Latest news with #AlexanderPuzrin
Euronews
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Gérard Depardieu found guilty of sexual assault on a 2021 film set
The Venice Architecture Biennale, one of the most prestigious events in the world of architecture, has officially launched. Taking place every two years, countries from around the globe are invited to showcase their most innovative and thought-provoking ideas about architecture in national pavilions - this time around the theme of 'Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective.' This year, the Bahrain Pavilion, located in the historic Artiglierie of the Arsenale, has won the coveted Golden Lion award for Best National Participation with its installation titled "Heatwave". Suspended above a relaxed public seating area, Heatwave features a hovering square-shaped ceiling supported by chains from a central column. More than just a visual spectacle, the structure offers climate-responsive cooling, designed to make public space more habitable in a period of intensifying heatwaves. Engineered by Mario Monotti with thermomechanical input from Alexander Puzrin, the installation explores modular climate infrastructure. While a geothermal well and solar chimney were originally proposed to create a self-sustaining microclimate, excavation wasn't feasible at the Biennale site - so mechanical ventilation was used instead to simulate the architect's intended cooling effect. Accepting the award, pavilion commissioner Shaikh Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa noted, "The term heatwave is a very common term we hear in the media, in news and even amongst our conversations at home. It is a stress to our urban centres and local communities, and the pavilion aimed to address those issues through an innovative technique." Two other standout pavilions were also acknowledged by the jury. The Holy See's 'Opera aperta' showcase, housed in a deconsecrated Venetian church in the Castello district, received a special mention for transforming the space into an evolving site of collective care, restoration, and dialogue, inspired by Italian philospher Umberto Eco's 1962 book "Open Work (Opera aperta)". Part construction site, part community centre - over seven months, it will host restoration workshops, shared meals, and music rehearsals, bringing together international architects, local artisans, students, and social collectives. And rather than concealing damage, the team will carefully trace the building's cracks, mold, and weathering - viewing them not as flaws, but as evidence of life, history, and possibility. The British Pavilion also earned a special mention for its powerful examination of architecture and its links to colonisation. Titled 'GBR: Geology of Britannic Repair', the exhibition is a UK-Kenya collaboration led by curators Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi (Cave_bureau, Nairobi), Owen Hopkins, and Professor Kathryn Yusoff, and seeks to explore whether architecture can shift from being an extractive force to one of repair and restitution. "With the Great Rift Valley as the exhibition's geological and conceptual focus, we have brought together a series of installations that propose 'other architectures' defined by their relationship to the ground, their resistance to conventional, extractive ways of working, and that are resilient in the face of climate breakdown and social and political upheaval" says the curatorial team. The Venice Architecture Biennale runs until 23 November 2025. A Paris court today has found actor Gérard Depardieu guilty of having sexually assaulted two women on a 2021 film set, giving him an 18-month suspended prison sentence. The actor, 76, has been convicted of having groped a 54-year-old costume designer and a 34-year-old assistant during the filming of Jean Becker's Les Volets Verts. Depardieu, who has denied the accusations, didn't attend today's hearing. The actor was also slapped with the additional penalty of a two-year disqualification from standing for election, as well as registration in the national automated database of sexual offenders. In addition to non-material damages, Depardieu has been ordered to pay both women the sums of €1,000 and €2,000 for secondary victimisation. No fine of €20,000 as requested by the public prosecutor, however. "I hope this is the end of impunity for an artist in the film industry," stated Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, the lawyer of one of the victims. "With this decision, we can no longer say (that Gérard Depardieu) is not a sexual abuser," she added. "My thoughts are with the other victims who are under the statute of limitations and with the four victims who took the stand." Depardieu will appeal against his conviction for sexual assault, his lawyer Jérémie Assous announced after the hearing. The case is widely seen as a key post- #MeToo test of how French society and its film industry address allegations of sexual misconduct involving prominent figures. During the four-day trial in March, Depardieu rejected the accusations, saying he's 'not like that.' He acknowledged that he had used vulgar and sexualized language on the film set and that he grabbed the set designer's hips during an argument, but denied that his behavior was sexual. Paris' public prosecutor had requested that Depardieu be found guilty and given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of €20,000. The prosecutor denounced the actor's 'total denial and failure to question himself.' Some figures in the French cinema world have expressed their support for Depardieu. Actors Vincent Perez and Fanny Ardant were among those who took seats on his side of the courtroom. Depardieu has been accused publicly or in formal complaints of misconduct by more than 20 women, but so far only the sexual assault case has proceeded to court. Some other cases were dropped because of a lack of evidence or the statute of limitations. The actor may have to face other legal proceedings soon. In 2018, actor Charlotte Arnould accused him of raping her at his home. That case is still active, and in August 2024 prosecutors requested that it go to trial. The 78th Cannes Film Festival kicks off today and every year, the world has its eyes on the red carpet, which is perhaps one of the most rigidly controlled red carpets in the world. This year, there's some change, as the festival has added a new stipulation: no nudity. While nudity was never previously endorsed at the festival, Cannes updated its dress policy to read that 'nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as in any other area of the festival.' While a no-shirt-no-service policy is standard in places far less glamorous than Cannes, the policy tweak has sparked widespread attention because of the recent trend of sheer and "nude dresses", much like Bianca Censori's controversial outfit at this year's Grammys. Asked for clarity on the policy, Cannes press officers said the festival 'made explicit in its charter certain rules that have long been in effect.' 'The aim is not to regulate attire per se, but to prohibit full nudity on the red carpet, in accordance with the institutional framework of the event and French law,' it said. Cannes also noted that 'voluminous outfits, in particular those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theater are not permitted.' Still, skin has often been flashed at the French Riviera festival by celebrities like Bella Hadid, Naomi Campbell and Kendall Jenner, and dress policies have long been flouted by celebrities. For evening premieres at the Palais' Grand Théâtre Lumière, black tie and evening wear is required. Though not in recent years, Cannes security officials have sometimes turned away women for not wearing heels. The festival also banned selfies in 2018, as Cannes director Thierry Frémaux called them 'grotesque'. However, A-listers sometimes snap a quick photo on the Palais steps.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bahrain wins top prize at Venice Architecture Biennale with a pavilion tackling extreme heat
The Venice Architecture Biennale, one of the most prestigious events in the world of architecture, has officially launched. Taking place every two years, countries from around the globe are invited to showcase their most innovative and thought-provoking ideas about architecture in national pavilions - this time around the theme of 'Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective.' This year, the Bahrain Pavilion, located in the historic Artiglierie of the Arsenale, has won the coveted Golden Lion award for Best National Participation with its installation titled "Heatwave". Suspended above a relaxed public seating area, Heatwave features a hovering square-shaped ceiling supported by chains from a central column. More than just a visual spectacle, the structure offers climate-responsive cooling, designed to make public space more habitable in a period of intensifying heatwaves. Engineered by Mario Monotti with thermomechanical input from Alexander Puzrin, the installation explores modular climate infrastructure. While a geothermal well and solar chimney were originally proposed to create a self-sustaining microclimate, excavation wasn't feasible at the Biennale site - so mechanical ventilation was used instead to simulate the architect's intended cooling effect. Accepting the award, pavilion commissioner Shaikh Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa noted, "The term heatwave is a very common term we hear in the media, in news and even amongst our conversations at home. It is a stress to our urban centres and local communities, and the pavilion aimed to address those issues through an innovative technique." Two other standout pavilions were also acknowledged by the jury. The Holy See's 'Opera aperta' showcase, housed in a deconsecrated Venetian church in the Castello district, received a special mention for transforming the space into an evolving site of collective care, restoration, and dialogue, inspired by Italian philospher Umberto Eco's 1962 book "Open Work (Opera aperta)". Part construction site, part community centre - over seven months, it will host restoration workshops, shared meals, and music rehearsals, bringing together international architects, local artisans, students, and social collectives. And rather than concealing damage, the team will carefully trace the building's cracks, mold, and weathering - viewing them not as flaws, but as evidence of life, history, and possibility. The British Pavilion also earned a special mention for its powerful examination of architecture and its links to colonisation. Titled 'GBR: Geology of Britannic Repair', the exhibition is a UK-Kenya collaboration led by curators Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi (Cave_bureau, Nairobi), Owen Hopkins, and Professor Kathryn Yusoff, and seeks to explore whether architecture can shift from being an extractive force to one of repair and restitution. "With the Great Rift Valley as the exhibition's geological and conceptual focus, we have brought together a series of installations that propose 'other architectures' defined by their relationship to the ground, their resistance to conventional, extractive ways of working, and that are resilient in the face of climate breakdown and social and political upheaval" says the curatorial team. The Venice Architecture Biennale runs until 23 November 2025.
Euronews
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Bahrain wins top prize at the Venice Architecture Biennale
The Venice Architecture Biennale, one of the most prestigious events in the world of architecture, has officially launched. Taking place every two years, countries from around the globe are invited to showcase their most innovative and thought-provoking ideas about architecture in national pavilions - this time around the theme of 'Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective.' This year, the Bahrain Pavilion, located in the historic Artiglierie of the Arsenale, has won the coveted Golden Lion award for Best National Participation with its installation titled "Heatwave". Suspended above a relaxed public seating area, Heatwave features a hovering square-shaped ceiling supported by chains from a central column. More than just a visual spectacle, the structure offers climate-responsive cooling, designed to make public space more habitable in a period of intensifying heatwaves. Engineered by Mario Monotti with thermomechanical input from Alexander Puzrin, the installation explores modular climate infrastructure. While a geothermal well and solar chimney were originally proposed to create a self-sustaining microclimate, excavation wasn't feasible at the Biennale site - so mechanical ventilation was used instead to simulate the architect's intended cooling effect. Accepting the award, pavilion commissioner Shaikh Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa noted, "The term heatwave is a very common term we hear in the media, in news and even amongst our conversations at home. It is a stress to our urban centres and local communities, and the pavilion aimed to address those issues through an innovative technique." Two other standout pavilions were also acknowledged by the jury. The Holy See's 'Opera aperta' showcase, housed in a deconsecrated Venetian church in the Castello district, received a special mention for transforming the space into an evolving site of collective care, restoration, and dialogue, inspired by Italian philospher Umberto Eco's 1962 book "Open Work (Opera aperta)". Part construction site, part community centre - over seven months, it will host restoration workshops, shared meals, and music rehearsals, bringing together international architects, local artisans, students, and social collectives. And rather than concealing damage, the team will carefully trace the building's cracks, mold, and weathering - viewing them not as flaws, but as evidence of life, history, and possibility. The British Pavilion also earned a special mention for its powerful examination of architecture and its links to colonisation. Titled 'GBR: Geology of Britannic Repair', the exhibition is a UK-Kenya collaboration led by curators Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi (Cave_bureau, Nairobi), Owen Hopkins, and Professor Kathryn Yusoff, and seeks to explore whether architecture can shift from being an extractive force to one of repair and restitution. "With the Great Rift Valley as the exhibition's geological and conceptual focus, we have brought together a series of installations that propose 'other architectures' defined by their relationship to the ground, their resistance to conventional, extractive ways of working, and that are resilient in the face of climate breakdown and social and political upheaval" says the curatorial team. The Venice Architecture Biennale runs until 23 November 2025. A Paris court today has found actor Gérard Depardieu guilty of having sexually assaulted two women on a 2021 film set, giving him an 18-month suspended prison sentence. The actor, 76, has been convicted of having groped a 54-year-old costume designer and a 34-year-old assistant during the filming of Jean Becker's Les Volets Verts. Depardieu, who has denied the accusations, didn't attend today's hearing. The actor was also slapped with the additional penalty of a two-year disqualification from standing for election, as well as registration in the national automated database of sexual offenders. In addition to non-material damages, Depardieu has been ordered to pay both women the sums of €1,000 and €2,000 for secondary victimisation. No fine of €20,000 as requested by the public prosecutor, however. "I hope this is the end of impunity for an artist in the film industry," stated Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, the lawyer of one of the victims. "With this decision, we can no longer say (that Gérard Depardieu) is not a sexual abuser," she added. "My thoughts are with the other victims who are under the statute of limitations and with the four victims who took the stand." Depardieu will appeal against his conviction for sexual assault, his lawyer Jérémie Assous announced after the hearing. The case is widely seen as a key post- #MeToo test of how French society and its film industry address allegations of sexual misconduct involving prominent figures. During the four-day trial in March, Depardieu rejected the accusations, saying he's 'not like that.' He acknowledged that he had used vulgar and sexualized language on the film set and that he grabbed the set designer's hips during an argument, but denied that his behavior was sexual. Paris' public prosecutor had requested that Depardieu be found guilty and given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of €20,000. The prosecutor denounced the actor's 'total denial and failure to question himself.' Some figures in the French cinema world have expressed their support for Depardieu. Actors Vincent Perez and Fanny Ardant were among those who took seats on his side of the courtroom. Depardieu has been accused publicly or in formal complaints of misconduct by more than 20 women, but so far only the sexual assault case has proceeded to court. Some other cases were dropped because of a lack of evidence or the statute of limitations. The actor may have to face other legal proceedings soon. In 2018, actor Charlotte Arnould accused him of raping her at his home. That case is still active, and in August 2024 prosecutors requested that it go to trial.
BBC News
26-03-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Mud, water and wood: The system that kept a 1604-year-old city afloat
Most modern structures are built to last 50 years or so, but ingenious ancient engineering has kept this watery city afloat for more than 1,600 years – using only wood. As any local knows, Venice is an upside-down forest. The city, which turned 1604 years old on March 25, is built on the foundations of millions of short wooden piles, pounded in the ground with their tip facing downwards. These trees – larch, oak, alder, pine, spruce and elm of a length ranging between 3.5m (11.5ft) to less than 1m (3ft) – have been holding up stone palazzos and tall belltowers for centuries, in a true marvel of engineering leveraging the forces of physics and nature. In most modern structures, reinforced concrete and steel do the work that this inverted forest has been doing for centuries. But despite their strength, few foundations today could last as long as Venice's. "Concrete or steel piles are designed [with a guarantee to last] 50 years today," says Alexander Puzrin, professor of geomechanics and geosystems engineering at the ETH university in Zurich, Switzerland. "Of course, they might last longer, but when we build houses and industrial structures, the standard is 50 years of life." The Venetian piles technique is fascinating for its geometry, its centuries-old resilience, and for its sheer scale. No-one is exactly sure how many millions of piles there are under the city, but there are 14,000 tightly packed wooden poles in the foundations of the Rialto bridge alone, and 10,000 oak trees under the San Marco Basilica, which was built in 832AD. "I was born and raised in Venice," says Caterina Francesca Izzo, environmental chemistry and cultural heritage professor at the University of Venice. "Growing up, like everyone else, I knew that underneath the Venetian buildings, there are the trees of Cadore [the mountain region next to Venice]. But I didn't know how these piles were placed, how they were counted and knocked down, nor the fact that the battipali (literally the 'pile hitters') had a very important profession. They even had their own songs. It is fascinating from a technical and technological point of view." The battipali would hammer down the piles by hand, and they would sing an ancient song to keep the rhythm – a haunting and repetitive melody with lyrics that praise Venice, its republican glory, its Catholic faith, and declare death to the enemy of the time, the Turks. On a more lighthearted note, a Venetian expression still in use today, na testa da bater pai (literally 'a head that is good to pound down the piles') is a colourful way of saying that someone is dull or slow-witted. The piles were stuck as deep as possible, until they couldn't be pounded down any further, starting at the outer edge of the structure and moving towards the centre of the foundations, usually driving nine piles per square metre in a spiral shape. The heads were then sawn to obtain a regular surface, which would lay below sea-level. Transverse wooden structures – either zatteroni (boards) or madieri (beams) – were placed on top. In the case of the bell towers, these beams or boards were up to 50cm (20in) thick. For other buildings, the dimensions were 20cm (8in) or even less. Oak provided the most resilient wood, but it was also the most precious. (Later on, oak would only be used to build ships – it was too valuable to stick in the mud.) On top of this wooden foundation, workers would place the stone of the building. The Republic of Venice soon began protecting its forests to provide sufficient wood for construction, as well as for ships. "Venice invented sylviculture," explains Nicola Macchioni, research director at the institute for bioeconomy at Italy's National Council for Research, referring to the practice of cultivating trees. "The first official sylviculture document in Italy is indeed from the Magnificent Community of the Fiemme Valley [to the north-west of Venice], dating from 1111AD. It details rules to exploit the woods without depleting them." According to Macchioni, these conservation practices must have been in use years before they were written down. "That explains why the Fiemme Valley is still covered by a lush fir forest today." Countries such as England, however, were facing wood shortages by the middle of the 16th Century already, he adds. Venice is not the only city relying on wooden piles for foundations – but there are key differences that make it unique. Amsterdam is another city partially built on wooden piles – here and in many other northern European cities, they go all the way down until they reach the bedrock, and they work like long columns, or like the legs of a table. "Which is fine if the rock is close to the surface," says Thomas Leslie, professor of architecture at the University of Illinois. But in many regions, the bedrock is well beyond the reach of a pile. On the shore of Lake Michigan in the US, where Leslie is based, the bedrock could be 100ft (30m) below the surface. "Finding trees that big is difficult, right? There were stories of Chicago in the 1880s where they tried to drive one tree trunk on top of another, which, as you can imagine ended up not working. Finally, they realised that you could rely on the friction of the soil." The principle is based on the idea of reinforcing the soil, by sticking in as many piles as possible, raising substantial friction between piles and soil. "What's clever about that," says Leslie, "is that you're sort of using the physics… The beauty of it is that you're using the fluid nature of the soil to provide resistance to hold the buildings up." The technical term for this is hydrostatic pressure, which essentially means that the soil "grips" the piles if many are inserted densely in one spot, Leslie says. Indeed, the Venetian piles work this way – they are too short to reach bedrock, and instead keep the buildings up thanks to friction. But the history of this way of building goes back further still. The technique was mentioned by 1st-Century Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius; Romans would use submerged piles to build bridges, which again are close to water. Water gates in China were built with friction piles too. The Aztecs used them in Mexico City, until the Spanish came, tore down the ancient city and built their Catholic cathedral on top, Puzrin notes. "The Aztecs knew how to build in their environment much better than the Spanish later, who have now huge problems with this metropolitan cathedral [where the floor is sinking unevenly]." Puzrin holds a graduate class at ETH that investigates famous geotechnical failures. "And this is one of these failures. This Mexico City cathedral, and Mexico City in general, is an open-air museum of everything that can go wrong with your foundations." After more than a millennium and a half in the water, Venice's foundations have proved remarkably resilient. They are not, however, immune to damage. Ten years ago, a team from the universities of Padova and Venice (departments ranging from forestry to engineering and cultural heritage) investigated the condition of the city's foundations, starting from the belltower of the Frari Church, built in 1440 on alder piles. The Frari belltower has been sinking 1mm (0.04in) a year since its construction, for a total of 60cm (about 24in). Compared with churches and buildings, belltowers have more weight distributed on a smaller surface and therefore sink deeper and faster, "like a stiletto heel", says Macchioni, who was part of the team investigating the city's foundations. Caterina Francesca Izzo was working on the field, core drilling, collecting and analyzing wood samples from underneath churches, belltowers and from the side of the canals, which were being emptied out and cleaned up at the time. She said that they had to be careful while they were working on the bottom of the dry canal, to avoid the wastewater sporadically gushing from the side pipes. The team found that throughout the structures they investigated, the wood was damaged (bad news), but the system of water, mud and wood was keeping it all together (good news). They debunked the common belief that the wood underneath the city doesn't rot because it's in an oxygen-free, or anaerobic, condition – bacteria do attack wood, even in absence of oxygen. But bacteria action is much slower than the action of fungi and insects, which operate in the presence of oxygen. Furthermore, water fills up the cells that are emptied out by bacteria, allowing wooden piles to maintain their shape. So even if the wooden piles are damaged, the whole system of wood, water and mud is held together under intense pressure, and is kept resilient for centuries. "Is there anything to worry about? Yes and no, but we should still consider continuing this type of research," says Izzo. Since the sampling 10 years ago, they hadn't collected new ones, mainly because of the logistics involved. It's not known for how many more hundreds of years the foundations will last, says Macchioni. "However, [it will last] as long as the environment remains the same. The foundation system works because it is made of wood, soil and water." The soil creates an oxygen-free environment, the water both contributes to that and maintains the shape of the cells, and the wood provides friction. Without one of these three elements, the system collapses. In the 19th and 20th centuries, wood was completely replaced by cement in foundation construction. In recent years, though, a new trend of building with wood has gained increased interest, including the rise of wooden skyscrapers. "It's kind of the cool material right now, and for really good reasons," comments Leslie. Wood is a carbon sink, it's biodegradable and thanks to its ductility, it's considered among the most earthquake-resistant materials. "We can't of course build entire cities on wood nowadays because we are too many on the planet," adds Macchioni, but it's undeniable that without artificial materials and without motors, ancient builders just had to be more ingenious. Venice is not the only city with wooden foundations, but it is "the only one [where the friction technique was used] en masse that is still surviving today and is so insanely beautiful", adds Puzrin. "There were people out there who didn't study soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering, and yet they produced something we can only dream about producing, which lasted so long. They were these were amazing, intuitive engineers who did exactly the right thing, taking advantage of all these special conditions." -- For essential climate news and hopeful developments to your inbox, sign up to the Future Earth newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
