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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Im Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We look now at a new report published by the research group Forensic Architecture, which counters Israels argument at the International Court of Justice that it followed humanitarian policies to safeguard civilian life in Gaza. South Africa argued in January before the ICJ that Israel was guilty of genocide during its war on Gaza. The report argues that what Israel says are humanitarian evacuations in Gaza actually amount to the forced displacement of Palestinians, which is a war crime.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, were joined in London by Eyal Weizman, a British Israeli architect born in Haifa. Hes founder and director of Forensic Architecture, a professor of spatial and visual cultures at Goldsmiths College at the University of London. Hes the author of several books, including Hollow Land: Israels Architecture of Occupation and The Least of All Possible Evils: A Short History of Humanitarian Violence. Hes also a member of the Technology Advisory Board of the International Criminal Court and of the Center for Investigative Journalism.

Eyal, welcome to Democracy Now! As we come to air right now, the United States has presented a resolution to the U.N. Security Council for a temporary ceasefire. Im wondering if you could respond to that and Netanyahu only speaking with Republicans, behind closed doors now he might be addressing a joint session of Congress, if the House speaker decides to invite him saying that Rafah invasion will happen.

EYAL WEIZMAN: Yeah. If a Rafah invasion will happen, we will see the humanitarian disaster, the man-made humanitarian disaster imposed on Gaza, just aggravated to levels that we havent yet experienced. In Rafah, we have a huge part of the Palestinian people evacuated to living in inhumane conditions where there are famine and lack of basic humanitarian provisions, in something that is called a safe zone. And I think that its important to understand that there is no safe place in Gaza. Although Israel is designating part of the Strip as so-called safe areas and ordering the population to evacuate to them, it continuously imposes on these areas conditions that amount to unlivable conditions and in continuation of its genocidal policies.

So, what we need to my comment to that is, rather than allowing any or entertaining any specific plans and provisions, you know, that the U.S. is discussing now with the Israelis about allowing them to attack Rafah under certain conditions, we need to see immediate ceasefire across the board in all places of Gaza, in order to allow for the rebuilding of the Strip, in order to allow for humanitarian provision to reach each and every Palestinian in the north and in the south.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, Eyal Weizman, the proposal that the U.S. has put forth this is before we turn to your report. The proposal that the U.S. has put forth for a temporary ceasefire is reportedly for the release of Israeli hostages and allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza. You wrote in a piece I want to ask you about a piece you wrote for the London Review of Books in November in which you document the piece is headlined Exchange Rate, where you document the change in Israel policy with respect to its hostages. So, if you could talk about the way that thats played out? You wrote the piece in November. If you could talk about the way thats played out, and how you think that might affect what happens now, going forward, with respect to the hundred or so hostages who remain, who are reportedly still alive?

EYAL WEIZMAN: I think that what you see in all negotiations around the captives and the Palestinian prisoners sitting in Israeli prisons, some of them on administrative detentions without charge, thousands of them, is that Israel has been creating and enlarging its bank of prisoners in order to create in order to allow it to change the exchange rate. The title of that piece in the LRB was Exchange Rate, and it was looking at the history of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation through the capture of captives, from really, from the famous airplane hijacks of the '70s all the way to the present, the way in which Palestinians forced Israel into the only way that Palestinians could actually affect and release their prisoners is through capturing Israeli captives. Over the years, the exchange rate has changed favorably to the Palestinians. And what you're seeing is that Israel is now arresting people in order Palestinians, again, and holding them in administrative detention, in order to beef up its bank of captives.

More than that, you could see that in the reports on the negotiation, the fate of those people that have been purportedly evacuated into safe areas is being brought into the equation. One way of thinking about it is to say, of course, Hamas or Palestinian factions in Gaza are holding over 100 Israeli captives, and Israel is holding close to 2 million Palestinian captives and bargaining for their return home in exchange for its prisoners. And that is obviously patently illegal, according to international law. And the fact that even that is being brought into the negotiation testifies that that was the intent of holding them away from their home as a bargaining chip towards that. So, you have an exchange rate now that is 200 million Palestinians displaced sorry, 2 million Palestinians displaced, 100 Israeli captives, and this is really where the negotiations are going.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Eyal Weizman, lets turn to your report, the Forensic Architecture report, which is headlined Humanitarian Violence in Gaza. If you could begin just by explaining the two words dont normally come together,humanitarian and violence.

EYAL WEIZMAN: Right.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: If you could explain what you mean by that? Of course, youve also written a book on this. And then lay out the three phases of mass displacement that you document in the report.

EYAL WEIZMAN: Yeah. So, you know, we think about humanitarian principles and part of them is international humanitarian law, so-called the laws of war as being there to protect civilians. But a certain manipulation of international humanitarian law allows you to have operational advantage, or, in this case, advantage in negotiation over the captives in this particular way. So, there is a principle, an accepted principle, in international in humanitarianism that if you want to evacuate a population into a safe zone, that safe zone needs to have several conditions. There needs to be proper medical care. There needs to be proper food and housing in these areas. Israel has evacuated ordered the evacuation of Palestinians from within Gaza and from the north to the south into areas that were repeatedly under attack, into areas with no housing, no medical care, and now that we see no food is being provided in it, or very little, or not sufficient levels of aid within that. So, that is, firstly, you know, the kind of the principle of using a humanitarian principle that is purportedly used in order to save, in order to treat civilians and take them out of harms way, in order to achieve Israels operational objectives in this attack on Gaza, and that is to exercise pain on the civilian population to generate levels of destruction and harm that would deter Palestinians from ongoing resistance to the Israeli occupation.

And its becoming more and more clear that the harm, that the levels of destruction that were seeing, that the level of displacement that were seeing, are not the byproduct and not the collateral effects of this conflict, but really the only thing that Israel has achieved during that war. It hasnt achieved any of its tactical aims. It hasnt dismantled Hamas as an operative force. It hasnt captured the Hamas leadership. It hasnt freed hostages, except of in very rare situations. What it has done is create an equation in which the civilian population is being put in harms way in order to bargain against their return back to the north, to north of Gaza, in order to effectively achieve what tactically Israel has not achieved.

So, in relation to the stages, a week or so after the October 7th attack, Israel has given the entirety of the north of Gaza an evacuation order. They were ordered to leave the north of Gaza, home to over a million Palestinians, the center of Palestinian political, cultural life, was actually ordered to cross Wadi Gaza, which divides, according to them, Gaza into north and south. That was the first stage. And after the ceasefire, the temporary ceasefire in which some prisoner exchange was happening at the beginning of December, what Israel has done is releasing an interactive map online, dividing Gaza into kind of a gerrymandered 623 zones. It was very difficult, with people that we spoke to in Gaza, to understand whether they are in zone number 546 or 547. The map was extremely confusing. It was released online at a time of very frequent internet and power cuts, or it was communicated via leaflets that were unevenly distributed. It was an incredibly confusing system that led to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians from one zone to the other. So, when they were after they were ordered to all move into southern Gaza, from different parts in the southern part of Gaza, they were ordered to go into different places.

And what the report is showing is the systematic and ongoing use of these evacuation orders were meant to achieve that population displacement and that people were continuously being put in harms way. The routes, the so-called safe routes, along which Palestinians were ordered to evacuate were attacked. Areas where they went to had no provisions and very often were attacked themselves. So, we cannot see that humanitarian policy, so-called humanitarian policy, of the Israeli forces and the argument that the Israelis put forward in The Hague that, you know, they are not in violation of the Genocide Convention because they apply humanitarian principle, but we cannot see it as anything else but part of the genocidal campaign that is actually inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: And now, of course, if Netanyahu does succeed in a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah, they will go back to all these places they were forced to flee. And they talk about, No worries, Palestinian civilians will be protected in these humanitarian zones. Eyal Weizman, if you could respond to that? And also, just for people to understand, your organization is so unusual, and it also operates in several different countries, you yourself born in Haifa. If you could explain how you do what you do? We are also showing a series of maps, where you show the stages, one, two, three. Youve done so many different investigations, from who killed Shireen Abu Akleh, the great Al Jazeera Arabic reporter when Israel was saying caught in crossfire, you proved the opposite: She was killed by an Israeli sniper among other things. Can you talk about what Forensic Architecture does, and what you, as an Israeli British architect, are doing in this kind of analysis an architect?

EYAL WEIZMAN: Yeah, thank you for asking that. Of course, the nature of the Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank, and throughout Palestine complete, makes use of architecture as part of the violence applied on Palestinians. So, starting from the location of settlements on hilltops in a way that divide the Occupied Territories, surveys it, bisect Palestinian-built fabric, the design of roads, the provisional infrastructure, you could say that settler colonialism is architecturally enacted.

In Gaza, obviously, we had settlements in Gaza up until 2005, when they were evacuated, but after that, the Gaza envelope is a system of civilian and military infrastructure that included a number of fences and earth berms and military facilities, as well as kibbutzim and moshavim. These are agrarian settlements that are part of what Israel always called its regional defense.

Of course, all that system was attacked on October 7th. So you could see how architecture is mobilized as part of the system of control and occupation of Palestinians. You could see why Palestinians would attack that system of infrastructure and this is without commending and, of course, not supporting the killing and abduction of civilians.

But I think that architecture is a key part of that, of understanding the conflict, the long history of Israels settler colonization, and also understanding what is happening in Gaza now. It is happening in urban environment. And one has to understand what this urban environment, that has been created over the years of you know, since, really, the Gaza Strip was created as a historical anomaly in 1948, when it was carved out as a kind of concentration area for refugees, becoming one of the densest parts of the world, most densely inhabited part of the world. How do you control population centers? And a lot of thinking was done from the Israeli side in terms of thinking about the control of Palestinians as an urban problem.

And what we see now happening in Gaza is the shaping of Gaza for, you know, the day after. Would it come now? Would it come in weeks, in months? We do not know. But what we see is Israel actually shaping the built fabric, destroying all homes and agricultural areas in a huge buffer zone along the border, creating east-west routes, not only the famous one that we know, around Deir al-Balah, but all throughout that very long and thin strip of territory, the Gaza Strip, we see it being truncated, almost cut like salami, with routes and military infrastructure that would be there in order to isolate and divide different parts of the Gaza Strip, if resistance continues, from the Palestinian parts.

And so, architecture if architecture is really the means by which Israel exercises control, we, architects, and the organization that I run, Forensic Architecture, is you know, has many architects working with us, but also open-source investigators, journalists, lawyers, etc. we are monitoring things from a cartographic, spatial and architectural perspective. We work very closely, and we have a partner organization in Ramallah, the Al-Haq Forensic Architecture Unit, because we understand that working in Palestine, like working anywhere else in the world Forensic Architecture has also got offices in Mexico, in Bogot; now were starting one in Istanbul, in Athens, in many other places in the world. But understanding the lived reality, understanding the way that architecture is used as an oppressive mechanism requires also the lived experience understanding the lived experience of people there. And therefore, when weve done that report that you mentioned, weve been in touch with weve been in touch with Palestinians on the ground, weve been in touch with medical professionals, with doctors, in understanding the conditions in the so-called safe zones. And as I say, there are no safe areas in Gaza.

Weve tried to understand the spatial logic of that campaign. And we could see that one of the main strategic tools for Israel to control and afflict that pain on Gaza is through the evacuation orders, and that they have been spatially designed initially, again, dividing north Gaza from south Gaza, and then dividing it into 600 Tetris parts, if you like, in which, you know, you would get very a confusing order in which your number would come up, and you would be told to go from that number zone into another number zone. Do you get this message? Do you understand it? And also, on the way, youd be attacked. And the zone in which youre being evacuated to is itself unsafe and unlivable.

So, here what we see is the abuse of humanitarian principles to further Israeli genocidal campaign. And this is why we call that report Humanitarian Violence. We need to be very, very wary when we are speaking about humanitarian principles in war, because very often militaries not only the Israeli militaries, but, you know, Western, Northern, global militaries from the Global North, when they engage in urban warfare in parts of the Global South, they are applying humanitarian principles theyre playing international law in a particular way that does not contain violence, that actually amplifies it.

Ill give you another example for that: warnings. You know, you could think that to warn a population is actually something that could be very, very helpful. It could save lives. But, actually, the aims of these warnings, or what is implied in them and sometimes explicitly mentioned is that if you do not heed the warning, you would be considered potentially part of the armed resistance in a particular area. That means you get redesignated from a protected civilian to a nonprotected either voluntary human shield or part of a resistance, if you do not heed the warning. So, in a sense, with one legal tool, you created the redesignation of a big part of the population, and you basically let the blood in that way. So, humanitarianism, when it those principles, when theyre using in such a brutal campaign, it could be actually part of the problem, rather than something that is moderating and defending civilians.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Eyal Weizman, if we could talk a little bit more about that? The scale, just to point out, just to give us a sense of the scale of the crisis of mass expulsions, at the moment, almost 70% of the total area of the Gaza Strip has been issued evacuation orders. If you could say, very quickly, in terms of the International Court of Justice ruling, what does your report suggest about the defense that Israel presented?

EYAL WEIZMAN: Yeah, that the defense is completely inapplicable. We will show how and we have shown how Israeli military, the occupation forces, when they maneuver through if you look at things in relation to each other, if you look at military maneuver, you look at areas that have been bombed, as we have, through speaking to people, through analyzing videos, through looking at satellite imagery, we have a good understanding, we have a good map of what are the areas that have been bombed. Overlay that with the so-called safe zones, overlay them with Israeli military maneuver, and what you see is, A, civilians are being evacuated into areas that have been bombed, that have no facilities, and are continuously bombing they are still being bombedas Israel has ordered civilians into them. And you see, in some cases, Israeli military maneuver, Israeli invasion into the area it itself designated as safe zones.

So, in a sense, you see those categories operating in relation to each other as part of an overall strategy, rather than youre seeing humanitarian principle pushing against military violence and moderating it. You see it has become one of the tools in the Israeli campaign toolbox to generate that level of destruction in Gaza. So, you know, youre speaking about 70% of the area is being displaced. And the proportion

AMY GOODMAN: Eyal, we have 10 seconds.

EYAL WEIZMAN: The proportion of people displaced is much higher, and the proportion of civilian infrastructure destroyed is almost complete. So, look at those things together and understand the militarization of humanitarian principles.

AMY GOODMAN: Eyal Weizman, we clearly have so much to talk about. Wed like to ask you to stay, and well post Part 2 online at democracynow.org. Eyal Weizman is a British Israeli architect, founder and director of Forensic Architecture. Well link to the new report, Humanitarian Violence: Israels Abuse of Preventive Measures in Its 2023-2024 Genocidal Military Campaign in the Occupied Gaza Strip.

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Architect Eyal Weizman on Mapping Israel's Genocidal Campaign - Democracy Now!

Allyson Ifergan & Kaysea Suzana | PantherNOW Staff

Alt pop brought an art show to life at the Paul Cejas School of Architecture, bringing together students and art mediums.

Students and guests joined several architecture organizations at the BEA Gallery on Thursday, Mar. 21 at 7:00 P.M. for a multimedia art show.

The free event gave noise to the night, being hosted by four student-led architecture organizations including: Alpha Rho Chi, American Institute of Architecture Students, American Society of Landscape Architects, and National Organization of Minority Architecture Students at FIU.

Senior architecture major Dora Otano and President of Alpha Rho Chi spoke to PantherNOW on why the event was hosted in the first place.

[In] architecture school we really do focus a lot on the positives but we dont focus on the negatives.Youll see us here at three in the morning working on our craft This event really gives us the opportunity to wind down, Otano said.

The aural art show is part of the third annual collaboration amongst the architecture societies, in an attempt to unify the architecture students and promote creative expression.

Co-president of the International Interior Design association and senior architecture major Chelsea Abella spoke about the efforts of setting up the exhibition.

We each created different promotional graphics to try to get a lot more involvement from architecture and even people outside the program. This started as a way for architecture students to showcase what they do outside of the studio, said Abella.

Abella also commented that artists are competing for a mystery prize and certification, ordained by judges who walked around the exhibition and took notes.

The prize certificate for the art contest winner | Kaysea Suzana, PantherNOW

Many students were not even aware of the event, but were magnetized to it due to the music, such as pre-nursing major Pius Arquillo.

I actually came in here not knowing this was a thing. I was just skating around..I knew a couple people here, Arquillo said.

The band was local south Florida musicians from Broward known as The Borin Brothers, an alternative pop group composed of blood-related brothers.

Father and band manager Marcelo Borin spoke on the bands purpose.

Were here to have a good time. Were here to serve [FIU students]. We love to entertain people.

Some students were surprised to see their friends art in the gallery.

Im enjoying this a lot. Theres a couple people here I know with their art Arquillo said.

Bachelor of Fine Arts Student, Victor Diego, exhibited a A Lovers First Requiem, an acrylic self portrait about his first encounter with love.

A Lovers First Requiem painted by Victor Diego | Allyson Ifergan, PantherNOW

It was the first time I fell, and I fell pretty hard It was my first time experiencing heartbreak, said Diego.

The event brought in many students and elicited an exciting end to the night, with a glimpse into the future that the architecture societies will collaborate once more.

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Aural Art Show Brings Aestheticism to Architects - PantherNOW

The aim to spread the word about FC Barcelona's Espai Bara project and all the work being carried out by Club continues. The new space in the Les Corts neighbourhood is set to become an architectural benchmark both in the city and worldwide. This time the Barcelona Technical Architecture Association (CATEB) have visited the Spotify Camp Nou works to gain first-hand knowledge on how the works on the future stadium are progressing.

The CATEB governing body committee members were led by president Celest Ventura Cisternas and they were joined by the works' executive management team, Tcnics G3, Betarq and Construcci i Control. The architects and the other visitors saw how the columns for the third tier are starting to rise around the iconic 1957 faade, which will remain front and centre as part of the future Spotify Camp Nou design. They also examined the first and second tiers in detail, where repair work to the structure is being carried out, along with initial construction of their inner partitions.

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Barcelona Architects Association visit the Spotify Camp Nou works - FC Barcelona

Construction is moving ahead for a new music venue named Channel 24 at 1800 24th Street in Midtown Sacramentos Poverty Ridge neighborhood. The future venue operator, Another Planet Entertainment, recently highlighted the progress of the 2,150-person venue that bridges the gap between smaller venues and stadiums. SKK Development is responsible for the project.

Channel 24 construction progress, image by author

Channel 24 construction progress looking above the fence, image by author

APE Concerts is a well-established venue operated from Berkeley. Its purview includes the Greek Theater, Bill Graham Civic Theater, Fox Theater, and The Castro. The organizer is also responsible for the Outside Lands outdoor music festival in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park.

The Channel 24 venue will help fill a gap in Sacramento for mid-tier musicians. We have so many artists touring through Northern California that have to skip Sacramento because there is not an appropriately sized venue for them to play, Scott said in a statement reported on by the San Francisco Chronicle. Channel 24, right in the heart of the city, fills that need, and we hope that the venue quickly becomes an integral part of Sacramentos vibrant live music scene.

24R Theater at 1800 24th Street evening view, rendering via CAW and Ellis Architects

24R Theater at 1800 24th Street vertical cross section, illustration via CAW and Ellis Architects

Ellis Architects is the project architect. The facilitys plans include a low-profile, rusted steel wall and industrial windows. Facade materials include rust-colored corrugated metal siding, a curtain-wall glass system, and stucco. BKF is the civil engineer, and Atlas Lab is the landscape architect.

The 45-foot-tall structure will eventually cover most of the 0.59-acre site, with around 42,700 square feet between two levels. The first floor will include a lobby, theater house, bicycle storage, restrooms, and a staff area. The second level will include the theater stage, concessions, catering space, kitchen, and dressing rooms. The existing 25,370-square-foot industrial warehouse will need to be demolished.

Channel 24 construction progress seen from across the R Street train tracks, image by author

Construction is expected to finish by early 2025.

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Construction Underway for Music Venue in Midtown Sacramento - San Francisco YIMBY

Omkar Kotwal

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Text description provided by the architects. Driven by an urge to reunite with his family, our client approached us with a requirement to construct a family home on his ancestral farmland in Vikramgadh, Palghar, Maharashtra. The land boasted an existing paddy plantation and a variety of fruit-bearing trees, like fig, mango, and other local species. Observing the rapid transformation of the surrounding village, where traditional homes were being replaced with high-maintenance contemporary structures unsuitable for the local tropical climate, our client sought to reconnect with his roots upon returning from abroad. His aim was to immerse himself in the close-knit village community and embrace the natural surroundings that his homeland offered, fostering a sense of belonging with his ancestral land.

This presented an ideal opportunity to develop a project characterized by eco-sensitive design and materials while also fostering community participation. Our objective was to minimize disruption to the natural environment during construction and to reintroduce local craftsmen to the use of indigenous materials, thereby revitalizing their traditional skills. The concept centered around constructing the house with handmade adobe blocks using earth sourced from the site and its immediate surroundings, serving as the primary load-bearing element of the house. This approach not only provided valuable training to local craftsmen for future sustainable projects but also promoted the acceptance of natural building methods within the community, revitalizing traditional sustainable practices in the process.

The project derives its name, The House of Reclaimed Gold, from our commitment to reclaiming materials from demolition waste, echoing the sentiment of passing on heirlooms through generations, a common practice in Indian tradition. While some of the old wada-style properties around Mumbai were being demolished, we found chiseled basalt rock disposed of at these sites as an ideal material for the load-bearing foundation of the house and the wall masonry on the leeward side of the house. During our recce around the village, we noticed vernacular homes being demolished for the construction of RCC substitutes. These homes offered us age-old seasoned wood that found a new purpose in our project as decking and roofing members. Some of these homes also provided us with an array of clay tiles for the roof and a flamboyant collection of doors and windows to be reused. We turned to the local granite depots for their broken granite waste to create mosaic flooring in the living spaces, while the pebbles sieved out of soil during construction were used for the anti-skid mosaic in the wet areas of the bathroom.

Our sentiments toward handcrafting led us to conduct several successful experiments on-site. One notable innovation was the design of adobe molds that incorporated a sleeve for concealing electrical conduits, allowing us to expose the earthen walls on the interior. These conduits are terminated at switch boxes crafted on-site from reclaimed teak wood. Additionally, we repurposed aged wooden logs found scattered on the farmland to create intricate live-edge features within the house. These include the kitchen counter, the master bath washbasin, and the living room column; each imbued with a sense of history and connection to the land. A cartwheel sourced from the village was incorporated as a perforated design element to the leeward elevation of the house.

Taking the harsh local climate of scorching summers and heavy monsoons into consideration, the house was designed with two elongated wings along the east-west axis. This ensured minimal exposure to the glare of the sun to reduce heat gain while maximizing ventilation. The 9-inch-thick load-bearing adobe walls provided the necessary thermal mass required to insulate the interiors, creating a significant difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures. Expansive overhangs of sloping roofs and enveloping verandahs played a major role in ensuring safety from weathering, aiding the longevity of this earthen structure. With an internal roof height of 26 feet, hot air is allowed to escape through meshed gable frames, facilitating natural ventilation. Furthermore, the verandah and lily pond surrounding the house act as a buffer, cooling the incoming breeze and providing a comfortable indoor environment.

The residence is divided into two wings, namely the public and the private wings, which are planned around a fruiting fig tree and connected by a central verandah. The public wing encompasses an open-plan living area seamlessly merging with a spacious kitchen. Reflecting a preference for rural living, dining rituals are designed around floor seating. Verandahs serve as ample overflow areas for entertaining guests. The client's and parents' bedrooms, along with master and guest baths, are situated in the private wing. These baths enjoy skylit landscape courts, infusing greenery into the spaces. Both wings offer an open deck on the first floor with interconnected verandahs, providing ample space for various activities while fostering a connection with the natural surroundings. The house strives to achieve a delicate balance between the indoor and outdoor spaces, allowing the residents to fully embrace the abundant beauty of farm life while preserving tradition and respecting the environment.

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House of Reclaimed Gold / OutOfTheBox I Eco-Architects - ArchDaily

Former PlayStation executive Connie Booth, one of the chief architects of PlayStation's first-party strategy before her unexpected departure in 2023, is joining EA to help lead its studios amid its ongoing restructure.

Booth's title will be Group General Manager, Action RPG, with a portfolio that will include EA Motive (Iron Man), Cliffhanger (Black Panther), and BioWare (Dragon Age, Mass Effect). She will report directly to EA Entertainment head Laura Miele.

"Connie spent more than 30 years helping to build Sony Interactive Entertainments internal studios and is responsible for guiding the development of some of their biggest franchises, including Marvels Spider-Man 1 & 2, The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, to name just a few," Miele said in a statement released to IGN.

"She is known for having created an incredible developer-first culture and supporting creative vision while driving innovation. I have known Connie for many years and have always been impressed by her love and commitment to games. She especially cares about game developers. She has an impeccable reputation within the development community and will undoubtedly have a positive impact on our games."

Booth is a member of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science Hall of Fame, having joined Sony in 1989 and worked especially closely with Naughty Dog. As Direct of Product Development she is credited with helping to build the studio system that has carried PlayStation through roughly 30 years in the console market. She departed Sony in 2023 amid unusual circumstances, with neither Booth nor PlayStation clarifying the reason for her exit. Sony eventually released a statement wishing her well but providing no further details.

Booth's hiring points to EA's desire to replicate some of PlayStation's current exclusives strategy, in which it has found success with large-scale single-player games such as God of War and Spider-Man. In initiating its current restructure, EA has said that it is prioritizing its own franchises and that one of its pillars is "blockbuster storytelling" an area in which Booth has considerable experience.

One of Booth's major tasks will be revitalizing BioWare, which is hoping that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will reverse its fortunes after Anthem and Mass Effect: Andromeda. BioWare suffered painful layoffs in 2023 and its next entry in the Mass Effect franchise remains in pre-production. Elsewhere, Cliffhanger Games is a relatively new studio that opened in 2023 and is working on a new Black Panther game, while EA Motive was founded by Jade Ryamond before her departure in 2018 and is currently working on Iron Man.

Like the rest of the games industry, EA is currently undergoing layoffs as part of its restructure that has resulted in around 670 workers losing their jobs. EA also closed down Ridgeline Games and canceled Respawn's Star Wars FPS. The layoffs are expected to be completed by the end of the month.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly said that Connie Booth will be running Respawn. IGN regrets the error.

Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

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Exclusive: Connie Booth, One of the Chief Architects of PlayStation's First-Party Studio System, Is Joining EA - IGN

Weiqi Jin

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Text description provided by the architects. The center of the circle of the three blast furnaces is the core and spiritual fortress of the whole blast furnace. The symbolic and commemorative nature of the core is enhanced by the lighting designer, through the three-dimensional sense created by the red wall washing lamp, the light that is projected on the furnace body like a flame, and the details of some metal rods on the blast furnace, creating a warm atmosphere like the fireplace and giving the shuttle crowd a sense of worship. The relationship between the service and the served space is diffused outward from the center, and the second ring is the front end of the core as a service space, and also a visual and functional hub to strengthen the ritual sense and centripetal force of the core.

The third ring of the floating device and the outermost ring near the facade of the fourth ring reading activity area are served Spaces. The reading activity area is a flexible area inside the blast furnace. It can be used as a corner for reading and communication. It can also be used as a space for activities, lectures and conferences, equipped with the functions of coffee and simple meals. It is a multi-scene space, covering 7 operating sections of books, art, exhibition, market, intelligence, life and bookstore business school.

After the opening and operation of the three blast furnace bookstore, many Shougang employees came to visit, and a pair of old workers in their thirties returned to this blast furnace to review the scene of their previous work to see the new scene, filled with a happy smile.

In order to create a different overall atmosphere to shape and cater to different use scenes, lighting designers have carried out lighting matching and scene-switching effects, such as the use of functions from coffee night wine, lecture mode, leisure reading and so on. The light box design of the suspended ceiling here reinforces the concept of a chaotic universe.

In terms of details, the handrails of the second-floor walk are interspersed with light stained glass Spaces, forming a dramatic contrast effect, which walks through history and future like time and space. The design of the time and space ribbon also implies that the whole world composed of books and artworks is colorful and colorful, and it is the carrier of the organic integration of the cultural consumption space with multiple formats, multi-functions and multi-scenes.

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Bookstore in the Blast Furnace / hyperSity architects - ArchDaily

In partnership with The Dalmore

For The Dalmore Luminary Series 2024 Edition the second in a world-first partnership with the V&A Dundee that celebrates outstanding talents from the worlds of whisky making and architectural design to showcase rare and collectible releases the big meadowland distillery embarked on a journey of craft and exploration, a close collaboration between flavour and form.

The project brings together Melodie Leung, associate director at Zaha Hadid Architects, and The Dalmores award-winning Luminary Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass, with the support and expertise of Master Distiller Richard Paterson OBE. Together they have created a unique sculptural presentation case for the 49-year-old The Dalmore Luminary - The Rare - 2024 Edition, and, echoing its form, packaging for the 16-year-old The Dalmore Luminary - The Collectible - 2024 Edition.

The latter, known as The Dalmore Luminary No.2 - 2024 Edition, is a chance for epicureans to collect a one-of-a-kind expression from The Dalmore, and will be available from 2 April in a limited edition. The packagings design is inspired by the swirling sculpture of The Rare, while its copper colour nods to the precious whisky it holds, and light-catching details add dynamism.

The immersive creative process between the collaborators took in discussions around the interaction and flow of flavour notes, the sculptural shapes and glowing copper of the stills, and the powerful, Proustian evocation of roasted chestnuts. During the joint exploration, Leung also drew inspiration from the idea of nature channelled over time by The Dalmore whisky makers, and the concept of flavour notes combining into something new, dynamic and tangible.

The Dalmore Luminary No.2 - 2024 Edition, which will be available from 2 April

(Image credit: Courtesy The Dalmore)

In turn, Glass was inspired by the childhood flavour experiences noted by Leung, which led him to some of the rarest casks within the Dalmores warehouses The Dalmore Luminary No.2 - 2024 Edition is matured in American White Oak ex-Bourbon, and finished in Grahams Tawny Port pipes and Apostoles Sherry Cask, featuring a small amount of exceptionally rare peated Dalmore spirit. This introduces a whisper of smoke, evocative of roasted chestnut, an atypical flavour note for the distillery.

Luminary Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass with Melodie Leung, associate director at Zaha Hadid Architects at The Dalmore distillery

(Image credit: Courtesy The Dalmore)

The collaboration allowed a convergence of flavour and form, to produce a holistic, multisensory experience of swirling complexity, texture, depth, and nuance. Two very special one-of-a-kind whiskies.

The creative and philanthropic partnership between The Dalmore and Leung was unveiled at the V&A Dundee on 21 March 2024. A global Sothebys auction of The Luminary - The Rare - 2024 Edition decanter and sculpture in May will benefit the museums education and community initiatives.

(Image credit: Courtesy The Dalmore)

A continued celebration of the worlds of architectural design and whisky making, this latest iteration of the project brings to life the energy sparked between The Dalmores Luminaries.

The Luminary No.2 will be available from 2 April 2024, in a limited edition, priced 275 at select luxury and specialist retailers worldwide as well as global travel retail

thedalmore.com

The packaging, designed to catch the light

(Image credit: Courtesy The Dalmore)

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The Dalmore Luminary Series 2024 Edition revealed - Wallpaper*

MAD architectsannounces the design for the upcoming construction of Lishui Airportin Zhejiang Province.

Lishui, a "forest city" in southwest Zhejiang Province, is renowned for its lush greenery and valleys. Its first airport is positioned as a domestic regional airport with an anticipated annual passenger throughput of one million, located in the hilly terrain that 15 kilometers southwest of the city. The planning and design try to respect the original site while ensuring accessibility, highlighting the characteristics of a mountain airport, and aiming to inspire tourism. Ma Yansong, the founder of MAD Architects stated, Lishui is a garden city, and her airport should also be in a garden. As a municipal airport, Lishui Airport embodies the essence of transportation facilities as a public space, prioritizing convenience, human scale, and city identity over sheer size and extravagance.

Covering 2,267 hectares of land with a maximum fill height difference of nearly 100 meters, the airport adopts a large silver-white overhanging roof resembling a white-feathered bird ready to soar. The bird-like form absorbs the elevation changes and merges the airport into the mountains, making the airport a spiritual landmark in the region. Internally, the warm wood-toned finish and a shuttle-shaped skylight facilitate energy efficiency and create a seamless transition between interior and exterior spaces. The one-and-a-half-floor terminal layout optimizes passenger flow, with departure facilities located on the ground floor and waiting areas situated on the second floor. A central landscape path in the sunken parking lot further enhances connectivity of passenger and the space.

Anticipating future growth, the airport's design accommodates increasing passenger numbers, forecasting 1.8 million passengers by 2030, 5 million by 2050, and an additional international terminal in plan.

Construction of the Lishui Airport will be completed and operational by the end of 2024.

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Press release and images courtesy of MAD Architects

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MAD Architects' Forthcoming Lishui Airport: a White-Feathered Bird Ready to Soar - Archilovers.com

Neon surprises await in this Cologne homeSabrina Rothe

The bureaucratic setting of a former customs house is not the first place you would look for innovation and fresh thinking, but architecture practice DIIIP is not known for sticking to conventions. It has created a truly extraordinary structure wrapped in shimmering aluminium. Set back slightly from the original buildings exterior, the two-storey addition is flanked by two terraces, with another on its roof.

For us, less is often more, and timelessness is more consistent than any trend, says Jochen Reetz, the studios founder. Together with homeowners Edwin and Melissa, he masterminded a total renovation, using sustainable materials that would age well and could be easily repaired. Plenty of storage and flexibility were also essential elements, intended to allow room for the couple and their young family to grow.

Jochen chose to place the bedrooms and bathrooms on the entrance floor, with the living and dining areas, kitchen and home office flowing into each other on the upper level. Across these spaces and roof terrace above, a simple, restrained material palette of timber, clay plaster and natural rubber creates cohesion.

All the custom joinery cupboards, benches, bunks and more was made by a carpenter using silver fir, a locally sourced timber. The knot-free grain of the wood creates a feeling of calm spaciousness, even in the rather narrow entrance hallway.

The calm is purposefully broken, however, by the glowing, glossy orange staircase. A deliberate contrast to the otherwise natural tones of the interior, it becomes this homes vivid central core. Echoes of the neon hue are playfully placed around the house, on everything from taps to candleholders.

With unexpected transitions and lightwells, this is a house that is full of surprises, but the best wow moment of all is awaiting anyone who climbs the stairs to the rooftop terrace. Ascend and you are rewarded with a breathtaking view of the river, with its passing ships, and the lush green meadows that stretch out from the opposite bank. diiip.net

Link:
Neon surprises await in this Cologne home by DIIIP architects - Yahoo Lifestyle UK