out at some point, you can extend the amount of time between your feats of manual labor. Grab a sponge and a spatulaI saw this video on the Washy Wash account a few days ago. In just 14 seconds, it shows how you can easily clean under heavy furniture and appliances with only a sponge and a spatula. My thin spatula and nasty old melamine sponge. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson I don't use regular sponges very often (because I am such a fan of reusable silicone ones), so I didn't have a grimy old sponge to sacrifice to the experiment. What I did have, of course, was a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Ultra Foamy, which I have talked and talked about and will never abandon. I used this particular Magic Eraser a lot last week, so it was looking pretty busted and I felt fine destroying it in the name of science. I referred back to the video and found that I was supposed to cut a hole in the edge of the sponge and shove a spatula in there. My regular spatulas are pretty wide and I felt like they'd eventually burst the whole sponge open, making it unusable, so I used a thin icing spatula instead. One benefit of using a melamine sponge like the Magic Eraser over a harder sponge is that it was extremely easy to cut a hole in the side. I think there would have been more resistance with, say, a standard cellulose sponge. Pushing the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser under the fridge and hoping for the best. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson The next part was easy: After stuffing my spatula in the hole, I wet the sponge and dragged it around under my fridge, using the handle of the spatula to push and pull the Magic Eraser. Things to keep in mind with this trickObviously, you can only push the sponge in as far as your handle can reach (and, in cases where you're dealing with appliances like the fridge, only until some large, low-hanging component gets in your way). This isn't a substitute for pulling out the appliance or furniture and really cleaning under there. Rather, it's something you can do in between bigger cleanings to address the dirt and grime that gets stuck under the overhang of your larger pieces. The good news is there's plenty of dirt near the outer edges of appliances, since that's where it ends up when it gets kicked and swept. I got plenty of dirt using this method. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson If you're using a regular sponge, use a soap-and-water mixture or your favorite cleaning solution to address the dirt, but no matter what you use, make sure to go back in with a different sponge using only water, rinsing away any sticky residue. My Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Ultra Foamy comes with soap pods inside, so I had to use a plain rag wrapped around my spatula to rinse when I was finished. It worked fine! Overall, this is a simple way to extend the time in between larger cleanings under your big appliances. When I do it again in the future, I'm going to try to use a longer tool, like a yardstick, to really get in there.

Theres nothing worse than seeing the perfect house and finding out its already the object of a bidding war. As mortgage rates remain high and inventory remains low, the competition for homes is only getting more intense.If youre looking for a house and youve been frustrated at how quickly they sell, or youre struggling to find houses that meet your needs, theres probably an untapped resource you can take advantage of: pocket listings.What's a "pocket listing"?A pocket listing (sometimes called an off-market listing) is a property for sale that isnt listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). That means that while a real estate pro is actively trying to sell the house, it isnt easily discoverable and doesnt show up when people search for available properties. There are two main reasons real estate agents do this: One, if the seller doesnt want their property advertised on the MLS for their own reasons, and signs an opt-out form; and two, in order to sell the property to someone in their network, either because they know its the ideal property for their needs or because theres potential for a higher commission because there wont be another agent involved.Pocket listings are somewhat controversial in the real estate world. Although theyre 100% legal, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) issued a rule in 2019 that requires licensed real estate agents to list a property on the MLS within one business day of marketing a property to the public. Its still perfectly okay to market the property to other agents or to a specific potential buyer without listing it on the MLS, however, so pocket listings endureand agents have a few tricks they use to stay within the letter of the NAR rule while getting the advantages of a pocket listing.This means that theres a relatively small but crucial supply of homes for sale that you might not see if youre searching online or even if youre working with an agent, because theyre not yet listed on the MLS. But you can still find them, and that means you can get in early and make an offer before the whole world stampedes in to snag your dream home out from under you.How to find pocket listingsFinding pocket listings can take some legwork. But if youre in a tight market and have a very specific area you want to buy in, that work can pay off big time. Contact local agents. If there are pocket listings in a neighborhood, a local real estate agent is probably involved. Contact the agents in the area and ask if they have exclusives or off-market listings in the area youre targeting.Search online. Zillow has a coming soon category where agents can list off-market properties up to 30 days before theyre officially listed in the MLS. This is often used as a way to drum up interest in the property, but it also affords you an opportunity to make contact before the listing goes wide.FSBO. Zillow and other real estate listing sites have For Sale By Owner (FSBO) sections, and homeowners going the FSBO route also post on places like Craigslist or For Sale By Owner. These are off-market listings even though a real estate agent isnt involved.Homeowners. One last option is to contact the folks already living in your desired neighborhood and just ask them if they or someone they know is selling or thinking of selling their house. This is probably your least efficient option, but it might turn up a lead.

Yet another video game is being adapted into a different medium. Quantic Dream's Beyond: Two Soulsis bound for TV screens. There's one interesting wrinkle this time around, as one of the game's stars is behind the adaptation.Elliot Page, who played protagonist Jodie Holmes in the 2013 action-adventure, will produce the series, which is in early development. His production company, Pageboy Productions, has scooped up the TV adaptation rights from Quantic Dream. The game's writer and director, David Cage, said he is collaborating with Page on the project.As Deadline reports, the show will likely hew close to the non-linear storytelling format of the game. This adaptation will honor the games legacy while inviting fresh perspectives, Matt Jordan Smith, Pageboys head of development and production, said. Delving into questions of survival and how split-second decisions can alter not just our lives, but the lives of others, are key to telling the story.The sci-fi plot of Beyond: Two Souls should be a good fit for television. Jodie possesses supernatural powers via her lifelong psychic link to a spiritual entity named Aiden.Although Jodie can die in Beyond: Two Souls, there's no game over screen if she does, so it will be interesting to see how that translates into a TV show. "It's a game about death, so you can imagine that death plays a role in all of this," Cage told Engadget in 2013. "Actually, it's one of the big discoveries one of the big mysteries in the game is to discover what's on the other side. And it's definitely not a black screen."The storys rich narrative and emotional depth offer us a fantastic foundation," Page told Deadline. "We want to create a unique vision of the characters and their journeys that resonates with fans and newcomers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/beyond-two-souls-is-becoming-a-tv-show-with-help-from-star-elliot-page-202544852.html?src=rss