Latest news with #Architects
Hypebeast
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
‘Ma Yansong: Architecture and Emotion' Opens at Nieuwe Instituut
Summary Rotterdam'sNieuwe Instituuthas unveiledMa Yansong: Architecture and Emotion, an extensive exhibition showcasing the visionary work of Chinese architectMa Yansongand his firm,MAD Architects. Through dynamic models, multimedia installations, and artistic interpretations, the exhibition explores Ma's architectural evolution, from early experimental designs to the fluid, organic forms that define his work today. The exhibition begins with MAD's early years in China during the 2000s, a time of rapid urban development and architectural speculation. Visitors are introduced to his first imaginative projects, including a canopy concept for the former World Trade Center site, the 800 Metre Tower and a fish-perspective aquarium, each challenging conventional architectural norms. Moving into the early 2010s, the exhibition highlights Ma's shift toward shanshui ('mountain-water'), a philosophical concept rooted in traditional Chinese painting. The Embodied Nature section further explores MAD's integration of natural elements, demonstrating how landscape, symbolism and emotion shape their architectural language. MAD's work, often labeled futuristic, is revealed as an effort to reconcile past and future through organic forms. Designs such as theLucas Museum of Narrative Art(currently under construction in Los Angeles) and Rotterdam's newFenix Museumshowcase Ma's preference for hand-drawn sketches over digital generation, thus reinforcing the human connection in architectural creation. A particularly engaging feature of the exhibition allows visitors to interact with an AI-driven installation, transforming their sketches into MAD-style designs, echoing Ma's well-known Tornado sketch for Fenix. Highlighting the significance of the exhibition, Aric Chen, General and Artistic Director of the Nieuwe Instituut, states, 'In an astonishingly short period, China produced some of the world's most influential and groundbreaking architecture, and now that work is making its mark around the world. Ma Yansong and MAD are at the forefront of this. We are proud to present their first solo museum exhibition outside China in over a decade, offering deeper insight into the work of this increasingly global firm.' Originally scheduled for a shorter run, the exhibition has now been extended until October 12, 2025. Visitors also have the opportunity to hear directly from Ma Yansong, as he will discuss his design philosophy in person at the museum's 'An Evening With…' event on June 26. Nieuwe InstituutMuseumpark 25, 3015 EKRotterdam, Netherlands
Powys County Times
23-05-2025
- General
- Powys County Times
Gwynedd Council rejects camping pods bid despite support
A plan to site five glamping pods as part of a Welsh farming family's diversification plan has been turned down despite strong support from some members. Cyngor Gwynedd's planning committee rejected an application to change the use of land and develop a small scale holiday development on an area known as Pandy fields in Corris. The proposal for the permanent pods and associated parking was rejected, in line with the council's planning officer's recommendations. The application had been made by Maisie Sandells, through the agent Dafydd Tomos, of George and Tomos Penserei (Architects). The application had been deferred from the council's Monday, April 28 planning committee meeting for a site visit. The proposal had been part of a diversification project for a 120-hectare livestock business by H.B Sandells and Sons Farm. Council planners said the application was 'not acceptable' as it created a new, permanent alternative camping accommodation within a Special Landscape Area. They said it was also 'likely to have a substantial detrimental impact on the amenities of local property owners in terms of more activities, disturbance and noise'. Public objections had included the impact on the SLA (special landscape area), light and noise pollution, 'attracting the wrong people' to Corris, an excess of tourism and impacts on biodiversity and local property. A resident who lives at a former medieval fulling mill, beside the Dulas river, where she said otters and owls were often seen, told the meeting the area was a place of 'peace and tranquillity'. They had purchased their home in 2016, on a site of special landscape (SLA) 'in the knowledge that it was protected from developments such as this'. She was also concerned it would mean more strangers walking around the home boundary, day and night. Local member Cllr John Pughe Roberts argued people already walked on a public footpath there anyway, and the development would not be seen due to woodland and planting between the house and pods. He also questioned the nature of the SLA, adding that local farmers were 'worried about the lack of development opportunities for the future'. He called for councillors to support the applicants, who were a third-generation, Welsh speaking farming family. Cllr Louise Hughes backed the scheme, saying: 'Farmers are up against it." She noted it was 'a small and discreet' development of only five pods. Her proposal was seconded by Gruff Williams, who said it was now 'necessary for farmers to redirect their efforts and to diversify', while Cllr Gareth Jones called it 'a perfect example of sustainable tourism'. Cllr Berwyn Parry Jones said he could not support the scheme, due to it being in a SLA, an area of outstanding beauty. Planning manager Gareth Jones told the committee they had rejected similar applications, and if the decision was to be approved, it would have to be referred to a 'deliberation period' and brought back again to the committee. A vote to allow the application failed with five votes in favour, no abstentions, and eight against. A second vote, to refuse the application passed with seven votes in favour, no abstentions and six against. This meant the application was rejected. Speaking after the meeting, Cllr John Pughe Roberts said he was 'very disappointed' on behalf of the applicants. They had been hoped that the enterprise could help sustain future generations of the local farming family, he said. 'I am extremely disappointed, and it was Plaid Cymru people that voted this down,' he said. 'More and more young people are leaving Gwynedd in their droves, more than anywhere else due to the need to be able to make a living. Soon there will be no young Welsh speakers left,' he said. 'These are a third generation Welsh speaking farming family, they should have been given a chance to do this."
North Wales Live
21-05-2025
- General
- North Wales Live
Three-generation farming family blocked from development aimed at helping them 'survive'
A Corris plan to site five glamping pods as part of a Welsh farming family's diversification intentions has been turned down. Cyngor Gwynedd's planning committee rejected an application to change the use of land and develop a small scale holiday development on an area known as Pandy fields. The proposal for the permanent pods and associated parking was rejected, in line with the council's planning officer's recommendations, at a meeting on Monday, May 19. The application had been made by Maisie Sandells, through agent Dafydd Tomos of George and Tomos Penserei (Architects). It had been deferred from the council's Monday, April 28, planning committee meeting for a site visit. Get all the latest Gwynedd news by signing up to our newsletter - sent every Tuesday The proposal had been part of a diversification project for a 120-hectare livestock business by H.B Sandells and Sons Farm. Council planners had considered the application "not acceptable" as it meant creating new, permanent alternative camping accommodation within a Special Landscape Area. They said it was also "likely to have a substantial detrimental impact on the amenities of local property owners in terms of more activities, disturbance and noise." Public objections had included the impact on the SLA (special landscape area), light and noise pollution, 'attracting the wrong people' to Corris, an excess of tourism and impacts on biodiversity and local property. A resident who lived at a former medieval fulling mill by the Dulas river, where wildlife such as otters and owls were often seen, told the meeting the area was a place of "peace and tranquillity". They had purchased their home in 2016, on a site of special landscape (SLA) "in the knowledge that it was protected from developments such as this". She described concerns over "substantial impact" on their "well-being and way of life" and cited potential including loss of privacy, light pollution, noise disruption by visitors and the impact of a car park. She was also concerned it would mean more strangers walking around the home boundary, day and night. Local member, Cllr John Pughe Roberts, disagreed, and felt it would "not make much difference," as people already walked on a public footpath there anyway. The development would also not be seen due to woodland and planting between the house and pods, he said. He also questioned the nature of the SLA, adding that local farmers were "worried about the lack of development opportunities for the future". He called for councillors to support the applicants, who were a three generation, Welsh speaking farming family. "Speaking as a farmer's wife," Cllr Louise Hughes said she was also in support. She proposed approving the application against the planning officer's recommendation to refuse "Farmers are up against it," she said, noting it was "a small and discreet" development of only five pods. Her proposal was seconded by Gruff Williams, who said it was now "necessary for farmers to redirect their efforts and to diversify." Cllr Gareth Jones also felt it was "a perfect example of sustainable tourism" and said he did not believe it would have any detrimental effect on local residents. "It is a family farm, which wants to diversify in order to survive," he said Cllr Berwyn Parry Jones said he could not support the scheme, due to it being in a SLA, an area of outstanding beauty. Planning manager Gareth Jones told the committee they had rejected similar applications, and if the decision was to be approved, it would have to be referred to a "deliberation period" and brought back again to the committee. A vote to allow the application failed with five votes in favour, no abstentions, and eight against. A second vote, to refuse the application passed with seven votes in favour, no abstentions and six against. This meant the application was rejected. Speaking after the meeting, Cllr John Pughe Roberts said he was "very disappointed" on behalf of the applicants. It had been hoped that the enterprise could help sustain future generations of the local farming family, he said. "I am extremely disappointed, and it was Plaid Cymru people that voted this down," he said. "More and more young people are leaving Gwynedd in their droves, more than anywhere else due to the need to be able to make a living. Soon there will be no young Welsh speakers left," he said. "These are a third generation Welsh speaking farming family, they should have been given a chance to do this."
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Breakout Band Sleep Theory Release Debut Album 'Afterglow'
Breakout four-piece Sleep Theory —vocalistCullen Moore, guitaristDaniel Pruitt, bassist Paolo Vergara, and drummer Ben Pruitt— have released theireagerly awaiteddebut album,Afterglow, via Epitaph Records. The album offers astunning display of diverse rock flavors andwas produced by David Cowell andmixed by Zakk Cervini (Bring Me The Horizon, Bad Omens, Architects). To celebrate the release, Sleep Theory havealso shared the video for 'Gravity.' The song, with its pop-inspiredbounce, heady grooves, generously sprinkled synths, and Moore's soulful, arena-sized voice, is about the winners and losers who keep playing the game of love. "'Gravity' is really just a classic R&B story— it's about that real chemistry you sometimes feel with someone, even when the timing's not perfect," Moore explains. "I wanted it to feel confident, a little flirty, and very 2000s — something that could've played in the background of a scene in a throwback movie." He yanks the curtain back a little more, saying, "'Gravity'actually came together back in 2021, before we even knew we were going to do a full album.I wasn't thinking in terms of a big project yet — I was just writing whatever felt good at the time.A big inspiration was the song 'No Guidance'by Chris Brown and Drake. It had this smooth, confident energy that really stuck with me. I wanted 'Gravity' to have a similar vibe — something that feels cool and effortless but still has emotion behind visually, I was thinking of that same kind of late night, moody feel." In other Sleep Theory news, the album's lead single 'Stuck In My Head,' ascended to the No. 1 spoton the Active Rock radio charts —a first for the band! The single "Static" is currently at No. 19 on the activerock charts, the album's fourthsingle to appear in the Top 20. All told, Sleep Theory have accumulated 350million streams across 10 singles in their brief but blockbuster career thus far. Sleep Theory combineenergetic hard rock and metalcore, alongside the powerhouse vocalist Cullen Moore. Praised by Jelly Roll and David Draiman, they've toured with Shinedown, Falling In Reverse, and Beartooth. In under two years, they became the fifth most-played artist on Active Rock thePaper HeartsEP merge heavy rock with pop and R&B, producing anthemic bangers and emotional ballads. Saluted byRevolver, Loudwire, and Amazon Music as an Artist to Watch in 2025, they've become one of heavy music's biggest breakouts. WithAfterglow, the quartetprovesready to ascend to the next level. Sleep Theory deliver the dynamic, heavy bounce and massive vocal hooks that the rock world desperately needs. Moore is a powerhouse singer who outmatches nearly all his peers, recalling the most classic and timeless pop, R&B, and rock 'n' roll vocalists of the last several decades. Sleep Theory push themselves creatively at every turn, catapulting the genre to new sonic heights.
The Guardian
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘To say there's no future is counterproductive': metal megastars Architects on grief, climate and hope for humanity
In a world of low royalties and short attention spans, not many bands make it to 11 albums, much less have their 11th be their masterpiece. But over the course of 20 years, the metal quartet Architects have inched towards this milestone. The Sky, the Earth & All Between sets out its scale in its title, where gigantic pop choruses soar over hellish chasms of churning noise, resulting in the most consistently sublime British rock album of this decade. The band are now at their arena-filling, Metallica-supporting peak, adored by millions. 'But it means nothing,' says frontman, Sam Carter. 'Because you don't believe it. If you can't access that part of you that lets it in, then it's pointless.' Drummer and lyricist, Dan Searle, is equally downcast. 'I punish myself, I loathe myself,' he says evenly, blinking behind his glasses. 'I feel like I'm shit at everything.' Across two decades, the band have been buffeted by poor mental health, creative differences and an instance of particularly traumatic grief. While the pair are quick to joke during our long conversation in a London photo studio, and are clearly ravenously ambitious, I have never met a rock band as candid about their frailties. They say it took four albums even to get going, having formed the band in Brighton in 2004 as teenagers playing jittery mathcore. 'I remember thinking if we don't make it with our fourth record, we'll have to get normal jobs,' Searle says. The next four were classics of British metalcore, the genre in which the heaviness of metal is played at the pace of hardcore punk. Carter was the focus, bellowing their songs in a racked, occasionally melodious manner, punctuated by his trademark disgusted 'blegh!', like a man spitting out a hairball. 'I'm filling my body with adrenaline; there's not a lot of oxygen going to my brain because it's all coming out of my mouth,' he says of his singing style. But the band's creative centre was Searle's twin brother, Tom, the guitarist and songwriter. His lyrics took aim at societal ills: whale hunting, religious fundamentalism, the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the treatment of Edward Snowden. When Tom contracted skin cancer, the experience seeped into his lyrics, which confronted disease and mortality. After three years with the illness, he died in 2016, at 28, during the making of Architects' eighth album, Holy Hell. His grief‑stricken brother made the decision to take over the songwriting. 'I was completely clueless,' Searle says, with Carter describing 'a lot of trial and error, working relentlessly'. They completed Holy Hell, now full of songs that reckoned with Tom's death, which they then had to perform on tour. 'It was too much,' Carter says. 'There's some real trauma there that we're still working through – but for two years we were doing it on stage every night. You have to get into that headspace of truth and honesty – and now I'm crying on stage. I don't want to have that be what a good Architects show is, everyone grieving together. It's brutal.' Searle adds: 'Unfortunately, there's a portion of our audience who think we're the grief band: 'Ooh, we like that band crying and talking about how their brother has died.' And we get frozen in time – it's almost like they want us to be a parody of it, wheeling out this grief act. But I would say we've moved on with our lives.' Carter says: 'You have to take the lessons from it … to try to be a better human, to live my life better and cleaner and happier. And live it for him. Now, when I have days where there is a lot of grief, I'm quite grateful for it, because it means he's still there. But performing [grief] is difficult.' The recalibration after Tom's death, with the addition of the guitarist Josh Middleton, meant Architects became a different kind of band: grander and more commercial. Carter jokes that they went from being 'griefcore' to 'climate-change-core'; their next album, For Those That Wish to Exist, considered our violated planet. Powered by the monolithic yet grooving hit single Animals, it went to No 1 in the UK, surpassing their previous high of No 15. 'Really, we should be touring and just playing Tom songs, and putting in a few of our post-Tom songs that no one really likes,' Searle says. 'The fact that we've been able to not just survive, but thrive, is insane to me.' But the follow-up, The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit, only scraped the Top 20. 'It was like when a football team wins the league and it's very hard for them to do it again the next year,' Searle says. 'There's almost a cockiness that seeps in, where you just lower your standard a little bit.' They asked Middleton to leave – 'We said: look, you're not enjoying this' – and slimmed down to a quartet. To continue the football analogy, they benefited from the loan of a player who was out of contract: Jordan Fish, the producer-keyboardist who had turned Bring Me the Horizon from metalcore darlings into mainstream phenomenon, but had recently left the band. Searle, Carter and Fish thrashed out the songwriting on The Sky, the Earth & All Between, then recorded the results with the band's longtime bassist, Alex Dean, and guitarist, Adam Christianson. The band were 'much more cut-throat' now, Searle says, constantly asking: 'Is this really good enough?' The result is a skip‑free album – any track, aside from the outrageously hardcore Brain Dead, could be a single – on which they angrily castigate themselves, online discourse and even their fans. But Searle admits that, in his mid-30s and now settled in Devon with his wife and children, he finds it 'harder and harder to find authentic places to be angry from' – even the climate crisis. Surprisingly, for a man who once confronted polluters with lyrics including: 'You wanna make your hell a reality / Black lungs for the young if they dare to breathe,' he says he has 'an issue with the constant doom and gloom surrounding the future, especially having young kids'. He mentions a Christmas lantern parade in his town, which Extinction Rebellion joined, toting banners that read: 'The planet is burning'. 'Do you really need to shove this down the throats of these kids? You're just scaring everyone; there's already loads of terrible mental health. There's this constant message of: there is no future. At a point, it feels counterproductive.' Carter agrees: 'You can't walk around the house with the kids being like' – he points a finger downwards like a pompous father – 'you're fucked.' But you have the very same doom and gloom in Architects songs, I say. 'But our music isn't for six-year-old children!' Searle counters. Carter deadpans: 'People who listen to Cannibal Corpse and stuff like that would say our music is for six-year-olds.' He smiles with real warmth, his open book of a face spread wide. At one point, he speaks of wanting to 'localise' his life – 'do the shopping for the old people on my close' – and you can easily imagine this kindly metalhead popping out to get them some fondant fancies. Regarding his own anger, though, Carter says he is the opposite of Searle: 'I'm ready to go.' Where does it come from? 'I've got quite high ADHD, so if I'm sad, I'm really sad, and if I'm angry, I'm really fucking angry. And it can just jump out. I spent so much of my life hating that about myself. Now, I realise it's what makes me me.' He says the subjects of Searle's lyrics have to resonate with him for their songs to work, such as: 'Sad things. Awful mental health.' Is that how he would characterise his own mental health? He smiles again, wryly now. 'It's not great – it's passable. I've got it under control, but you're never healed from it. It's not a sob story; I've lived a happy life for the most part. I'm in therapy every week, antidepressants, exercising, diet – I'm on top of myself. But there are moments when it can be dark.' Carter says his work with his therapist is focused now on his 'inner critic': 'Somewhere along the line, the criticism from fans, or myself, built up this wall of: I'm going to say something horrible about myself before you can. If someone says: 'You didn't sing this right,' I'll say: 'I already know that.' You can't hurt me, because I've hurt myself.' To change his mindset, he reminds himself of the 'indestructible-feeling' teenager who joined the band: 'I'm trying to get that childlike energy back, because that does get pushed away with pressure.' One new song, Seeing Red, sarcastically confronts those critical fans ('I'll never grow tired of your great advice'), but Searle admits that the band's frustrations 'come from a place of total weakness and insecurity'. Other new Searle lyrics read: 'You're blissless / I see the fangs, you fucking snake … You devil, you hypocrite.' I thought he wasn't as angry now? 'I'm talking about my own mind: my ego, my anxiety, the way I make myself do things I shouldn't do,' Searle says. 'I get really hard on myself about how difficult I'm making my wife's life sometimes; I can see I'm not being the best dad, the best husband. I just feel like I could be better and I'm letting myself down. But it's not necessarily a bad quality to have – it's essential for changing and growth.' The lead single, Whiplash, turns the anger outwards, to 'the online discourse from the left and the right, killing each other over any sort of difference of opinion', Searle says. 'People like to pretend they know what other people believe. We're all looking for a 'gotcha' moment, a dunk on someone, and it's so counterproductive.' It was inspired in part by a brush with cancellation in January 2024, when Christianson reposted a transphobic post on X. He quickly excused it as a 'total accident', but some people had already made up their minds. 'They wanted Adam crucified in the street, with no job,' Searle says, contempt in every word. 'Anything less than that would be an act of blatant transphobia.' One of those people, it turns out, was Carter. 'I was a mess,' he says. 'I was thinking: he has to go. And then he wakes up and we have a phone conversation.' Christianson said he had made a single errant swipe on his laptop's touchpad. 'He's my friend who picked me up off the floor when I was in bits crying about Tom; he's a stepdad of two kids; he's a saint. But you've drawn this picture up of him. [The internet] is such a fucking scary place.' Later that month, Carter told a crowd in Paris: 'No one on this stage judges anybody for their gender, their race and whoever they are in love with.' 'And I got dragged for that!' he says now, eyes wide in disbelief. 'The right were angry with me. You can't win.' I point out that Christianson's error was complicated by him also liking X posts about the 'freedom convoy' protests against Covid vaccine mandates in his native Canada, which seemed to indicate support for them. 'What if it is supportive?' Searle bats back. 'The brother of a good friend of ours in Canada had their bank balance frozen because he'd liked something on Facebook about the convoy. Do we really think that's good? That's not the world we want to live in.' The band aren't on X any more (apart from a generic promotional account) and are finding other outlets for their existential angst. Searle and his brother were raised as 'strict atheists' and heavily ironised Christian imagery fills Searle's lyrics; alongside grief and climate, 'atheist band has been another one of our tropes', Carter says. But as they head towards 40, that belief is wavering. 'I've taken enough hallucinogenic drugs that I feel the absurdity of this physical reality is no less absurd than the idea of an afterlife,' Searle says. Carter recently visited temples in Kyoto on holiday and found himself 'having a moment. Part of me was more open to not knowing.' Perhaps, with age, their anger will dissipate, too. The Sky, the Earth & All Between closes with Chandelier, which Searle wrote from a place of despondency: 'No more lies if I disappear / Just one less light on the chandelier,' goes the chorus. Not only did Searle grapple with how it would be received – 'This feeling of responsibility: am I green-lighting suicide for young troubled people?' – but also he worried it was simply 'too bleak'. But then, 'after we finished it, I completely reinterpreted it in my own head. The chandelier is life and existence. One day, I won't be here, but life will be.' He looks genuinely serene. The Sky, the Earth & All Between is released on Epitaph on 28 February
