The Minions pose during the world premiere of the film "Despicable Me 4" in New York City, June 9, 2024.  (REUTERS/Kena Betancur) NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:- Major Hollywood studios sue AI company over copyright infringement in landmark move- Meta's Zuckerberg aiming to dominate AI race with recruiting push for new ‘superintelligence’ team: report- OpenAI says this state will play central role in artificial intelligence development The website of Midjourney, an artificial intelligence (AI) capable of creating AI art, is seen on a smartphone on April 3, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. (Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)'PIRACY IS PIRACY': Two major Hollywood studios are suing Midjourney, a popular AI image generator, over its use and distribution of intellectual property.AI RACE: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly building a team of experts to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) that can meet or exceed human capabilities.TECH HUB: New York is poised to play a central role in the development of artificial intelligence (AI), OpenAI executives told key business and civic leaders on Tuesday. Attendees watch a presentation during an event on the Apple campus in Cupertino, Calif., Monday, June 9, 2025.  (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)APPLE FALLING BEHIND: Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicked off on Monday and runs through Friday. But the Cupertino-based company is not making us wait until the end. The major announcements have already been made, and there are quite a few. The headliners are new software versions for Macs, iPhones, iPads and Vision. FROM COAL TO CODE: This week, Amazon announced a $20 billion investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the form of new data centers, the largest in the commonwealth's history, according to the eCommerce giant.DIGITAL DEFENSE: A growing number of fire departments across the country are turning to artificial intelligence to help detect and respond to wildfires more quickly. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., leaves the House Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.  (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)SHIELD FROM BEIJING: Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., is introducing a new bill Thursday imploring the National Security Administration (NSA) to develop an "AI security playbook" to stay ahead of threats from China and other foreign adversaries. ROBOT RALLY PARTNER: Finding a reliable tennis partner who matches your energy and skill level can be a challenge. Now, with Tenniix, an artificial intelligence-powered tennis robot from T-Apex, players of all abilities have a new way to practice and improve. DIGITAL DANGER ZONE: Scam ads on Facebook have evolved beyond the days of misspelled headlines and sketchy product photos. Today, many are powered by artificial intelligence, fueled by deepfake technology and distributed at scale through Facebook’s own ad system.  Fairfield, Ohio, USA - February 25, 2011 : Chipotle Mexican Grill Logo on brick building. Chipotle is a chain of fast casual restaurants in the United States and Canada that specialize in burritos and tacos. (iStock)'EXPONENTIAL RATE': Artificial intelligence is helping Chipotle rapidly grow its footprint, according to CEO Scott Boatwright. AI TAKEOVER THREAT: The hottest topic nowadays revolves around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential to rapidly and imminently transform the world we live in — economically, socially, politically and even defensively. Regardless of whether you believe that the technology will be able to develop superintelligence and lead a metamorphosis of everything, the possibility that may come to fruition is a catalyst for more far-leftist control.FOLLOW FOX NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIASIGN UP FOR OUR OTHER NEWSLETTERSDOWNLOAD OUR APPSWATCH FOX NEWS ONLINEFox News GoSTREAM FOX NATIONFox NationStay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here. This article was written by Fox News staff.

These annual rankings were last updated on May 30, 2025. Want to see your firm on next year’s list? Continue reading for more on how you can improve your studio’s ranking. Ireland’s architecture is a rich tapestry of vernacular craft, foreign architecture, and, most importantly, good ol’ grit. Like any nation, Ireland’s complex history is easily contextualized through its urban makeup. Dublin and Cork, for example contain a wealth of Georgian and Victorian structures that directly speak to the republic’s past ties to Britain through churches, libraries and courthouses. In the 20th century, Irish designers turned to modernism and other international trends, this time on their own terms. Art Deco, Brutalism and sleek Modern structures began to appear around the country, generating an architectural expression to mirror the republic’s newfound independence. Ireland’s traditional architecture — specifically the thatched cottage — was again made popular by tourists seeking a quintessential ‘Irish experience.’ Today’s designers continuously engage with discourse surrounding nationalism. What is the quintessential ‘Irish experience’, and how does it inform today’s architecture? With a built environment rooted in pluralism, Irish architects have an incredible opportunity to recreate and rectify an architectural language that best represents today’s Irish folk. With so many architecture firms to choose from, it’s challenging for clients to identify the industry leaders that will be an ideal fit for their project needs. Fortunately, Architizer is able to provide guidance on the top design firms in Ireland based on more than a decade of data and industry knowledge. How are these architecture firms ranked? The following ranking has been created according to key statistics that demonstrate each firm’s level of architectural excellence. The following metrics have been accumulated to establish each architecture firm’s ranking, in order of priority: The number of A+Awards won (2013 to 2025) The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2025) The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2025) The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2025) The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2025) Each of these metrics is explained in more detail at the foot of this article. This ranking list will be updated annually, taking into account new achievements of Ireland architecture firms throughout the year. Without further ado, here are the 30 best architecture firms in Ireland: 30. Hussey Architects © Hussey Architects Hussey Architects was established in 2009 in Dublin. The practice has grown from working on small domestic projects then to large healthcare, housing and hospitality projects now. We are a small practice with experience completing large projects. Over the past decade we have completed seven Primary Care Centres, two hotels, a nursing home, ten masterplans and over one hundred houses. Our focus is on designing simple economical buildings that respect their context. Our style has evolved from our more angular early buildings and projects to a more classical simple architectural language in traditional materials. Some of Hussey Architects’ most prominent projects include: National Leprechaun Museum Cafe The Hendrick, Dublin, Ireland Navan Road Primary Care Centre, Dublin, Ireland Celbridge Primary Care Centre, Celbridge, Ireland Balbriggan Primary Care Centre, Balbriggan, Ireland The following statistics helped Hussey Architects achieve 30th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Total Projects 14 29. Donaghy & Dimond Architects © Donaghy & Dimond Architects Based in Dublin, Donaghy + Dimond Architects was established in 2001 by Marcus Donaghy and Will Dimond, two architects with extensive experience of working on urban and rural design projects in Ireland and abroad. The practice has developed a reputation for high-quality, innovative and sustainable design, and has been selected for numerous national and international awards for completed projects. Their work has been published and exhibited in Ireland, Europe and the USA. Some of Donaghy & Dimond Architects’ most prominent projects include: Laneway Wall Garden House, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped Donaghy & Dimond Architects achieve 29th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 1 28. ABK Architects © ABK Architects Established in 1961, ABK Architects is a design-led practice with an international reputation for the delivery of buildings of the highest quality. It is renowned for its work in many fields including master-planning, education, healthcare, housing and the arts. The practice offers skills in architecture and related fields such as urban design and planning, interior and furniture design and is one of the leading exponents of sustainability in the field of architecture. Implicit in the work of ABK is a search for quality, which concerns the character and atmosphere of spaces and a sense of place. Each building proposal is a unique response, integrating the general and the particular into a coherent whole. Some of ABK Architects’ most prominent projects include: Roscommon Civic Offices, Roscommon, Ireland The following statistics helped ABK Architects achieve 28th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 1 27. de Siún Scullion Architects © de Siún Scullion Architects We are a new Dublin-based Architecture practice offering a broad range of experience and specialist expertise in high quality, innovative and sustainable design to both public and private sector clients Some of de Siún Scullion Architects’ most prominent projects include: 5Cube, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped de Siún Scullion Architects achieve 27th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 1 26. TAKA architects © TAKA architects TAKA is an architectural practice based in Dublin, Ireland. Our practice is focused on creating buildings, places and moments which have a distinct character. Our approach involves a careful and economic approach to materials and construction and a first-principles approach to sustainability. We collaborate closely with clients, professional consultants, and expert makers to ensure the ambitions of projects are met and exceeded. A continuing level of excellence in the built work of the practice is recognized by multiple national and international awards and worldwide publication. Some of TAKA architects’ most prominent projects include: Merrion Cricket Club, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped TAKA architects achieve 26th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 1 25. NOJI Architects © NOJI NOJI Architects are a practice based in Sligo Town working on individual and collaborative projects throughout Ireland. NOJI architects have been in existence for 4 years, now with two staff and the principle architect being John Monahan. The practice has been primarily involved with residential work ranging from renovation extensions of period properties to one off houses and the possibility of community level buildings in the near future. In parallel to the mainly residential work there is an emphasis on the smaller scale design projects allowing an artistic expression and shorter build fruition periods. NOJI architects aim to have craft and innovative design solutions at the core of their work. Some of NOJI Architects’ most prominent projects include: Scale of Ply, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped NOJI achieve 25th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 1 24. Carr Cotter Naessens Architects © Dennis Gilbert, VIEW Box Architecture was created in 1997. Since conception, the company has been established as a leading design practice in the nation. Quality has remained the focus of Box throughout and this has been employed to a variety of projects including urban schemes, apartment units, award-winning private commissions, corporate offices, crèches and housing developments. The success of Box Architecture is achieved through a personal approach to understand client needs. With a hands-on approach, technical expertise, creative execution and a commitment to continued education, the company applies a philosophy of the highest principle in order to contribute to a sustainable future and maintain quality architecture. Some of Carr Cotter Naessens Architects’ most prominent projects include: dlrLexicon, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped Carr Cotter Naessens Architects achieve 24th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 1 23. Box Architecture Timber elements mark the transition between openness and enclosure - © Box Architecture Box Architecture was created in 1997. Since conception, the company has been established as a leading design practice in the nation. Quality has remained the focus of Box throughout and this has been employed to a variety of projects including urban schemes, apartment units, award-winning private commissions, corporate offices, crèches and housing developments. The success of Box Architecture is achieved through a personal approach to understand client needs. With a hands-on approach, technical expertise, creative execution and a commitment to continued education, the company applies a philosophy of the highest principle in order to contribute to a sustainable future and maintain quality architecture. Some of Box Architecture’s most prominent projects include: BALLYROAN PARISH CENTRE Ballyroan Library The following statistics helped Box Architecture achieve 23rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 2 22. Kingston Lafferty Design © Donal Murphy Kingston Lafferty Design are an award-winning, international multi-disciplinary design company run by Roisin Lafferty based in Dublin, Ireland. At KLD we think differently about design. Our designs take people on a journey, delivering fun and unexpected experiences. With a holistic approach, we study the way in which people live and work to create tactile and meaningful design, putting human behavior at the centre of every project. Some of Kingston Lafferty Design’s most prominent projects include: Dublin Residence, Dublin, Ireland Ballsbridge Residence, Dublin, Ireland Ranelagh Residence, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped Kingston Lafferty Design achieve 22nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 3 21. Architecture Republic © Architecture Republic Architecture Republic with offices in Dublin (Ireland)and Lyon (France) operates in the fields of architecture, urbanism and landscape design. We engage with engineers, artists, researchers, policy-makers, and other professionals through research, analysis and cross disciplinary collaboration. We find the seeds of our inspiration in the rich and complex realm of ordinary everyday life. We believe in the social engagement and spatial power of architecture more than its visual or plastic expression. We believe in architecture that creates public spaces and democratic cities. An architecture that revitalizes redefines and strengthens existing buildings and neighbourhoods. Some of Architecture Republic’s most prominent projects include: The Plastic House, Dublin, Ireland Formwork Studio Brick a Back, Gordon Street, Dublin, Ireland Orla Kiely’s New York Store, New York, New York The following statistics helped Architecture Republic achieve 21st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 4 20. Conneely Wessels Architects © F22 PHOTOGRAPHY Conneely Wessels Architects is an Award Winning Architectural Practice, established in 2008 and based in Kinsale, County Cork. Our practice provides a responsive, imaginative and professional service, tailored to the aspirations of each of our clients, and to deliver quality results, regardless of commission size or type. Some of Conneely Wessels Architects’ most prominent projects include: Three Pavilions, House Clancy, Kinsale, Ireland Peek-a-Boo!, Kinsale, Ireland Cardinal Point, Kinsale, Ireland Ardgwee House, Kinsale, Ireland The following statistics helped Conneely Wessels Architects achieve 20th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 4 19. ARCHITECTSTM © Ros Kavanagh ARCHITECTSTM is a design practice founded by Tom Maher. Based in Dublin, Ireland the firm boasts a portfolio of residential, cultural and commercial designs. Some of ARCHITECTSTM’s most prominent projects include: K HOUSE, Ranelagh, Ireland GARDENER’S WORLD (FUTURE), Callan, Ireland SLATE STOREY EXTENSION, Dublin, Ireland COTTAGE, County Kilkenny, Ireland 8BY4, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped ARCHITECTSTM achieve 19th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 5 18. Paul Dillon Architects © Paul Dillon Architects In 1999, architect Paul Dillon established his full-service practice in Galway, which quickly earned a reputation for combining design sensitivity with professional management and delivery. Each year, paul dillon architects complete a small number of challenging everyday projects, ranging from domestic extensions and garden designs to large commercial, retail, industrial and public projects. This commitment to the process of building, has been recognized with numerous national and international publications and awards. The completed work, both public and private, is receiving growing understanding and appreciation from those who take responsibility for their built environment. Some of Paul Dillon Architects’ most prominent projects include: Carnaun Primary School, Athenry, Ireland Extension to Secondary School, County Galway, Ireland Kilrickle Primary School, Kilreekill, Ireland Art Room, Secondary School, Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland Art Room, Inis Mór, County Galway, Ireland The following statistics helped Paul Dillon Architects achieve 18th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 5 17. Isabel Barros Architects © Robert Mullan Photography isabel barros architects are driven by a passion for creating high quality contemporary architecture. Our goal is to make good design available to the general public while maintaining a strong focus on the energy efficiency and sustainability of our designs. Some of Isabel Barros Architects’ most prominent projects include: Seaview House, Wexford, Ireland Conservation Works at Brandon House Hotel, New Ross, Ireland Extension to House Over 100 Years Old, Ireland River House Kilkenny, Kilkenny, Ireland Shaolin Cottage, Ireland The following statistics helped Isabel Barros Architects achieve 17th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 6 16. Solearth Architecture © Solearth Architecture Solearth Architecture specialise in design that is both beautiful and deeply sustainable. We have for 15 years been Irelands leading green design firm and now provide architecture, design and consulting services further afield. All projects and client types are of interest to us but our key experience to date lies in hospitality, visitor, environment, wellness and buildings for spirituality as well as housing and private houses. We also have expertise in sustainable masterplanning and urban design. We are Europes only Living Building accredited practice. Some of Solearth Architecture’s most prominent projects include: Airfield Evolution, Dublin, Ireland Castle Espie, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom The Daintree Building, Dublin, Ireland Ballybay Wetland Centre, Ballybay, Ireland Dechen Shying, Cork, Ireland The following statistics helped Solearth Architecture achieve 16th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 7 15. Foley Architects © Foley Architects, CAMPUS Foley Architects is an architectural practice based in Dublin led by Stephen Foley and Marta Lopez driven by creating sustainable buildings and considered spaces that connect to their physical and social contexts. Our mission is to uncover what is special about each project to create unique spaces and buildings which can inspire communities. The concept of our first built project, the Eastbourne Beach Hut took inspiration from a local story involving fossils and was developed using digital fabrication tools. The pavilion’s translucent skin allows it to transform at night, emitting light and expressing its structure. The Cork Butter museum involved the adaptive reuse of an existing space, it’s remodelling and installation of elements for a collection of artefacts, using economic materials like mild steel and birch plywood. Some of Foley Architects’ most prominent projects include: The Lark Theatre, Dublin, Ireland Eastbourne Beach Hut, Eastbourne, United Kingdom Rossaveel Small Craft Harbour, Galway, Ireland 12th Lock Area Masterplan, Lucan, Ireland Killybegs Small Craft Harbour, Donegal, Ireland The following statistics helped Foley Architects achieve 15th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 9 14. David Flynn Architects © David Flynn Architects Ltd We are award-winning Architects in Dublin specializing in residential projects, including newbuild houses, reconstruction and significant refurb / extension / transformation of existing. We are currently engaged as Architects in a small number of projects across Dublin with construction values ranging from €400,000 up to €1.5m. The majority of our houses will end up as highly efficient A-rated homes for life. We have a track record in delivering highly bespoke residential architecture projects which run smoothly through design, planning and construction stages, many of which have received awards and been widely published. We use highly detailed 3D Digital models to plan, visualise and clearly communicate from early in the design process to ensure a successful outcome. Some of David Flynn Architects’ most prominent projects include: Garden Retreat, Blackrock, Ireland Mount Merrion, Dublin, Ireland 1930s Extension Renovation, Booterstown, Ireland 1870s period house extension, Sandymount, Ireland Rebuild & Renovation, Clonskeagh, Ireland The following statistics helped David Flynn Architects achieve 14th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 10 13. ODKM Architects & Designers © ODKM Architects & Designers ODKM are highly experienced award-winning architectural practice, with accolades and publications both in Ireland and abroad. We love design, how it makes us feel, and what it offers us every day, and we are passionate about how important this is in creating new spaces, identities and places that exceed our clients expectations. Ultimately, buildings are about people, and we believe in quality driven design to create environments with a sense of place. Our team each bring unique and diverse skills to the practice, all stemming from a common holistic design philosophy; that design can improve the quality of our lives, and make us happier. Some of ODKM Architects & Designers’ most prominent projects include: Ranelagh House, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped ODKM Architects & Designers achieve 13th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 1 12. Architectural Farm © Ste Murray | Photography & Design Architectural Farm is a design focused architectural studio based in Dublin. The studio has been led by Shane Cotter and Kathryn Wilson since 2010. To date the practice has worked on a variety of projects specializing in residential and public commissions in both urban and rural settings but also have collaborated on retail, commercial and landscaping projects. Some of Architectural Farm’s most prominent projects include: Walled Garden, Ballsbridge, Ireland St Declans Terrace, Saint Declan’s Terrace, Ireland The following statistics helped Architectural Farm achieve 12th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 2 Total Projects 2 11. GKMP Architect © GKMP Architect GKMP Architects is a Dublin-based practice that designs high quality modern architecture. Our recent projects include house design, domestic extensions, public spaces and tourist facilities. Some of GKMP Architect’s most prominent projects include: Hedge House at Leeson Walk, Dublin, Ireland House Extension at Silchester Park, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped GKMP Architect achieve 11th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 2 Total Projects 2 10. Aughey O’Flaherty Architects © Aughey O'Flaherty Architects Since the start, in 1999, we have been blessed with great clients. We work closely with them to understand their needs and create buidings to fit those needs. By 2003, the practice had won the first of many awards and in 2005, we won the prestious RIAI award, best building in the landscape.As conservation architects, we have Grade II RIAI Conservation Accreditation. Some of Aughey O’Flaherty Architects’ most prominent projects include: Fethard House on Mount Anville, Goatstown, Ireland New House The following statistics helped Aughey O'Flaherty Architects achieve 10th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 2 Total Projects 3 9. BRENNAN | FURLONG Architects & Urban Planners © BRENNAN | FURLONG Architects & Urban Planners BRENNAN | FURLONG Architects, founded in 2015 by Gareth Brennan and Séamus Furlong, is an award-winning RIAI-registered practice based in Clontarf, Dublin. The practice is accredited in Conservation (Grade III), can act as Project Supervisors for the Design Process (PSDP) and holds full Professional Indemnity Insurance. The work of the practice – a mix of residential and commercial projects — centers on the principle that the well-considered and carefully developed design of buildings and spaces we use every day helps to enrich and enliven our experience and interaction with the built environment. Some of BRENNAN | FURLONG Architects & Urban Planners’ most prominent projects include: GLENTORA, Howth, Dublin, Ireland FOUR WINDS, Dublin, Ireland STRAND ROAD, Dublin, Ireland LERRIG, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped BRENNAN | FURLONG Architects & Urban Planners achieve 9th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 2 Total Projects 4 8. Ambient Architecture © Ambient Architecture At Ambient Architecture we design exclusive residences for private clients in new builds, renovation and conservation projects. For our commercial partners, we develop innovative, sustainable, and sound feasibility and planning solutions. As architects we focus on providing the best outcome for our clients, in terms of design, costs, and buildability. Some of Ambient Architecture’s most prominent projects include: New house in Malahide, Malahide, Ireland Rathgar Redbrick, Dublin, Ireland Loreto Abbey Dalkey Sportshall, Dalkey, Ireland Rathmines Redbrick, Dublin, Ireland 2SEMIS, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped Ambient Architecture achieve 8th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 2 Total Projects 5 7. Coady Architects © Coady Architects Coady Architects is an award winning practice of highly skilled professionals, specializing in healthcare, residential, workplace and education design. We are passionate about understanding our clients’ and end users’ needs. We understand commercial drivers and add value at every opportunity. We enjoy design, we listen and explore, we innovate and challenge to deliver better environments and better buildings. Some of Coady Architects’ most prominent projects include: Scholen van Morgen. VIIO, Tongeren, Belgium Eolas, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland Clinical Education and Research Centre, Limerick, Ireland Scholen van Morgen. Heilig Hart van Mariainstituut, Berlaar, Belgium Scholen van Morgen, Virga Jessecollege, Hasselt, Belgium The following statistics helped Coady Architects achieve 7th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 2 Total Projects 5 6. Architecture 53seven © Architecture 53seven Architecture 53seven is focussed on the delivery of inventive architecture and urban design, with a particular interest in developing new programmatic forms that reflect the complexities of the contemporary city. Established by Jason O’Shaughnessy in 2000, Architecture 53seven has developed a series of acclaimed projects in Ireland and overseas and was nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2009. Some of Architecture 53seven’s most prominent projects include: Egans Juice Bar and Roof Terrace, Main Street, Portlaoise, Ireland Tullow Ciivic Offices and Library Montenegro Villa, Dobra Voda, Montenegro Villa Petrovic, Dobra Voda, Montenegro Renaasance day hospital The following statistics helped Architecture 53seven achieve 6th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 2 Total Projects 37 5. FKL architects © FKL architects FKL architects is committed to contemporary design with a focus on the application of abstract ideas to built form. Each project is approached from first principles by responding to the specifics of site and program and formulating a singular concept that informs all aspects of the design. This individual concept is firmly rooted in the pragmatics of the project. We seek to condense ideas to their essentials, from the building form to the detail of junctions between materials with all decisions re-affirming and complementing the primary concept. The form and language of each project grows out of this approach leading to a diversity in the work, within a framework given by enduring interests; in space, atmosphere, assemblage, pattern, hierarchy, texture and materiality. Some of FKL architects’ most prominent projects include: A House, Rathmines, Ireland A house, Rathmines, Ireland St John’s House Nursing Home, Dublin, Ireland Brick House Reuben Street Apartments, Dolphins Barn, Ireland The following statistics helped FKL architects achieve 5th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 17 4. Heneghan Peng Architects © Iwan Baan heneghan peng architects is a design partnership practicing architecture, landscape and urban design. The practice was founded by Shih-Fu Peng and Róisín Heneghan in New York in 1999 and in 2001 opened an office in Dublin, Ireland. We take a multi-disciplinary approach to design and have collaborated with many leading designers and engineers on a range of projects which include larger scale urban masterplans, bridges, landscapes and buildings. Current projects include the Canadian Canoe Museum, The Old Library refurbishment at Trinity College Dublin, the Visitors’ Centre at the Berlin Botanic Gardens and the Grand Egyptian Museum. Some of Heneghan Peng Architects’ most prominent projects include: The Palestinian Museum, Bir Zayt Air BnB European Operations Hub, Dublin, Ireland School of Architecture and Design/Library at the University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom The following statistics helped Heneghan Peng Architects achieve 4th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 3 3. Scullion Architects © Scullion Architects SCULLION ARCHITECTS are a Dublin-based Architectural Studio established by Declan Scullion MRIAI, providing architectural services for both the public and private sector. The practice’s work is characterized by a particular attention to user experience supported by an interest in things well-made. Our ambition is to provide a dedicated and professional service delivering exceptional buildings. Some of Scullion Architects’ most prominent projects include: Grand Canal Street, Dublin, Ireland Glass Ribbon, Dublin, Ireland Blackrock House, Dundalk, Ireland Churchtown, Dublin, Ireland The Liberties, Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped Scullion Architects achieve 3rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 5 2. ODOS © ODOS The constant questioning of how people work, rest and play in today’s society is the fundamental driving force behind the practice. We strongly believe our clients deserve to be challenged and that buildings need to inspire their occupants. As architects we have a duty to expose such possibilities. We hope to instill a sense of curiosity and excitement, stimulating a response, confronting and challenging traditional conceptions of architecture Some of ODOS’s most prominent projects include: Flynn Mews House, Dublin, Ireland Dwelling at Maytree, Wicklow, Wicklow, Ireland 3 Mews Houses, Dublin, Ireland Grangegorman, Dublin 7, Dublin, Ireland 31 Carysfort Road, Dalkey, Ireland The following statistics helped ODOS achieve 2nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 9 1. McCullough Mulvin Architects © McCullough Mulvin Architects McCullough Mulvin Architects is an architecture and urban design practice based in Dublin. Much of our work has been in the design of cultural and civic buildings around Ireland, projects working to define a new public realm in a changing society, dealing with Ireland’s diffuse light and stark materiality. The work is based around an idea of experimentation – from small domestic work through to larger civic projects – testing at all scales, the work is original and the response to each brief particular. There is no house style, rather a concern for improving the lives of people by designing public and private spaces where life is played out. Some of McCullough Mulvin Architects’ most prominent projects include: Medieval Mile Museum, Kilkenny, Ireland Featured image: Trinity Long Room Hub, Dublin, Ireland Z Square House, Temple Gardens, Dublin, Ireland Beaufort Maritime Research Building, Cork, Ireland one up two down , Dublin, Ireland The following statistics helped McCullough Mulvin Architects achieve 1st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Ireland: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 6 Why Should I Trust Architizer’s Ranking? With more than 30,000 architecture firms and over 130,000 projects within its database, Architizer is proud to host the world’s largest online community of architects and building product manufacturers. Its celebrated A+Awards program is also the largest celebration of architecture and building products, with more than 400 jurors and hundreds of thousands of public votes helping to recognize the world’s best architecture each year. Architizer also powers firm directories for a number of AIA (American Institute of Architects) Chapters nationwide, including the official directory of architecture firms for AIA New York. An example of a project page on Architizer with Project Award Badges highlighted A Guide to Project Awards The blue “+” badge denotes that a project has won a prestigious A+Award as described above. Hovering over the badge reveals details of the award, including award category, year, and whether the project won the jury or popular choice award. The orange Project of the Day and yellow Featured Project badges are awarded by Architizer’s Editorial team, and are selected based on a number of factors. The following factors increase a project’s likelihood of being featured or awarded Project of the Day status: Project completed within the last 3 years A well written, concise project description of at least 3 paragraphs Architectural design with a high level of both functional and aesthetic value High quality, in focus photographs At least 8 photographs of both the interior and exterior of the building Inclusion of architectural drawings and renderings Inclusion of construction photographs There are 7 Projects of the Day each week and a further 31 Featured Projects. Each Project of the Day is published on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Stories, while each Featured Project is published on Facebook. Each Project of the Day also features in Architizer’s Weekly Projects Newsletter and shared with 170,000 subscribers.     We’re constantly look for the world’s best architects to join our community. If you would like to understand more about this ranking list and learn how your firm can achieve a presence on it, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at editorial@architizer.com. The post 30 Best Architecture and Design Firms in Ireland appeared first on Journal.

close House passes bill targeting revenge porn and AI-generated deepfakes Texas high school student Elliston Berry joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss the House’s passage of a new bill that criminalizes the sharing of non-consensual intimate images, including content created with artificial intelligence. Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER:- Peek-a-boo, big tech sees you: Expert warns just 20 cloud images can make an AI deepfake video of your child- 5 AI terms you keep hearing and what they actually mean- AI to monitor NYC subway safety as crime concerns rise First Lady Melania Trump, joined by U.S. President Donald Trump, delivers remarks before President Trump signed the TAKE IT DOWN Act into law in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. The first lady made the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (TAKE IT DOWN) Act a priority, traveling to Capitol Hill to lobby lawmakers and show her support for the legislation, which addresses non-consensual intimate imagery, or "revenge porn," and artificial intelligence deepfakes posted online and to social media.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)DEEPFAKE DANGERS: Parents love capturing their kids’ big moments, from first steps to birthday candles. But a new study out of the U.K. shows many of those treasured images may be scanned, analyzed and turned into data by cloud storage services, and nearly half of parents don’t even realize it.AI DECODED: Whether it's powering your phone’s autocorrect or helping someone create a new recipe with a few words, artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere right now. But if you're still nodding along when someone mentions "neural networks" or "generative AI," you're not alone. MTA New York City Subway logo is seen on a train at a station in New York City on July 13, 2024.  (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)BIG BROTHER TECH: New York City's subway system is testing artificial intelligence to boost security and reduce crime. Michael Kemper, a 33-year NYPD veteran and the chief security officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which is the largest transit agency in the United States, is leading the rollout of AI software designed to spot suspicious behavior as it happens. WORLD CLASS: First lady Melania Trump is launching an audiobook of her memoir using artificial intelligence (AI) audio technology in multiple languages, Fox News Digital has learned. Melania Trump is launching an audiobook of her memoir using AI.  (MelaniaTrump.com)EXTREME ROBODOG: What really sets the Lynx M20 apart is its use of advanced artificial intelligence. The robot is equipped with AI motion-control algorithms that allow it to autonomously perceive and adapt to its environment, adjusting its posture and gait to handle everything from rocky trails to debris-strewn ruins.PARENTS' NIGHTMARE: A Connecticut teen will stand trial Monday for the 2022 murder of a Fairfield Prep lacrosse player following a booze-fueled house party and a spat between students from different schools. Lynx M20. (Deep Robotics)FOLLOW FOX NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIASIGN UP FOR OUR OTHER NEWSLETTERSDOWNLOAD OUR APPSWATCH FOX NEWS ONLINEFox News GoSTREAM FOX NATIONFox NationStay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here. This article was written by Fox News staff.

Henry Goodsell captained a schooner similar to the one seen above. Credit: Deposit Photos Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. In 1995, a mystery skull washed onto a beach in Longport, New Jersey. Four years later, additional bone fragments were discovered less than two miles away on a shore in the neighboring southern New Jersey town of Margate. It would take another 14 years for even more skeletal remains to arrive on a beach another five miles away in Ocean City. But over those three decades, forensic experts and law enforcement couldn’t put a name to the individual known only as “Scattered Man John Doe.” After 30 years, the mystery has finally been solved thanks to a combination of genetic testing, historical research, and archival analysis. “Scattered Man John Doe” wasn’t a victim of foul play—he wasn’t even a comparatively recent death. Instead, the bones belong to Henry Goodsell, a 29-year-old merchant ship captain who perished along with his crew during a storm in the winter of 1844. The identification comes two years after state law enforcement reached out to the Ramapo College of New Jersey’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center. After sending bone samples to Intermountain Forensics, a nonprofit dedicated to identifying missing person remains, Ramapo undergraduates began crossreferencing archival files in the hopes of finding a lead. Genetic analysis results traced ancestry as far back as the 1600s, to Connecticut’s Litchfield and Fairfield counties. From there, they also started investigating newspaper reports of any shipwrecks off the coast of New Jersey. Eventually, the students flagged two articles dated from December 20 and 24, 1844. “The schooner Oriental… was lost on the evening of the 4th on Brigantine shoals and all hands with her,” read the Friday edition of the York Democratic Press. An initial report of the ‘Oriental’ shipwreck from December 20, 1844. Credit: Ramapo College According to the paper’s account, the ship left Bridgeport, Connecticut for Philadelphia with around 60 tons of marble intended for Girard College. While cautioning that it was “possible that the crew had taken off, and that the vessel had been abandoned. Four days later, however, newspapers across the northeast confirmed the worst case outcome. “The Bridgeport Standard (Conn.) has further accounts from this ill-fated vessel, which render it certain that all on board must have perished,” reported the Boston Daily Bee on December 24. The consensus at the time was that the Oriental likely sprung a leak before sinking less than a mile from the shoreline, but an intense storm prevented any rescue attempts. All five crew members including Capt. Goodsell ultimately drowned, but only one sailor “was thrown on the shore” five miles away. Authorities later identified him as John Keith before seeing that he was “decently buried,” according to the Daily Bee. Capt. Goodsell left behind a wife and three children. After digging deeper into his family tree, the students suggested he warranted a closer look from the New Jersey State Police (NJSP). On March 7, 2025, authorities collected a DNA reference sample from one of Goodsell’s great-great grandchildren. One month later, the NJSP confirmed “Scattered Man John Doe” to be the late Capt. Goodsell. “The ability to bring answers to families—even generations later—shows how far science and dedication can take us,” NJSP superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan said in a university announcement on May 21. While Goodsell marks the school’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center’s  92nd consultancy project, Ramapo College reports it is one of the oldest cold case files ever solved using this advanced type of investigative genealogy.

Floyd Bennett Field is a massive piece of federal property in Marine Park, Brooklyn, a floodplain that’s regularly deluged since Hurricane Sandy. Noah Martz, a Brooklyn Law School student, has an idea for how to use it that has Reddit talking. What to do with Floyd Bennett Field (FBF) has long perplexed planners, and the site now finds itself entangled in an online tug of war match between competing architectural ideologies.  “Hero Village” is the name of Martz’s land use proposal for the former airfield. It would bring approximately 20,000 residential units designated for NYPD and FDNY officers, and EMTs to the 1,300-acre plot. The design is “inspired by President Trump’s vision to build beautifully again,” Hero Village’s promotional video states. “Mr. President, it’s time for New York to truly back the blue,” the video concludes.  Martz regularly makes appeals to “MAGA YIMBY” and “neotrad” accounts on X (formerly Twitter) to drum up support for the proposal through the Hero Village NYC X account, which arrives amid other traditional propositions for New York. Penn Station’s revival, for instance, could very well yield a neoclassical design. It’s safe to say trad architects and their sympathizers feel emboldened by this president. “The idea for Hero Village came from witnessing firsthand how increasingly unaffordable New York City has become, especially for those who protect and serve the city,” Martz told AN. “Today, over 52 percent of NYPD officers live outside the five boroughs, largely due to high housing costs. At the same time, the city faces a chronic shortage of new housing construction, especially larger, family-sized units. Hero Village is a response to these problems.” The proposal however hasn’t been without criticism from other very online interlocutors. Traditional loft buildings would line Hero Village’s main thoroughfare, supported by a cyberlink rail system. (Courtesy Hero Village) “In reality, there are much more efficient ways of building density, even if you want to add facade articulation in the unclear ‘historic’ style described in the post,” said AN contributor Ryan Scavnicky, author of Architecture and Videogames: Intersecting Worlds. As a professor at Marywood University, Scavnicky studies internet subcultures and how architectural ideas proliferate on social media. “Critiquing the proposal itself—it’s in a floodplain, its inefficient layout—are moot points because this proposal is just using architecture as a medium to sway political power,” Scavnicky added, with emphasis. (Anti) Co-op City? The FBF Shelter Complex, otherwise called the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at FBF, was established at the South Brooklyn airfield in 2023 for migrant families inside shuttered aircraft hangars. By December 2024, there were at least 850 children living in the complex and attending New York City public schools. The complex was shut down in winter 2025 by New York City Mayor Eric Adams—teachers have since raised grave concerns over displaced migrant family welfare.  Hero Village was rolled out in the months after the Adams administration evacuated the FBF Shelter Complex. Its proposed architecture takes cues from Poundbury, a master planned community in the U.K. “endorsed by King Charles III,” Martz said, but also places closer to home like Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Brooklyn Heights. The Cumberland Street development near Barclays Center and Gateway Estates in East New York are other precedents Martz pointed to.  A cyberlink rail system would support Hero Village, with a direct connection to the 2/5. (Courtesy Hero Village) The main drag at Hero Village is a north-south thoroughfare lined by the kind of loft buildings you’d see in Soho or the Garment District of Manhattan. A cyberlink rail system would shuttle the main axis, which terminates at a monumental obelisk. This rail line would connect Hero Village denizens to the Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College (2/5) subway stop. The cyberlink rail system itself is inspired by Elon Musk’s Hyperloop and Tesla’s Robovan. In the future, “advanced tunneling technology” could extend the 2 Train down Flatbush Avenue, connecting Hero Village with New York City, Martz posited. Martz drew up the master plan himself in Google Sketchup, he said, which took “over a year.” He then hired a rendering studio for the final graphics. Every street at Hero Village would be named after an NYPD or FDNY officer killed in the line of duty.  “I believe it’s essential to create places that also serve as spaces of reflection and remembrance,” Martz said in regard to the obelisk and the street names. He added: “The idea of an obelisk as the central memorial was inspired by its deep historical significance in American public spaces. One of the earliest examples dates back to Williamsburg, Virginia, where an obelisk was erected to honor those who opposed the Stamp Act of 1765.” Martz finds inspiration from obelisks erected after the 1765 Stamps Act rebellion. (Boston Public Library/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0) “Obelisks are now common markers of solemn remembrance, particularly for fallen service members,” Martz continued. “Hero Village will include several other memorials within park spaces and community centers dedicated to those who have given their lives in service to New York.” To mitigate flooding, Martz alluded to an unlikely example: Co-op City in the Bronx, which was likewise built on marshland. “There is ample precedent for successful residential development in flood-prone areas,” Martz noted. “While Hero Village differs significantly in style [from Co-op City], this precedent shows the feasibility of development with proper mitigation measures.” Martz does have misgivings about the comparison, however. “I am strongly opposed to the modernist ‘tower in the park’ planning approach championed by Le Corbusier, which shaped developments like Co-op City,” Martz replied when asked about his philosophy. “While Co-op City successfully provides a large number of affordable housing units, its 1960s-era design reflects a deeply flawed urban planning philosophy. The development suffers from an inefficient use of land, a lack of street-level connectivity, and an absence of human-scale, mixed-use environments.” “By contrast,” Martz continued, “Hero Village would deliver more housing on a smaller footprint through thoughtful design and land use. It emphasizes traditional urbanism with walkable narrow streets, mixed-use buildings, human-scaled architecture, and a transit-oriented layout that supports both residents and the broader community.” The main thoroughfare would terminate at a monumental obelisk. (Courtesy Hero Village) The North Forty Natural Area would be preserved and existing aircraft hangars would become museums and event spaces at Hero Village. Daycare centers, supermarkets, and playgrounds would abound. Martz elaborated Hero Village would incorporate best practices from New York’s East Side Coastal Resiliency Project. This means Hero Village would have a resilient seawall and ample park space which is not only “an aesthetic feature,” Martz said, but also “a core piece of flood protection infrastructure.” A Ruinous Ideology? Today, Martz is actively courting the Trump administration to help make Hero Village happen, but also New York City Councilmembers including Inna Vernikov, and Mayor Adams. He’s written letters to U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and NYPD and FDNY union associations. The promotional video for Hero Village congratulates Trump for his “stunning victory.” Floyd Bennett Field is in proximity to Councilmember Vernikov’s South Brooklyn district. Today, Vernikov is a polemic figure—she recently made headlines for showing up to a Brooklyn College protest “with a gun visible in her hip,” but she was later cleared of the “illegal gun charge.” Hero Village has publicly asked for Vernikov’s support on social media. Still, Martz affirmed he thinks Hero Village could garner bipartisan favor. “In March, a joint task force was launched to explore how underutilized federal land can be repurposed to increase housing supply and reduce costs across the country,” Martz added. “Utilizing [FBF] to provide housing for those who have dedicated their lives to public service is a logical and moral use of the site. It’s a bipartisan solution, one that should unite local, state, and federal officials.” Scavnicky however sees cracks in this logic: “In an attempt to woo Trump, Musk, and their base constituents, it seems almost like just an attempt to get their attention,” he said of the plan. “The proposal does create affordable housing for the working class, yet only members of the working class who serve the crown, err, I mean the state are worthy of purchasing units [sic].” “This X account wants to get retweeted so badly that they are willing to create architecture that betrays the needs of the people,” Scavnicky continued. “But more importantly, it serves as a fine example of an ideology’s inherent class discrimination through reasoning: Why wouldn’t these politicians support this project if it was for everyone instead of just for cops and firefighters?” Hero Village takes inspiration from Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and other historic neighborhoods. (Courtesy Hero Village) Renderings of Hero Village are similar to another recent proposal for FBF shared last March by Eli Lever, a local real estate developer. Lever’s design calls for much larger proto-Hausmannian courtyard buildings, as opposed to Martz’s brownstones. The Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) has also proposed a climate hub for the grounds, a decidedly different use from the housing ideas. When asked about who will be eligible to live in Hero Village, and whether or not it’d be open to teachers and social workers like Co-op City, Martz replied: “These details are still being developed. The proposal has only recently been made public. The current focus is on generating community interest and gathering feedback.” Scavnicky cautions against attempts to look to the past to inform the future. “The need for architecture to uphold some image of an ideal past is a ruinous ideology, as can be seen in any American suburban house with fake storm windows,” Scavnicky elaborated. “This is inefficiency in service of the image—all when we should be looking toward new ways of living rather than romanticizing the past. And it’s not just about aesthetic treatment—the architectural plan of the proposed city is also an exact duplicate of an older world that doesn’t, to me, deserve to be recreated with such monotony.”

Interviews Andor – Season 2: Mohen Leo (Production VFX Supervisor), TJ Falls (Production VFX Producer) and Scott Pritchard (ILM VFX Supervisor) By Vincent Frei - 22/05/2025 In 2023, Mohen Leo (Production VFX Supervisor), TJ Falls (Production VFX Producer), and Scott Pritchard (ILM VFX Supervisor) offered an in-depth look at the visual effects of Andor’s first season. Now, the trio returns to share insights into their work on the second—and final—season of this critically acclaimed series. Tony Gilroy is known for his detailed approach to storytelling. Can you talk about how your collaboration with him evolved throughout the production of Andor? How does he influence the VFX decisions and the overall tone of the series? Mohen Leo (ML): Our history with Tony, from Rogue One through the first season of Andor, had built a strong foundation of mutual trust. For Season 2, he involved VFX from the earliest story discussions, sharing outlines and inviting our ideas for key sequences. His priority is always to keep the show feeling grounded, ensuring that visual effects serve the story’s core and never become extraneous spectacle that might distract from the narrative. TJ Falls (TJ): Tony is a master storyteller. As Mohen mentioned, we have a great history with Tony from Rogue One and through Season 1 of Andor. We had a great rapport with Tony, and he had implicit trust in us. We began prepping Season 2 while we were in post for Season 1. We were having ongoing conversations with Tony and Production Designer Luke Hull as we were completing work for S1 and planning out how we would progress into Season 2. We wanted to keep the show grounded and gritty while amping up the action and urgency. Tony had a lot of story to cover in 12 episodes. The time jumps between the story arcs were something we discussed early on, and the need to be able to not only justify the time jumps but also to provide the audience with a visual bridge to tell the stories that happened off-screen. Tony would look to us to guide and use our institutional knowledge of Star Wars to help keep him honest within the universe. He, similarly, challenged us to maintain our focus and ensure that the visual tone of the series serviced the story. Tony Gilroy and Genevieve O’Reilly on the set of Lucasfilm’s ANDOR Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Des Willie. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. As you’ve returned for Season 2, have there been any significant changes or new challenges compared to the first season? How has the production evolved in terms of VFX and storytelling? (ML): The return of nearly all key creatives from Season 1, both internally and at our VFX vendors, was a massive advantage. This continuity built immediate trust and an efficient shorthand. It made everyone comfortable to be more ambitious, allowing us to significantly expand the scope and complexity of the visual effects for Season 2. (TJ): We had all new directors this season. The rest of the core creative and production teams stayed consistent from Season 1. We worked to keep the creative process as seamless from Season 1 as we could while working with the new directors and adapting to their process while incorporating their individual skills and ideas that they brought to the table. This season we were able to work on location much more than on Season 1. That provided us with a great opportunity to build out the connective tissue between real world constraints and the virtual world we were creating. In the case with Senate Plaza in Coruscant we also had to stay consistent with what has previously been established, so that was a fun challenge. How did you go about dividing the workload between the various VFX studios? (ML): I can give an answer, but probably better if TJ does. (TJ): We were very specific about how we divided the work on this series. We started, as we usually do, with a detailed breakdown of work for the 12 episodes. Mohen and I then discussed a logical split based on type of work, specific elements, and areas of commonality for particular environments. While cost is always a consideration, we focused our vendor casting around the creative strengths of the studios we were partnering with on the project. ILM is in the DNA of Star Wars, so we knew we’d want to be working with them on some of the most complex work. We chose ILM for the opening TIE Avenger hangar sequence and subsequent escape. We utilized ILM for work in every episode, including the CG KX/K2 work, but their main focus was on Coruscant, and they had substantial work in the ninth episode for the big Senate escape sequence. Hybride‘s chief focus was on Palmo Plaza and the Ghorman environments. They dealt with everything Ghorman on the ground from the street extensions and the truck crash, through the Ghorman massacre, sharing shots with ILM with the KX work. For Scanline VFX, we identified three primary areas of focus: the work on Mina Rau, Chandrila, and Yavin. The TIE Fighter sequence in Season 2 is a standout moment. Can you walk us through the VFX process for that particular sequence? What were some of the technical challenges you faced, and how did you work to make it as intense and realistic as possible? (TJ): This is a sequence I’m particularly proud of as VFX played a central role in the sequence coming together from start to finish. We were intimately involved from the initial conversations of the idea for the sequence. Mohen created digital storyboards and we pitched ideas for the sequence to Tony Gilroy. Once we had a sense of the creative brief, we started working with Luke Hull (Production Designer) and the art department on the physical hangar set and brought it into previz for virtual scouting. With Jen Kitching (our Previz Supervisor from The Third Floor) we had a virtual camera set up that allowed us to virtually use the camera and lenses we would have on our shoot. We blocked out shots with Ariel Kleiman (Director) and Christophe Nuyens (the DoP). This went back through previz and techviz so we could meticulously chart out our plan for the shoot. Keeping with our ethos of grounding everything in reality, we wanted to use as much of the practical set as possible. We needed to be sure our handoffs between physical and virtual were seamless – Luke Murphy, our SFX Supervisor, worked closely with us in planning elements and practical effects to be used on the day. Over the course of the shoot, we also had the challenge of the flashing red alarm that goes off once the TIE Avenger crashes into the ceiling. We established the look of the red alarm with Christophe and the lighting team, and then needed to work out the timing. For that, we collaborated with editor John Gilroy to ensure we knew precisely when each alarm beat would flash. Once we had all the pieces, we turned the sequence over to Scott Pritchard and ILM to execute the work. Scott Pritchard (SP): This sequence was split between our London and Vancouver studios, with London taking everything inside the hangar, and Vancouver handling the exterior shots after Cassian blasts through the hangar door. We started from a strong foundation thanks to two factors: the amazing hangar set and TIE Avenger prop; and having full sequence previs. The hangar set was built about 2/3 of its overall length (as much as could be built on the soundstage), which our environments team extended, adding the hangar doors at the end and also a view to the exterior environment. Extending the hangar was most of the work in the sequence up until the TIE starts moving, where we switched to our CG TIE. As with Season 1, we used a blend of physical SFX work for the pyro effects, augmenting with CG sparks. As TJ mentioned, the hangar’s red warning lighting was a challenge as it had to pulse in a regular tempo throughout the edit. Only the close-up shots of Cassian in the cockpit had practical red lighting, so complex lighting and comp work were required to achieve a consistent look throughout the sequence. ILM London’s compositing supervisor, Claudio Bassi, pitched the idea that as the TIE hit various sections of the ceiling, it would knock out the ceiling lights, progressively darkening the hangar. It was a great motif that helped heighten the tension as we get towards the moment where Cassian faces the range trooper. Once we cut to outside the hangar, ILM Vancouver took the reins. The exterior weather conditions were briefed to us as ‘polar night’ – it’s never entirely dark, instead there’s a consistent low-level ambient light. This was a challenge as we had to consider the overall tonal range of each shot and make sure there was enough contrast to guide the viewer’s eye to where it needed to be, not just on individual shots but looking at eye-trace as one shot cut to another. A key moment is when Cassian fires rockets into an ice arch, leading to its collapse. The ice could very easily look like rock, so we needed to see the light from the rocket’s explosions scattered inside the ice. It required detailed work in both lighting and comp to get to the right look. Again, as the ice arch starts to collapse and the two chase TIE Advanced ships get taken out, it needed careful balancing work to make sure viewers could read the situation and the action in each shot. The world-building in Andor is impressive, especially with iconic locations like Coruscant and Yavin. How did you approach creating these environments and ensuring they felt as authentic as possible to the Star Wars universe? (ML): Our approach to world-building in Andor relied on a close collaboration between the VFX team and Luke Hull, the production designer, along with his art department. This partnership was established in Season 1 and continued for Season 2. Having worked on many Star Wars projects over the decades, VFX was often able to provide inspiration and references for art department designs. For example, for locations like Yavin and Coruscant, VFX provided the art department with existing 3D assets: the Yavin temple model from Rogue One and the Coruscant city layout around the Senate from the Prequel films. The Coruscant model, in particular, involved some ‘digital archaeology.’ The data was stored on tapes from around 2001 and consisted of NURBS models in an older Softimage file format. To make them usable, we had to acquire old Softimage 2010 and XSI licenses, install them on a Windows 7 PC, and then convert the data to the FBX format that current software can read. Supplying these original layouts to the art department enabled them to create their new designs and integrate our real-world shooting locations while maintaining consistency with the worlds seen in previous Star Wars productions. Given that Andor is set approximately twenty years after the Prequels, we also had the opportunity to update and adjust layouts and designs to reflect that time difference and realize the specific creative vision Luke Hull and Tony Gilroy had for the show. StageCraft technology is a huge part of the production. How did you use it to bring these complex environments, like Coruscant and Yavin, to life? What are the main benefits and limitations of using StageCraft for these settings? (SP): Our use of StageCraft for Season 2 was similar to that on Season 1. We used it to create the exterior views through the windows of the Safehouse on Coruscant. As with our work for the Chandrillan Embassy in Season 1, we created four different times of day/weather conditions. One key difference was that the foreground buildings were much closer to the Safehouse, so we devised three projection points (one for each room of the Safehouse), which would ensure that the perspective of the exterior was correct for each room. On set we retained a large amount of flexibility with our content. We had our own video feed from the unit cameras, and we were able to selectively isolate and grade sections of the city based on their view through the camera. Working in context like this meant that we could make any final tweaks while each shot was being set up and rehearsed. While we were shooting a scene set at night, the lighting team rigged a series of lights running above the windows that, when triggered, would flash in sequence, casting a moving light along the floor and walls of the set, as if from a moving car above. I thought we could use the LED wall to do something similar from below, catching highlights on the metal pipework that ran across the ceiling. During a break in shooting, I hatched a plan with colour operator Melissa Goddard, brain bar supervisor Ben Brown, and we came up with a moving rectangular section on the LED wall which matched the practical lights for speed, intensity and colour temperature. We set up two buttons on our iPad to trigger the ‘light’ to move in either direction. We demoed the idea to the DP after lunch, who loved it, and so when it came to shoot, he could either call from a car above from the practical lights, or a car below from the LEDs. (ML): Just to clarify – the Coruscant Safehouse set was the only application of Stagecraft LED screens in Season 2. All other Coruscant scenes relied on urban location photography or stage sets with traditional blue screen extensions. The various Yavin locations were achieved primarily with large backlot sets at Longcross Studios. A huge set of the airfield, temple entrance and partial temple interior was extended by Scanline VFX, led by Sue Rowe, in post, creating the iconic temple exterior from A New Hope. VFX also added flying and parked spaceships, and augmented the surrounding forest to feel more tropical. Andor blends CG with actual real-world locations. Can you share how you balanced these two elements, especially when creating large-scale environments or specific landscapes that felt grounded in reality? (SP): A great example of this is the environment around the Senate. The plates for this were shot in the City of Arts & Sciences in Valencia. Blending the distinctive Calatrava architecture with well-known Star Wars buildings like the Senate was an amazing challenge, it wasn’t immediately clear how the two could sit alongside each other. Our Vancouver team, led by Tania Richard, did an incredible job taking motifs and details from the Valencia buildings and incorporating them into the Senate building on both large and small scales, but still contiguous with the overall Senate design. The production team was ingenious in how they used each of the Valencia buildings to represent many locations around the Senate and the surrounding areas. For example, the Science Museum was used for the walkway where Cassian shoots Kloris (Mon’s driver), the main entrance to the Senate, and the interior of the Senate Atrium (where Ghorman Senator Oran is arrested). It was a major challenge ensuring that all those locations were represented across the larger environment, so viewers understood the geography of the scene, but also blended with the design language of their immediate surroundings. Everything in the Senate Plaza had a purpose. When laying out the overall layout of the Plaza, we considered aspects such as how far Senators would realistically walk from their transports to the Senate entrance. When extending the Plaza beyond the extents of the City of Arts & Sciences, we used Calatrava architecture from elsewhere. The bridge just in front of the Senatorial Office Building is based on a Calatrava-designed bridge in my home city of Dublin. As we reach the furthest extents of the Senate Plaza, we begin blending in more traditional Coruscant architecture so as to soften the transition to the far background. Coruscant is such a pivotal location in Star Wars. How did you approach creating such a vast, densely populated urban environment? What were the key visual cues that made it feel alive and realistic? (ML): Our approach to Coruscant in Season 2 built upon what we established in the first season: primarily, shooting in real-world city locations whenever feasible. The stunning Calatrava architecture at Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences, for instance, served as the foundation for the Senate exterior and other affluent districts. For the city’s grittier neighborhoods, we filmed in urban environments in London, like the Barbican and areas around Twickenham Stadium. Filming in these actual city locations provided a strong, realistic basis for the cinematography, lighting, and overall mood of each environment. This remained true even when VFX later modified large portions of the frame with Star Wars architecture. This methodology gave the director and DP confidence on set that their vision would carry through to the final shot. Our art department and VFX concept artists then created numerous paintovers based on plates and location photography, offering clear visual guides for transforming each real location into its Coruscant counterpart during post-production. For the broader cityscapes, we took direct inspiration from 3D street maps of cities such as Tokyo, New York, and Hong Kong. We would exaggerate the scale and replace existing buildings with our Coruscant designs while preserving the fundamental urban patterns. When it comes to creating environments like Yavin, which has a very natural, jungle-like aesthetic, how do you ensure the VFX stays true to the organic feel of the location while still maintaining the science-fiction elements of Star Wars? (ML): Nearly all of the Yavin jungle scenes were shot in a large wooded area that is part of Longcross Studios. The greens and art departments did an amazing job augmenting the natural forest with tropical plants and vines. The scenes featuring the two rebel factions in the clearing were captured almost entirely in-camera, with VFX primarily adding blaster fire, augmenting the crashed ship, and painting out equipment. Only the shots of the TIE Avenger landing and taking off, as well as the giant creature snatching the two rebels, featured significant CG elements. The key elements connecting these practical locations back to the Yavin established in A New Hope and Rogue One were the iconic temples. The establishing shots approaching the main temple in episode 7 utilized plate photography from South America, which had been shot for another Disney project but ultimately not used. Other aerial shots, such as the U-Wing flying above the jungle in episode 12, were fully computer-generated by ILM. K-2SO is a beloved character, and his return is highly anticipated. What can you tell us about the process of bringing him back to life with VFX in Season 2? What new challenges did this bring compared to his original appearance? (SP): We had already updated a regular KX droid for the scene on Niamos in Season 1, so much of the work to update the asset to the latest pipeline requirements had already been done. We now needed to switch over to the textures & shaders specific to K2, and give them the same updates. Unique to Series 2 was that there were a number of scenes involving both a practical and a digital K2 – when he gets crushed on Ghorman in episode 8, and then ‘rebooted’ on Yavin in episode 9. The practical props were a lot more beaten up than our hero asset, so we made bespoke variants to match the practical droid in each sequence. Additionally, for the reboot sequence on Yavin, we realised pretty quickly that the extreme movements meant that we were seeing into areas that previously had not required much detail – for instance, underneath his shoulder armour. We came up with a shoulder joint design that allowed for the required movement while also staying mechanically correct. When we next see him in Episode 10, a year has passed, and he is now the K-2SO as we know him from Rogue One. K-2SO has a unique design, particularly in his facial expressions and movement. How did you approach animating him for Season 2, and were there any specific changes or updates made to his character model or animation? (SP): Following Rogue One, Mohen made detailed records of the takeaways learned from creating K-2SO, and he kindly shared these notes with us early on in the show. They were incredibly helpful in tuning the fine details of the animation. Our animation team, led by Mathieu Vig, did a superb job of identifying the nuances of Alan’s performance and making sure they came across. There were plenty of pitfalls to avoid – for instance, the curve to his upper back meant that it was very easy for his neck to look hyperextended. We also had to be very careful with his eyes, as they’re sources of light, they could very easily look cartoonish if they moved around too much. Dialling in just the right amount of eye movement was crucial to a good performance. As the eyes also had several separate emissive and reflective components, they required delicate balancing in the comp on a per-shot basis. Luckily, we had great reference from Rogue One to be able to dial in the eyes to suit both the lighting of a shot but also its performance details. One Rogue One shot in particular, where he says ‘Your behavior, Jyn Erso, is continually unexpected’, was a particularly good reference for how we could balance the lights in his eyes to, in effect, enlarge his pupils, and give him a softer expression. K-2SO also represented my first opportunity to work with ILM’s new studio in Mumbai. Amongst other shots, they took on the ‘hallway fight’ sequence in Episode 12 where K2 dispatches Heert and his troopers, and they did a fantastic job from animation right through to final comp. K-2SO’s interactions with the live-action actors are key to his character. How did you work with the actors to ensure his presence felt as real and integrated as possible on screen, especially in terms of timing and reactions? (ML): Alan Tudyk truly defined K-2SO in Rogue One, so his return for Andor Season 2 was absolutely critical to us. He was on set for every one of K2’s shots, performing on stilts and in a performance capture suit. This approach was vital because it gave Alan complete ownership of the character’s physical performance and, crucially, allowed for spontaneous, genuine interactions with the other actors, particularly Diego Luna. Witnessing Alan and Diego reunite on camera was fantastic; that unique chemistry and humor we loved in Rogue One was instantly palpable. In post-production, our VFX animators then meticulously translated every nuance of Alan’s on-set performance to the digital K-2SO model. It’s a detailed process that still requires artistic expertise. For instance, K2’s facial structure is largely static, so direct translation of Alan’s facial expressions isn’t always possible. In these cases, our animators found creative solutions – translating a specific facial cue from Alan into a subtle head tilt or a particular eye movement for K2, always ensuring the final animation remained true to the intent and spirit of Alan’s original performance. Were there any memorable moments or scenes from the series that you found particularly rewarding or challenging to work on from a visual effects standpoint? (ML): The Plaza sequence in episode 8, which runs for about 23 minutes, stands out as particularly memorable – both for its challenges and its rewarding outcome. Just preparing for it was a daunting task. Its successful execution hinged on incredibly tight collaboration between numerous departments: stunts, creature effects, special effects, the camera department, our tireless greenscreens crew, and of course, VFX. The stunts team, under Marc Mailley, drove the choreography of all the action. Our On-Set VFX Supervisor, Marcus Dryden, was instrumental. He worked hand-in-glove with the director, DP, and assistant directors to ensure we meticulously captured all the necessary elements. This included everything from crowd replication plates and practical effects elements to the performances of stunt teams and creature actors, plus all the crucial on-set data. The shoot for this sequence alone took over three weeks. Hybride, under the leadership of Joseph Kasparian and Olivier Beaulieu, then completed the environments, added the blaster fire, and augmented the special effects in post-production, with ILM contributing the KX droids that wreak havoc in the plaza. (SP): I agree with Mohen here, for me the Ghorman Plaza episode is the most rewarding to have worked on. It required us to weave our work into that of so many other departments – stunts, sfx, costume – to name just a few. When we received the plates, to see the quality of the work that had gone into the photography alone was inspirational for me and the ILM crew. It’s gratifying to be part of a team where you know that everyone involved is on top of their game. And of course all that is underpinned by writing of that calibre from Tony Gilroy and his team – it just draws everything together. From a pure design viewpoint, I’m also very proud of the work that Tania Richard and her ILM Vancouver crew did for the Senate shots. As I mentioned before, it was a hugely challenging environment not just logistically, but also in bringing together two very distinctive architectural languages, and they made them work in tandem beautifully. Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of? (TJ): I’m incredibly proud of this entire season. The seamless collaboration we had between Visual Effects and every other department made the work, while challenging, an absolute joy to execute. Almost all of the department heads returned from the first season, which provided a shorthand shortcut as we started the show with implicit trust and understanding of what we were looking to achieve. The work is beautiful, and the commitment of our crew and vendors has been unwavering. I’m most proud of the effort and care that each individual person contributed to the show and the fact that we went into the project with a common goal and were, as a team, able to showcase the vision that we, and Tony, had for the series. (ML): I’m really proud of the deep integration of the visual effects – not just visually, but fundamentally within the filmmaking process and storytelling. Tony invited VFX to be a key participant in shaping the story, from early story drafts through to the final color grade. Despite the scale and spectacle of many sequences, the VFX always feel purposeful, supporting the narrative and characters rather than distracting from them. This was significantly bolstered by the return of a large number of key creatives from Season 1, both within the production and at our VFX vendors. That shared experience and established understanding of Tony’s vision for Andor were invaluable in making the VFX an organic part of the show. (SP): I could not be prouder of the entire ILM team for everything they brought to their work on the show. Working across three sites, Andor was a truly global effort, and I particularly enjoyed how each site took complete ownership of their work. It was a privilege working with all of them and contributing to such an exceptional series. VFX progression frame Lucasfilm’s ANDOR Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm. ©2025 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. How long have you worked on this show? (TJ): This show has been an unbelievable journey. Season 2 alone was nearly 3 years. We wrapped Season 2 in January of 2025. We started prepping Season 2 in February 2022, while we were still in post for Season 1. I officially started working on Season 1 early in 2019 while it was still being developed. So that’s 6 years of time working on Andor. Mohen and I both also worked on Rogue One, so if you factor in the movie, which was shooting in 2015, that’s nearly ten years of work within this part of the Star Wars universe. (ML): I started on the project during early development in the summer of 2019 and finished in December of 2024. (SP): I started on Season 1 in September 2020 and finished up on Season 2 in December 2024. What’s the VFX shots count? (TJ): We had a grand total of 4,124 shots over the course of our 12 episodes. Outside of Industrial Light & Magic, which oversaw the show, we also partnered with Hybride, Scanline, Soho VFX, and Midas VFX. What is your next project? (TJ): You’ll have to wait and see! (SP): Unfortunately, I can’t say just yet either! A big thanks for your time. WANT TO KNOW MORE?ILM: Dedicated page about Andor – Season 2 on ILM website. © Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2025

Behind the film’s invisible visual effects by Cinesite, including environments, aerial surveillance footage and those stunning F-18 show of force shots.  Warfare, written and directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland, is based on Mendoza’s own experiences as a US Navy SEAL in a deadly moment during the Iraq War. It follows the action as a Navy SEAL platoon takes over a suburban Ramadi street before they come under attack. When they attempt to flee and call in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, an IED explosion results in severe casualties and a further rescue. Cinesite, led by visual effects supervisor Simon Stanley-Clamp, was responsible for the film’s visual effects. This ranged from taking original plates for the house and surrounding street areas shot at at an airfield and fleshing out the environment to resemble the Iraqi city, to realizing gunfire and weapon hits, and some dramatic ‘show of force’ F-18 shots.  Here’s how they did it. The shoot The film was shot at Bovingdon Airfield Studios in Hertfordshire, UK. The Ramadi street set was completely built there as an outdoor location in the airfield’s car park. “Initially,” recounts Stanley-Clamp, “the plan was to build just the one house and digitally do the rest. But then the plan went to six houses in close quarters around the hero house where the incident takes place. It grew finally to eight houses, one was a complete working house, with a working staircase, and then the houses off it are flattage, but good flattage with enough depth to work.” Surrounding the housing set were two ‘massive’ bluescreens, as Stanley-Clamp puts it. “They were 20 feet high by 120 feet wide. Then I had a couple of floating bluescreens on Manitou’s that we could drive in to plug a gap here and there.” Cinesite was then responsible for extending the street environment and completing some sky replacements. “Production designer Mark Digby’s set was so well-built,” says Stanley-Clamp. “Sometimes, with a set for a castle or something like that, when you get up close to the set, you can tell it’s plaster and wood and canvas. But the textures we sourced from Mark’s set are what we use to duplicate and replicate out the rest of the build in CG. Our build was completely based on their architecture.” The IED explosion As a Bradley Fighting Vehicle arrives at the house and members of the platoon leave to enter it, an IED fixed to a lamppost is detonated next to the tank. Special effects supervisor Ryan Conder orchestrated the explosion. “It was shot with a lot of dust and debris and with light bulbs inside so that it was very bright,” says Stanley-Clamp. “We had prepped visual effects simulations to add to the dust and debris, but Alex essentially said, ‘No, it works, that’s what I want.’ What we did add was some burning phosphorus that stays alight for around four minutes. There was also a small pick-up bluescreen shot for a soldier falling.” “After the main explosion,” continues Stanley-Clamp, “there’s the moment where there’s just a lot of smoke. We added about 45% more smoke and tiny particulate, so small you barely register it, but you “feel” it’s presence. There’s a lot of subtle compositing work going on inside there. At one point, two of the soldiers are standing almost next to each other, but they don’t know that they’re standing next to each other. So we were having to roto each soldier off the plate and then layer smoke back over them and then reveal them and push them back. It was a lot of fine-tuning.” Prosthetics designer Tristan Versluis delivered a number of prosthetics and bloody make-up effects for the resulting IED explosion injuries. Cinesite’s contributions here were only minimal, advises Stanley-Clamp. “There’s one particular shot where we put in a fluid blood sim running as a character cuts open the trouser leg. Arterial veins and things should be pumping a little bit of blood, so we put some fluid blood in running off the wound and a couple of other little embellishments.” Show of force At three points in the film, platoon members call in a ‘show of force’ from an F-18, which involves a loud fly-by the house designed to intimidate those surrounding it with an almighty sound and pulsating wave of dust and debris.  “The show of force was going to happen only once,” notes Stanley-Clamp, “and it was one of those shots where we were told, ‘You won’t  see the jet, just hear it.’ Well, in the end, they wanted a trailer-type shot for this. Also, that first show of force is the only time we used a bit of fancy camera kit where we were on a long arm and dropped the camera down. Usually, we were right there all the time with the platoon. For that shot, Alex said, ‘Faster, faster, faster—what happens if you run it double speed?’ We ran it double speed and it worked.”  “We worked with the physics of the environment and we measured everything out,” adds Stanley-Clamp. “I mean, it’s traveling at something like 400 miles an hour. With the camera coming down, there was actually a weird optical illusion. It made it look like the plane was going up. So we had to do some tricky things to make that work.” For the resulting wave of dust and debris, Cinesite had Lidar scans of the set, and used a model of the houses and street to aid in simulations and extra backdrafts, utilizing Houdini. Says Stanley-Clamp: “We even went in and added moving palm trees, put more sand on the ground that could lift up, and then would scrape it back so you are left with patches of exposed ground.” Stanley-Clamp’s other main memory of those show of force moments was the sound. “So, the set was rigged for sound, meaning, the sound was built into our set. When that show of force happened, the first time it happened, I was looking for that fucking jet! Where did that come from?! It was absolutely deafening. Same goes for the call to prayer, the dogs barking, people chattering out in the street, it was all there.” Aerial surveillance Inside the house, the platoon has a computer with aerial maps and surveillance of their location, showing the house from above and movement around it. These screens were initially intended to only be featured briefly, but Stanley-Clamp took it upon himself to prepare some graphics that could be played back during the shoot. “In editorial,” he says, “they started to cut in the graphics that had been made, and they found it really helped with the exposition. So, they needed more.” Using the CG models constructed for the set extensions, Cinesite expanded the buildings out to a full grid of streets and residences. Adding in soldiers and other people was then necessary for the surveillance screens. At a pick-up shoot back at Bovingdon airfield, this time on the actual runway, a large 400 foot long bluescreen was laid on the ground, and a drone used to film action from 200 feet up in the air.  “We used this to film the equivalent of running down a street,” outlines Stanley-Clamp. “We had actually previs’d it with walk cycles that I had generated myself, but Alex said, ‘It’s got to be real people. Not mocap. You can tell they’re pixels, you can tell.’ For a day shoot, I got hours and hours and hours of footage, which I could never have generated in CG. Plus, I got whole platoons to walk down the street, not just individual people.”  The result was a collection of elements that brought some realistic-looking parallax to the surveillance screens, suggests Stanley-Clamp. “In fact, at one of the test screenings with some marines, the feedback from them was, ‘Where did you get hold of the footage? It’s so good.’ They thought it was real footage.” For the actual look of the footage, Cinesite consulted with Mendoza on whether it took on an infrared, ultraviolet or ‘heat seek’ look, the latter of which is what they settled on. “Right up until very close to the end,” notes Stanley-Clamp, “I thought, ‘It’s not quite right.’ So we grunged it down and raised it back up. It was looking too clean. We had to remember this was set in 2016 and effectively the tech then is a little different. You can buy night-vision goggles now or shoot night vision with drones and the quality’s ridiculous. But we had to go back to the reference, although we found that it can be hard to find that old reference.”  Subtle effects Warfare’s use of subtle visual effects extended also to weaponry. For shots requiring the Bradleys to fire from their central gun barrels, Cinesite provided a large muzzle flash and resulting smoke, timed to practical explosions rigged to buildings. Gunshots and muzzle flashes were also added to soldier firearms, along with accompanying CG bullet, phosphors and masonry hits.  Cinesite’s muzzle flashes related directly to the choice of camera. The film was shot largely on a DJI Ronin lightweight camera (the DOP was David J. Thompson) that allowed for fast set-ups and being able to maneuver in small spaces. “We did some experiments and found that shooting at 30 fps gave us the best retention of muzzle flashes,” explains Stanley-Clamp. “You would not always see a muzzle flash go off, so sometimes we’ve enhanced a muzzle flash that’s in there or put additional ones in.” “It was a bit different for something like tracer fire,” adds Stanley-Clamp. “You might think trace fire is there the whole time. It’s not. It’s about every fifth shell that goes off, that’s where you will get a tracer fire. Alex would be counting them. ‘No…no…now!’ That was a good learning curve.”  The post How an airfield in the UK was turned into the Iraqi city of Ramadi for Alex Garland’s ‘Warfare’ appeared first on befores & afters.

SSRN Meet the Author: Robert Bird Robert Bird is a professor of business law and the Eversource Energy Chair in Business Ethicsat the University of Connecticut. He conducts research in legal strategy, business ethics, compliance, employment law, and related fields. Bird has authored over eighty academic publications, including articles in the American Business Law Journal, Journal of Law and Economics, Law and Society Review, Boston University Law Review, Boston College Law Review, and the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. Robert has received sixteen research-related awards – including the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) best international paper award, distinguished proceedings award, and the Holmes-Cardozo best overall conference paper award – and various teaching-related awards, such as the outstanding article of the year award two years in a row from the Journal of Legal Studies Education, and the student-selected Alpha Kappa Psi Teacher of the Year award. Robert is also a manuscript reviewer for several journals and is a past president of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, the international academic organization for professors of law in schools of business. He spoke with SSRN about the importance of legal education within business schools and how legal knowledge provides value to organizations, both for their bottom line and for creating businesses for good. Q: Your main research and teaching focus has surrounded the intersection of business and law. What is it about the relationship between these two that led you to explore it further? A: As an undergraduate management information systems major at Fairfield University, I became interested in how legal issues impacted the development of new technologies. I remember writing a paper in the early 1990s on the legal and ethical implications of expert systems, a predecessor to today’s artificial intelligence. When I began my dual JD/MBA degree at Boston University, I found both fields fascinating. Business rewards people who have effective problem-solving skills, strong communication skills, and the ability to lead. Legal studies emphasize thinking on your feet, clear and persuasive legal writing, and an enduring sense of justice and fairness. Law school helped me to connect disparate ideas in a novel and creative way. Business school helped me solve complex problems and connect thought to action. The disciplines, at least to me, seemed to naturally work together, and I found it irresistible to explore more deeply. I do not teach in a law school. I’m a lawyer in a business school. For years I felt like a cat in a dog show. The disciplines think in a fundamentally different manner. Traditionally, business faculty research as social scientists, while law faculty emphasize the humanist side of knowledge. Business faculty are skilled at statistical analysis and modeling, while law faculty are adept with abstract ideas and interpretation of textual knowledge. This has its challenges and its opportunities. In a law school, I doubt any professor questions the importance of law in business. In a business school, I initially had to address fundamental questions: “Why do our business students need to know the law? Can’t they just call a lawyer?” Having to respond to these kinds of questions has made me a better teacher and scholar. Initially, my standard answer was that “lawyers are important because they keep our students out of trouble, and they prevent companies from being investigated by regulators that result in costly penalties.” No less important, however, is that lawyers can’t be present for every decision a manager makes, and some bad business decisions result in irreversible liability. Businesspeople need to know how the law works in order to minimize their legal risks. Today, I very much value my business school affiliation. Legal knowledge can also be used as a source of strategic value for the company. If business people see law as a domain that is just as value-creating as finance and marketing and operations, they will take the law more seriously. They will increase their respect for the rule of law. As a result, you’ll have a company that is inherently primed to act with integrity, follow ethical values, and be socially responsible. That is valuable because what is unethical today is often illegal tomorrow. I think studying business is interesting because company operations are intertwined with some of the most important issues in society. Companies are making money, but they’re also impacting the societies in which they sell products. Law focuses on justice, equity and fairness, and I was interested in how companies can not only add value to their bottom line but also help build a better world: business that respects human rights, business that aspires to ethical and sustainable goals. Business schools that know the importance of legal knowledge will give their students a legal education, and those students are more likely to graduate as moral agents for change. Q: In your new book, “Legal Knowledge in Organizations,” [which was released in March 2025,] you discuss how legal knowledge can greatly benefit firms by providing them with a distinct competitive advantage. In doing so, you lay out five pathways that firms use to pursue legal strategies. So now going back a ways, in your paper “Pathways of Legal Strategy,” which was included in the Stanford Journal of Law, Business, and Finance in 2008 and was later posted on SSRN, you talk similarly about five pathways. How have you developed the concept of these pathways over time, leading now to your recent book? A: I have been interested in how legal knowledge can be a source of value since 2001, when I just started full-time teaching. I still have an inexplicably pink sheet of paper upon which I scribbled the date and title “Ideas for Managerial Law for Strategic Advantage.” Because legal knowledge is so important in the organization, I was interested in how legal knowledge is used by companies, how it can be a source of value for companies, and how legal experts within organizations can deploy legal knowledge. So much of what is written about law in business relates to litigation and conflict. I wanted to learn more about how legal and business experts can work together successfully. Those ideas scribbled on that sheet of paper later became the foundation for my recently published book. However, twenty years ago there was limited research on how to use legal knowledge as a source of value for organizations. I looked at a number of companies and how they behaved, and I noticed that there were five different pathways – or patterns – that companies seemed to follow. There’s an avoidance pathway, where the companies ignore legal rules and circumvent enforcement. A firm following the conformance pathway perceives law as little more than a box to be checked, after which you move on to the more important aspects of business. In the prevention pathway, firms will take business steps to avoid legal problems, such as implementing business policies that prevent legal liability from appearing in the first place. This is where most companies believe their best practices are, with legal and compliance experts. However, there are two additional pathways: the value pathway perceives law as a source of competitive advantage and shows how legal knowledge can help you open up new markets, manage legal risk more efficiently and have more resources than your competitors do. Then finally, the transformative pathway uses legal knowledge to fundamentally change how the organization works. That means building a culture of integrity in the organization, enduring respect for legal rules, and supporting a close partnership between legal experts and businesspeople that generates a long-term competitive advantage that rivals cannot easily match. These pathways are explored in more detail in my book. The book also highlights how legal knowledge helps managers better understand and manage legal risk in a dynamic fashion. This can result in a first mover advantage in a new market. Companies can use the law to capture value in a way their rivals haven’t, and sustain that advantage, because they’re more versed in how the laws work than their competitors. I have applied these pathways of legal strategy to business challenges ranging from whistleblower laws to cannabis regulation. There’s a rich volume of information in this book. I also focus on legal risk management, and I apply an acronym called VUCA, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Each of those four risk management techniques presents a distinct risk but also a distinct opportunity that can help companies assess risk, effectively avoid legal liability, and generate value through a well-coordinated response. The VUCA method perceives legal risk in a novel way, enabling firms to manage legal risk better than their rivals. Q: Of the five pathways you just discussed, the fifth, transformation, can bring significant benefits, but it is one that you’ve said few companies can successfully achieve, as it requires the company to rethink the way the entire organization works. What are some of the barriers that might prevent well-meaning companies from following the transformation pathway? A: The transformation pathway requires a fundamental change in the culture of the organization that fully embraces the value of legal knowledge as a strategic asset. However, there are two primary barriers that prevent this from happening. One barrier is that lawyers will sometimes be too risk averse and will focus on the technical nature of law rather than integrating their decisions into the strategy of the firm. The other barrier is that managers do not receive sufficient legal education to appreciate the importance of law or productively communicate with their legal team. If a manager does not know what the law is or how the law works, the manager can’t ask questions of their legal counsel such as, “Can you build me a legal strategy? Can you work with me as a strategic partner?” One of my key missions is to highlight the critical importance of legal education in business schools. At schools like the University of Connecticut, we are committed to that legal education. Every student that earns an undergraduate degree or an MBA receives at least one course in business law and ethics. These students understand what law is, how law works, and why it’s important to companies. Some business schools don’t require legal knowledge to get an MBA. Their students graduate with their business degree, and even though they have this elite pedigree, they don’t understand the law. They have not learned how to read a contract, legally hire and fire an employee, avoid insider trading, deal with regulators, negotiate with counter parties, protect the environment, and a variety of other legal issues that companies face every day. No business school should bestow a business degree on a student whose entire legal knowledge comes from watching reruns of Law & Order. Law is a critical part of business education. If they don’t get legal education, they’re not going to think of their lawyers as anything more than litigators. Lawyers can be so much more valuable than that: they can be strategic partners, they can be thought leaders, they can help change the culture of the organization to one that’s committed to integrity, which is not only good for society, but improves the bottom line. Legal knowledge is the last great untapped source of competitive advantage in organizations. My recently published book helps unlock that value for anyone who wants to read it. Q: What aspects of the book do you think are especially timely now? A: Right now, regulations are more complex, more comprehensive, and more punitive than at any other time in business history. Changes in presidential administrations, and radical shifts in how legal rules are enforced, do not create a steady state for companies. All that does is create turbulence for firms and increase their cost of operations. Companies can’t take efficient risks, and they can’t optimally plan for the future. Managers need legal knowledge now more than ever in order to handle the legal standards that are in a state of almost constant change. In addition, law is critical for the global economy. Today, respect for the rule of law and the adherence to following the rule of law is being challenged in a way that it hasn’t in decades. Companies need the rule of law to survive. Unwise firms see the rule of law as just another burden or obligation or another box that needs to be checked. In fact, legal mandates establish the rules of global markets. Legal rules provide certainty in terms of their regulatory obligations, especially when they’re well written. Legal knowledge also helps companies understand how to manage their workforce and how to protect the environment. Q: You’ve said in previous discussions, regarding why rules and regulations are so complex, that “words are finite and imprecise tools that are trying to govern and account for an infinite number of situations.” How would you suggest laws be structured in order to be succinct while still managing to capture an array of scenarios and account for possible loopholes? Where is that balance? A: Legal regulation needs to be as simple as it needs to be, and no simpler. What does that mean? That means there are a bunch of ways to make laws functional and effective. First is that legislators need to be careful to draft rules that do not have deliberate opacity. The more specificity you can provide, the more guidance you have for firms. That said, if there is too much specificity, where firms lack the flexibility to respond to mandates, then the law becomes convoluted. Complex laws aren’t necessarily bad. Sometimes laws have to be complex to meet their goals. Convoluted laws, however, are unnecessarily complex, and that’s the kind of law that drafters need to avoid. This may sound counterintuitive, but Americans enjoy the significant freedom where there is strong, consistent, and well-written regulation. For example, almost every city and town in the U.S. has traffic lights. Laws that require people to listen to traffic lights restrict freedom because they stop you from getting where you need to go, while others can cross the road. But if everyone just ignored traffic lights, there would be more traffic jams, accidents, and even deaths. Getting from one place to another would be much harder. Delivering goods and services would be more difficult. So, while traffic lights restrict freedom on one level, they actually increase the freedom of people overall to get where they need to go safely and quickly. The same goes for markets. Without strong and well-written regulation, you create chaos. Law is an accelerant for commercial transactions. Laws help prevent corruption in markets. Laws enable companies to make and enforce contracts. Laws protect intellectual property rights. Laws enable free and fair global trade. Laws keep the peace so that business can flourish. You want strong business; you need strong legal rules. You want an efficient market; you need efficient regulation. Law and business go hand-in-hand to make a functioning society and global market thrive. Q: You have many papers on SSRN, which have been frequently downloaded over the past twenty-plus years. Are there any in particular that you’d like to highlight? A: I am currently studying the harmful impact that corporate tax avoidance has on society, and how tax avoidance can be more effectively prevented. I have an article talking about the moral economy against tax avoidance. A moral economy in this context is a network of beliefs that society has about certain economic practices. These beliefs arise from collectively held notions of fairness and equitable opportunity. When a wealthy taxpayer uses aggressive tax avoidance to squeeze through loopholes of legal rules and avoid paying taxes, that hurts everyone in society. A moral economy against tax avoidance would empower individuals in society to condemn the practice, thereby discouraging all but the most aggressive avoiders from circumventing their obligations to contribute to the public good. I have also co-authored an article on an organization-centered approach to whistleblowing law. Most scholars study whistleblowing law from a legal perspective and how it applies to the organization. This article focuses on how organizations can engage in self-regulation in order to better manage whistleblowing risks. Whistleblowers may be perceived as just another cost of doing business, but whistleblowing laws can be a source of competitive advantage. Applying the five pathways of legal strategy researched earlier, this article shows how companies can leverage employees who are potential whistleblowers into valuable allies that create value for the organization. Q: In addition to business law, you also have an interest in business ethics. What are the essential principles that companies must know in order to be ethical? A: There are four principles of values-driven management that every organization should fully embrace. These four principles serve as four legs of a platform of responsible business practice. The first principle is business ethics, the internal values of the firm. Business ethics focuses on the individual decision-making in the organization that shapes how the organization functions on a day-to-day basis. Strong ethical principles can be the basis of a culture of integrity. By a culture of integrity, I mean ethical values that are so strong that employees comply with those values because they believe in them and not because they have to be asked to do so. The absence of ethical principles leaves companies morally adrift and prone to mistakes that can hurt the company’s reputation or trigger legal liability. The second principle is corporate social responsibility, which focuses on a company’s obligation to its stakeholders. These include shareholders, employees, neighbors, community, society, regulators, suppliers, creditors, the environment, and others. The third principle is sustainability. Sustainability focuses on management of collective resources over time. What responsibility do organizations have not just today, but also next year, 20 years, and 50 years from now? How do we sustain an environment that will be preserved for our grandchildren and our great grandchildren? The fourth principle is business and human rights. This focuses on inalienable rights that all persons have regardless of wealth or nationality. All people have a right to life, a right to education, a right to a fair wage, and a right to be able to raise a family in a safe environment, free from war and conflict. These rights are so strong they override the economic interests of corporations. Human rights are the vanguard of these values-driven principles. Finally, my colleagues and I have developed a new program at UConn, a Master’s in Social Responsibility & Impact in Business. The program trains students not only in business principles, but also in how companies can be a source of good for society. They can also be agents for cultural change, promoting sustainability and human rights, and advancing goals of business ethics. We’re training both change makers and change accelerators in organizations. We can show them not only that acting responsibly is good for society, but also that it’s good for business in the long term. An ethical company is a profitable company. A sustainable company is a profitable company. That’s something that we are showing our students now. Q: How do you think SSRN fits into the broader research and scholarship landscape? A: I joined SSRN over 20 years ago, and it has been my go-to mechanism to distribute scholarship to the wider academic community. Virtually every manuscript that I’ve drafted goes on SSRN before it gets submitted to publication. I find it to be a key vector for disseminating my research before it eventually gets published. SSRN is a living embodiment of tomorrow’s research today. Instead of waiting potentially years to be formally published, through SSRN my working paper is shared with a wide audience in a short time. I’m just a few quick clicks away from sharing my work with interested colleagues who will be able to easily find it. I don’t have to wait until publication. When you’re on SSRN, you’re in an ecosystem where people are looking for current knowledge, and if they find your work, they’re going to cite it before it gets to publication. SSRN also brings research to me. The eJournals are one of the primary ways that I learn about research that’s not within my immediate network. SSRN is also excellent for accessing international scholarship. There are scholars in other countries that I may never hear about except for on SSRN. SSRN is a gateway to world scholarship. You can see more work by Robert Bird on his SSRN Author page here

May 20: National Day of Remembrance in Cambodia (1975); National Awakening Day in Indonesia (1908) 325 – The First Council of Nicaea (depicted), the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church, was formally opened by Constantine the Great. 794 – According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia was beheaded on the orders of Offa of Mercia. 1714 – J. S. Bach led the first performance of his Pentecost cantata Erschallet, ihr Lieder at the chapel of Schloss Weimar. 1927 – With the signing of the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty of Ibn Saud over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become Saudi Arabia. 1941 – World War II: German paratroopers began the Battle of Heraklion on the island of Crete, capturing the airfield and port in Heraklion ten days later. William Fargo (b. 1818)Gertrude Guillaume-Schack (d. 1903)Nizamuddin Asir Adrawi (d. 2021) More anniversaries: May 19 May 20 May 21 Archive By email List of days of the year About