#MEPH Engineering

[procurepublic]

Structural, MEPH, and Building Services: The Pillars of Building Excellence

In the realm of construction, there exists a complex and fascinating world of acronyms, plans, and blueprints, each contributing to the creation of remarkable structures. Among these, three crucial components stand as the unsung heroes that make architectural dreams come true. These components are Structural Engineering, MEPH (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Heating) Systems, and Building Services.

While the average person may not be familiar with these terms, they are the unyielding pillars that uphold the principles of building excellence. Together, they ensure that every structure, whether it's a towering skyscraper or a cozy home, is not just a work of art but a functional, safe, and sustainable living space.

Demystifying the Pillars: Structural Engineering

At the core of every building, there's a skeletal system, often hidden from plain sight. This is where structural engineering comes into play. Structural engineers design the framework that supports the entire structure. This framework includes everything from the foundation that keeps the building standing to the beams and columns that distribute the weight. In essence, structural engineering is the backbone, and without a strong backbone, the building would crumble.

MEPH: The Unseen Marvel

These are the systems that breathe life into any building. Here's what each component represents:

Mechanical Systems: These systems manage heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). They ensure that a building's climate is comfortable and that the air remains fresh.

Electrical Systems: The electrical systems in a building are the circulatory system of the modern world. They provide the power needed to light the rooms, run appliances, and charge your devices.

Plumbing Systems: Plumbing engineers design the systems that deliver clean water and remove waste. They bring us clean drinking water and ensure that wastewater is safely carried away.

Heating Systems: During cold winters or chilly nights, heating systems provide warmth and comfort. Whether it's central heating, radiant floors, or HVAC systems, they are designed by MEPH engineers.

Building Services: Putting the Pieces Together

Building Services is like the conductor of an orchestra, bringing together various elements for harmonious living. It includes facility management, security systems, and elevators, among other things. Building Services ensures that a building runs like a well-oiled machine.

Why Are These Pillars Important?

Safety: Without sound structural engineering, buildings can be dangerous. Weak foundations, improperly designed roofs, or insufficient fire protection systems can lead to disaster. Structural engineering ensures a building's safety.

Functionality: MEPH systems transform a lifeless structure into a comfortable and livable space. Imagine a building without heating or electricity. It makes sure these systems function effectively.

Energy Efficiency: The world is moving toward sustainable practices, and The engineers play a significant role. They design systems that reduce energy consumption, making buildings eco-friendly.

Comfort: Building Services encompasses everything from access control to elevator systems, providing convenience and comfort to occupants.

Innovation: Innovations in structural engineering, MEPH systems, and building services continuously push the boundaries of what is possible in construction. From energy-efficient designs to smart technologies, innovation remains at the heart of these pillars.

Conclusion:

These three pillars—Structural Engineering, MEPH Systems, and Building Services��are the unsung heroes of the construction world. They ensure that buildings are not just marvels of design but safe, functional, energy-efficient, and comfortable spaces where people can live, work, and thrive. The next time you enter a building, take a moment to appreciate the complexity and precision of these hidden pillars of building excellence.

[spacemonkeysalsa]

BG4 brainstorm

I know they've already got a bunch of it written and outlined or whatever, but I can't turn my brain off, so I'm just going to talk exclusively about the way in which I'd like to see BG3 characters and events incorporated into BG4, if they are even going to do that-

First off there's-

The Stuff That Doesn't Need To Come Up In The Narrative Right Away But Let's Establish The Underlying Assumptions Shall We?:

The white dragon born dark urge managing to overcome Bhaal and defeat the elderbrain, in the end, but with a somewhat uneven series of good and bad choices at their back.

Minthara is probably dead, though I’d love it if she was still around and you absolutely can get away with that, narratively, thanks to the patches.

On the other side, Halsin, Dame Aylin and Isobel are probably alive.

Astarion and Gale are both alive and may or may not be the god/godlike versions of themselves.

Karlach and Wyll are alive and still in Avernus together (unless the DLC drops and we have Blade of Avernus/Fixing Karlach's engine adventures between the games) not explicitly as a couple though, I'd leave that ambiguous.

Lae’zel and Shadowheart are in love (this is both the most specific my post-headcanon gets, and entirely non-negotiable) but spend a lot of time apart because of respective responsibilities. Lae’zel can be a diplomat or a freedom fighter, but Shadowheart is a Selunite living with her parents on a farm and overcoming her fear of wolves by also raising some wolves alongside her adopted Githyanki son.

What Larian did with legacy characters from the earlier game was smart, in that they didn’t overuse them or reveal too many details about what they’d been doing in the interim, so like, we’ll keep it basic, leave a lot up to the imagination, but the writing around their appearances and roles in the story would match the above info.

Starting with origin characters, I think there’s potential to include familiar faces.

First Familiar Face - Githyanki egg all grown up. He shouldn’t be called Ptaris, because this is kind of assuming that the path where he ends up with that name doesn’t happen. For now, I’m just going to call him Egg, as I can sort of imagine Lae’zel using it as a slightly mocking but ultimately affectionate nickname, and miss “I picked my own name” maybe sort of leaving it up to him.

Egg - as I would write him, would have spent some time on the astral plane, like one of his moms and so his age is kind of a ??? because time is different there, and Egg would have also spent some time living with one of his moms on the farm. There’s sort of an obvious characterization available here. Where does he belong? Who are his people, really? You could write him confused and conflicted, or you could take the route I like and say that he was raised by the two most perfect people to help him understand that. He has his half-elf mother’s compounding knowledge of temperance between seemingly conflicted forces, and disparate elements, and his githyanki mother made sure he grew up confident and sure of himself and proud of his incredibly unique heritage. Also, these two states of mind aren’t totally mutually exclusive, cognitive dissonance is a major part of life, and an appropriate coming of age theme. I already love Egg. In keeping with the idea of temperance, I’d put him firmly in the true neutral category.

Second Familiar Face - Mol. Like. Just give me more Mol. What a great character, I’m so stoked imagining her grown up. I would write her as our team warlock, even if Raphael has been eaten by Mephistopheles. She can still do eldritch blast and the works ever since her pact with him. She’s pretty concerned that the implications of this are that Meph is her true fount now, and she wonders if he knows, or if there’s some small bit of his power he’s not aware is being lent out to her, and what he’ll do if he ever learns of her existence. She keeps these worries close to the chest though, instead projecting nonchalance that comes off as careless and callous during the earlier parts of the story, before she opens up. Probably neutral evil.

Third Familiar Face - Arabella. I’d make her so, so weird. Her magic is druidic, so she’s probably our druid, but you could easily get away with sorcerer or a secret third thing and I wouldn’t be mad. As a fully grown woman she speaks with the annoying esoteric air of a dryad and personifies inanimate objects, and is constantly carrying on conversations with animals when left to her own devices. She and Mol do not get along anymore, though they still care a lot about each other and there should be some cuteness about their history and childhood as buddies and little lost refugees together. Chaotic good.

I think you could get away with including all three in the main party, even early game, but I wouldn’t do more than that. New original characters are potentially more important and I would have the plot and the bones of the game be more closely tied to these totally new faces rather than relying on sequel energy. Even if all three games exist in the same universe and share themes, elements, and some characters, they don’t really feel like direct sequels and I think that’s a good thing. The only reason I think you can get away with using these three kids from the third game like this is because as adults, they’ll be completely different people, to the point that the story would have to reintroduce them anyway. The fact that they have any connections to the events of the past games doesn’t even really need to be explored beyond the kind of high-level backstory stuff that affected everyone in the world:

Arabella: “Remember when Baldur’s Gate almost got destroyed by an Elder Brain?”

Mol: “Yeah, that was wild.”

Egg: “No, I was there, but I hadn’t hatched yet.”

Mol: “HOW OLD ARE YOU?”

Egg: “Ugh, it’s complicated.”

I would probably continue with the often fun but at times vaguely serious “kill all the gods and masters” themes from previous games, and use this as a way to get everyone into hell for a portion of the game to go toe-to-toe with some archdevils, and also as an excuse to get Karlach and Wyll in the game (it's hard for me to get too much into this idea tbh, because I'm still hopeful that they'll be lvl13-20 dlc that involves Avernus, in which case, all of this is resolved and idk where to go from here with those two as I'm sure it would be affected a lot by how all that theoretical dlc content turns out, and I'm like so invested in going to Avernus with Wyll and Karlach).

And, Legacy character time!

Lae’zel I think could be our Jaheira analog, meaning she’s a previous origin character who I think could join the main team and be a party member for a chunk of the game without breaking anything. I would keep it until later though, but make it about as simple as recruiting Jaheira, in that it feels almost compulsory if you just follow a common path and progress the game.

Shadowheart would work nicely as our Minsc analog, in that she could be introduced as a very late game party character, essentially starting off as a lvl 12 cleric of light, as Selune intended, and I would make her recruitment more complicated and involve a side-quest. A rough idea for that side-quest would be trying to successfully get a message to Selunite allies, asking for aid. If you manage to meet the requirements and your messenger isn’t killed—and I think it would be fun if there was some randomness to it, like maybe a background constitution check that just mysteriously triggers when you cross into a certain area, and if it passes, it means your messenger (wherever they are) safely made it, and if it fails, they didn’t. So, I would let Shadowheart have a big damn hero moment and ride into a battle (on the back of one her wolves, why not) and join in the fight as an unexpected ally. From a play testing point of view, it would be especially fun to set up a certain fight so that waves of enemies arrive, and there’s a point where most people get overwhelmed and that’s when she shows up. But, for extra complication, if you don’t have Lae’zel or Egg with you at the time, she shows up for the one battle, saves your ass, then fights you if you’re responsible for either of their deaths, and if they are in your party, then you have to pass the roll, and play the whole thing for family drama.

Gale and Astarion, if you wanted to go with their bad endings, then Gale becoming and god and Astarion ascending would be the canon and there’s a lot to work with. Or, if you wanted to go with the good ending, then Gale is professor Dekarios and Astarion would either be an adventurer or leading the spawn in the Underdark. Professor Dekarios could easily just be a helpful mentor-type. His participation in shenanigans can be limited to a side quest or two, an Elminster/Volo like series of cameos etc. He’s a good adventurer when he has to be, but it’s not really where his heart is and we always knew that. He’s a wizard in his tower/in the classroom, but sure, he’ll lend a helping hand as he still remembers how valuable a service that can be. As a silly goose, I’m tempted to write a Volo/Elminster/Gale scene that involves all three of them very wine drunk and arguing about something absolutely no one else could hope to understand.

God Gale I can’t resist making him one of the baddies. It’s sad, but it feels appropriate. If he’s now the god of ambition then he failed to learn a pretty fundamental lesson during the course of BG3, and Tav/Durge who didn’t help him out with that failed and should feel bad. Offense absolutely intended. The logical conclusion is that Gale has become exactly the sort of god that once threatened and made his life miserable, especially since his antagonism towards Mystra with this ending seems to just be couched in pure unexamined hurt, and pettiness rather than a real understand that even as one of the “good gods” she wronged him, and she was wrong from the beginning and that there might just be something inherently bad about having and wielding this kind of power, at all.

He doesn’t get that, but it’s a bit due to wilful ignorance, I think, so I’d continue that and I wouldn’t make Gale knowingly the big bad. it just doesn't fit his character. You have a mortal avatar/chosen, some very ambitious enemy who Gale is helping, without a clear understanding of exactly what kind of schemes he’s backing. He’s too removed to really understand that he fucked up, and by the time he figures it out, it’s too late. Necessarily, his presence like this would be minimal, maybe we don’t even know for sure that he’s involved in any capacity until quite late, and even then, I’d make getting an actual appearance from the guy, pretty hard fought.

Astarion would be our other antagonist, and I think you can get away with going in any of the three different routes with him (Ascended, Spawn Adventurer, Spawn Dad) and make him an antagonist regardless. It would more be a matter of setting, do you want a quest in a big gothic castle or at a fancy party? A totally new location where he can turn up unexpectedly? The underdark? Setting might be the deciding factor, but his behavior and his role in the story could more or less follow the same pattern because the degrees of difference in his personality as ascendant/spawn are workable. That’s the thing about being a neutral evil aligned character—it’s maybe the broadest category as far as D&D character rep goes. He can get away with doing basically anything and still remain in that alignment because it takes an extreme act of unhinged evil to shift his alignment towards chaos, and anything good he does can still be dismissed as a cheap “pet the dog” moment by everyone who is unwilling to admit that he might have some capacity for redemption in him.

I would not make him a big bad antagonist though, because why would he ever bother, what’s actually in it for him? And I would want to create a route where he can join your side, but I wouldn’t have him join the camp/party in a permanent sense, at most you could do a Dame Aylin thing and keep him around and available for additional dialogue, a later quest or two.

In any case, even at his most antagonistic, Astarion isn’t truly ambitious. In BG3 he’ll ascend if he gets the chance, he'll try and run the city as long as the network is all in place already and it's not too much work, but he was never going to go out of his way to set all that up and he’ll settle. You could easily tie his story together with God Gale, if you wanted. “Ambition gets you stabbed to death by your spawn—of course none of this shit was my idea! I didn’t have a choice!” He was always quite good at delivering overdramatic ( but more often than people want to admit, totally valid) justifications for his behaviour, so I’d use that again, to utilize him to his maximum anti-hero/anti-villain potential.

He’d make a great red herring villain in the story, like let everything—including his old allies—think that he’s some mastermind (and let bg3 fans freak out a little that they've characterized him wrong), or that he’s more involved and more willing than he actually is. Then story beats slowly reveal that he’s a smaller level antagonist, pressed into the service of the bigger bad by circumstances/fear/whatever. It brings back bad memories. He’s pissed about it actually, doesn’t want to be doing any of this, has maybe been planning his own escape/betrayal for a while now. The player can ignore all that and just kill him here, or they can help him and see where things go if you give him a chance to ally with you against your common enemy. Fans can then continue their very stupid argument about whether he’s a hero or a villain, and we know that arguing is what truly makes them happy, so everyone wins.

A possible later quest could tie with Mol, if Astarion is the vampire ascendant, because in that scenario they are both in a weird ambiguous state where Mephistopheles is maybe their master or maybe not? D&D lore arguments continue?

Doing all of this would obviously be a lot, but I'd be thrilled if some version of any one of these ideas appeared in bg4. Assuming, I ever stop playing bg3 long enough to get trully invested in bg4 eventual existence.

[sweetevoltrap]

So Mephisto having an actual consciousness/soul IG:

- I'm assuming Sylus obvi can't make souls, but maybe he placed one? Or more likely perhaps;

- Stolen data/research from one of the Ever consciousness upload projects that Sylus took pity on and gave a body in the form of Meph in return for loyalty and keeping a covert eye on MC?

- Stolen tech from his space banditry/spaceship fleet hoard, like an AI he decided to not leave behind? This is kinda boring unless we tie it into a new myth with their time conquering space being pirates or whatever, even still not compelling enough so perhaps, considering...

- we have also seen references to androids now in game, which makes sense as an attempt for a longevity project with Ever trying to overcome mortality and potentially entropy itself etc. Androids couldn't be an endgoal bc tech will degrade, but clearly they have dabbled.

- Did Ever farm through MCs memories of her other lives before she forgot them? I debated at one point if Meph could be connected to MC more directly like an imprint of her mind or something Ever made, but that seems probably too convoluted, despite that the timeline for this game is already so convoluted lol. But Sylus clearly has a deep affection for Mephisto and is open about it versus his more guarded affection even for the twins.

- Seems a little too coincidental that MC pulled the eye out of the android to deactivate them, with it being protocore technology and Sylus having his in his eye as well, allegedly. I'm only 85% certain it's an aethercore in the same manner as MCs, frankly he's noncommittal when she mentions it initially "you could say that" I believe. I think if Sylus had a similar eye/tech it would probably provide a more believable path at integration with Mephisto than maybe just "soul magic" or whatever.

- we know Sylus has a keen mind for tech and engineering/hacking at times in the story/memories -- maybe Sylus hacked and reprogrammed/enhanced the addition out of necessity? He wouldn't leave something that could be a vulnerability, but also repurposing something could maybe be beneficial to him, especially since with Mephisto he's able to see MC easily.

[parlideldiavolo]

have mercy, pt. 02

(CW: Brief mention of child endangerment.)

ll.

The shadow of Mephistopheles crouched low behind the glass. The cat’s ears were swept back and flattened as he sat atop the package in the front seat, and for a brief moment Vic’s attention shifted from Mercy to the small, helpless creature he’d first picked up off the street at a sickly three weeks old.

He wanted to tell Meph that it’d be alright; that there’d always be someone to take care of him no matter what happened. He wanted to shove the man next to the car away, get in and pet Meph’s ears and ignore everything that this meeting meant as though the man called Mercy was no one and this whole thing meant nothing.

But he wasn’t no one. 

Vic turned his gaze back to the older man. <“Got somewhere picked out, do you?”> he asked in Italian. The devil sounded remarkably calm; he couldn’t afford to be shocked or dwell on the years of feelings that welled up behind his heart like the betrayal was still fresh.

<“Yes.”>

Vic hated the weight in Mercy’s voice-- like he cared. He hated the bright, sad eyes and how little they’d changed since Vic was fourteen years old and stepping outside a classroom to see his uncle in the hall, smiling with those same bright, sad eyes and an outstretched hand.

He’ll hurt you, an instinct had whispered then. You know he will. He wants to.

In his youth, Vic had been hurt many times by failed promises--but this was his forever family, wasn’t it? His new dad had sworn it (and Vic wanted that to mean something.) His new uncle had only ever been happy to see him. Vic had decided to have faith like they always said you should and believe in something... something like family.

So he'd taken Killian’s hand against his own strange instinct, because he wanted to believe.

Killian had led him from the school. The other Saints had been waiting outside.

Cycles.

In the present day, Vic didn’t respond further and popped open the back door to toss the drinks he’d picked up inside the car. He watched Meph slowly slink around to the backseat when the door closed. Mercy, meanwhile, stepped to the side and observed him with that same expression of heavy serenity. Vic didn’t spare him another glance.

It was clever to do this so publicly. It meant neither of them could cause a scene because that’d invite innocent people into this or risk exposing people that Vic knew to the Saint, and the devil wasn’t about to have that. Mercy knew too much just having seen the car. What else did he know? Vic was certain the Saint hadn’t been around his house, at least not while he was there, so there was that.

<“Get in,”> Vic snapped. Only one of them would be driving this car and it wasn’t the traitorous (traitorous? do you still feel betrayed?) relic.

Mercy nodded and moved around to the other side of the car. Vic resisted ripping the driver’s door open and let his eyes fall on the package opposite. He slid into the car and picked it up before Mercy had a chance to sit. The Saint’s eyes flicked over it.

Vic smiled with all the attitude he could muster. “None of your fucking business,” he said before setting it in the back seat. When he retracted his hand he fanned fingers out to catch Meph’s silky fur. The cat pushed his head into Vic’s hand and his fingertips trailed down the length of an ear before pulling away.

Would that be the last time he touched him?

“Of course,” Mercy replied with a glance back at the seat. He finished settling in, dropped a large satchel at his feet and buckled before looking around the car. Anger flashed through Vic’s veins as he watched the Saint’s gaze travel over every small detail because he shouldn’t even be sitting here much less looking.

There was nothing in the car that outright betrayed Tom’s identity, at least (Vic confirmed with a quick glance around the cabin.) Fuck. Tom.

(What would their last touch be? Vic flicking the vampire’s nose ring and winking cheekily as he walked out the door? Their last words: telling Tom you’d better be waiting for me over text? He deserved more.)

Vic’s gloved fingers dug into the steering wheel when the radio switched on. Mercy’s expression didn’t change as their playlist blasted out of the speakers and Vic felt the same anger lash forward over it feeling like evidence and that the Saint didn’t need to hear it. An impulse swept through Vic to turn it off like that could protect Tom, but at the same time—

Fuck.

(It’s just the two of them ripping down the road with the windows down and the music blaring. The wind whips and roars; Vic feeds him a peach ring Tom can’t even taste and smirks. It’s a good memory.)

“Your tastes haven’t changed much,” Mercy spoke up like this was some kind of happy reunion.

“Shut up.” Vic revved the engine and pulled out onto the street. Part of him wanted to turn the music up until it drowned out the sound of the other man’s breathing and his own heart but he was going to need directions to wherever Mercy had picked out for their…

… for this.

He’ll hurt you. You know he will. He wants to.

Vic wasn’t stupid--he knew what was about to happen. He’d been prepared for it since leaving Italy, or so he’d thought. Maybe he hadn’t been prepared enough to have things he didn’t want to lose.

He thought about his dad. As if on cue his phone vibrated and Vic’s heart panged.

“Turn right up here,” Mercy suggested with the same kind, even tone he’d adopted since they’d locked eyes outside the store. Vic flicked the blinker and said nothing. Several seconds of silence passed with nothing but the low drone of the radio playing between them. Vic caught Mercy gazing into the mirror and studying the crouched shape of Meph in the backseat.

The boiling in his blood intensified. Vic took the turn a bit sharp and the Saint’s attention flicked to meet the stormy grey that glared at him from the mirror’s reflection.

He wants to.

<“I love you,”> Mercy told him.

The fiery feeling rippled cold down Vic’s limbs. He gazed out over the road and felt his teeth snap together. <“No you don’t.”>

Mercy followed his eyes to the road. <“There are many kinds of love. Some are greater than others. They must be.”>

Vic said nothing.

<“You know the story…”> Mercy trailed as the streetlights passed. He indicated another turn. <“When God told Abraham to bring his beloved son Isaac into the land of Moriah to be made a sacrifice. Do you think he was happy to do it?”>

<“Always thought that was a special kind of sadistic,”> Vic snapped back.

<“My love for this world—my love for the hurt and downtrodden. My faith... These must be greater even than my love for you. I know you cannot help what you are.”>

<”What I am,”> Vic repeated. <”A thorn in your fucking side? A devil? What about a man? What about your nephew? What about a kid? I sure was one of those once!”>

<”Dangerous,”> came the reply.

He wanted to laugh. <”And you aren’t?”>

<”I know you are trying to get into my head,”> Mercy quietly rebuffed. <”I know that’s what you do.”> 

<“What’s in the bag?”>

That question had the older man pausing. Vic continued:

<“Is it full of all the love you fucking feel, or is it full of what you plan to kill me with?”>

Minutes passed in silence. Then, a response: <“Both.”>

Streetlights. Buildings. People. The world hazed around them as lights flicked by the dashboard and over one curled, gloved hand gripping the wheel and two weathered, calloused ones folded gently over a lap. Nothing felt real. Everything felt distant.

Vic had no intention of making this an easy fight. He’d fight tooth and nail to survive.

Afraid of dying?

(He wasn’t. He couldn’t be. He’d accepted that a long time ago.)

Tha-dump.

His heart was in his ears.

(They’d all be taken care of. Vic wouldn't fail them. Hadn't.)

As the drive continued, part of Vic wanted to ask if Mercy had spoken with his dad. He wanted to be snide about it; dig the daggers in while he could and see if Mercy still had anything left to bleed. He wanted to ask how long he’d been here and what he knew.

But there would be no illuminating answers from the Saint just as there hadn't been any in a dream, and the devil’s silver tongue was now under lock and key because he refused to give even a sliver of detail to the Saint that he didn’t already have. He’d get nothing.

This is why, when they finally parked under the shadow of an old warehouse that was Killian’s own personal Moriah, Vic pulled out his phone, met the older man’s eyes with hot steel, wrapped his fingers around it and let it melt.

The casing buckled under the devil’s touch as metal glowed and dripped from his hand. The home screen (a picture of Meph being held up by cheerful olive hands) flickered and blackened along with the notification from Emmett that had vibrated his phone. Vic crushed it until it was a barely discernible hunk gripped in his palm.

Mercy hadn’t budged or flinched as this occurred but a shadow did cross his scarred face once it was done.

(They’d be protected.)

Vic dropped the husk of a phone on the floorboard. Mercy studied his face for several long moments before his bright eyes grew dark with sorrow.

Vic cut the engine and the music lapsed into silence. He popped the driver’s door open and felt a ticklish sensation cross his hands as he climbed out. A quick glimpse down revealed Mephistopheles slipping out of the back seat as smoke. The devil’s heart squeezed when it brushed against his legs. “Go,” he said.

The cloud at his feet lingered. Vic could hear the passenger door snap open as Mercy climbed out. The building above them blocked out most of the sky.

“Go,” Vic whispered again.

Meph knew where to go and who’d take care of him. Vic had made that clear, even for a cat. He’d be okay. They’d both be. He just wished…

Fuck.

Vic shut the door both in reality and on the sudden well of feeling that threatened to drag his heart, whatever it was made of, straight through the ground. The cloud at his feet rippled, dipped, then rapidly shot away. Vic turned to find Mercy standing in front of the car holding the bag he’d brought. The old man’s eyes flicked with the movement of the dissolved cat vanishing down the empty lot.

The Saint looked like he was about to say something but decided against it. 

“After you,” Vic told him with no small amount of scathing.

Mercy didn’t argue. Vic followed him up the cold concrete to the second floor.

(…And wished so many things were different.)

[selfshipbs]

💌 + Meph and Zero (is it cheating to send them both in one go???) - u know who it is uwu

cause i wanna let ppl gush about their f/os send me a 💌 + your f/os name & i’ll tell u what i think about them!! 

@thingsthatremindmeofselfships ALL RIGHT THE SONIC LADS LET’S DO THIS!

Ok let’s start with gamer edge lord supreme Mephiles the Dark. He’s such a great cheesy villain and honestly had so much potential in concept but RIP that the game was Sonic 06. Oh well OUR CANON NOW BABYYYY. I see him and all I can think of his him spouting off some semi-philosophical sounding bullshit devil’s advocate kind of thing in an attempt to be menacing. Y’know like that Hannibal meme? “This is a Chaos Emerald, a gemstone with the mysterious power of chaos, both positive and negative. Tell me Matcha, can such a power really be one or the other, or is it both at all times?”

Alright and here’s edgy mc edgeface, Infinite/Zero the Jackal. Sonic Forces did him dirty, I’m so sorry Zero they just threw you to the side you didn’t even get a real cool final boss fight or goodbye or indication of what the hell happened to you, like COME ON. Anyway, as I said before, OUR CANON NOW and this Jackal boy is a good boy who just wanted to protecc his Squad and also just had a revenge vendetta against Shadow because he got his ass beat by the Ultimate Life Form. Come on man he’s literally called the Ultimate Life Form and was genetically engineered to be that way, not to ruin your confidence but you didn’t have a chance honey. Either way, he’s great! I love him!!

[synaps]

I did not see this 5 years ago, though apparently I did

Hi there! So, in the light of the recent Ao no Exorcist chapters and Katou having a solid grasp on her timeline after all, my brain shocked itself enough to produce some serotonin and I decided I’m gonna diverge from my own principles and post this. Brain producing serotonin should be encouraged. Buckle up, everyone bothering to read: this timeline breakdown/fan theory emerged in 2012, when a bored AnE-fan pieced together a few of the plot reveals we’re starting to see now.

Spoiler warning for The End of the Beginning! Though strictly speaking they’re a timeline framework I developed in order to write TEotB, which means they’re gonna drop very soon via the flashback! So it probably isn’t as mind-blowing as it was to me... BUT I DON’T CARE I’ve been waiting 6 years for the content we’re getting right now, 6 years I’ve been on the edge of my seat for this misfit clone dork to finally tell his story and AAAAAH

This is basically a full-body search of the Kyoto arc chapters, 'cause that was the only bit of the past we had back when I started writing. To this day that’s the part of the manga I have the best grasp on. x’D But all those hours paid off, good gods they paid off! This is long. Bear with me, ‘kay? Old-time AnE-fans remember that it was commonly thought the twins were born on Blue Night, much due to the anime: Kyoto Arc said it wasn’t. If you looked carefully, you could figure out that Blue Night was in fact the time of the twins’ conception, not their birth. Though to be absolutely sure, I plotted out the timeline three times and dug up records from a weather station in Kyoto to see if there would have been snow at that time of year in the early to mid 90′s because that’s how goddamn obsessed I am. And if you did figure out that the twins were conceived on Blue Night, you were inevitably sucked into an even more obsessive downward spiral into crazy fan madness because that meant Fujimoto Shiro was sent to steal Kurikara to “kill some kids” before those kids existed even on an embryonic stage.

My original estimate was that the stage had taken 24 years to set up, based on the info in Kyoto Arc, but with Mephisto’s recent director’s cut of how he ghost wrote history that number bumps up to 36 years or potentially even longer.

For reference, the timeline I put together for TEotB plus the fresh dates from the flashback arc: 1977: Mephisto pressures Shiro into promising him a free wish because extorting a kid that’s struggling for his life is an ok move 1984: Satan fails possession for the first time because whoa so many limbs at once 1989: the Myou Dha is struck by disease 1993: Satan figures out how to properly possess someone, that’s Rin’s unrelenting never-give-up attitude right there 1994: after a nine year learning curve on just staying in a body Satan has three PhD’s and ditches school after one year of education - guess possessing a body really is a difficult thing to pull off huh 1995: Shiro unwillingly becoming the caretaker of orphans: part I 1996: not yet confirmed but Saburota’s first meeting with Lucifer/Asylum is probably now Also 1996: Satan returns to Section 13 with a reclamation claim on that crap body they sold him 1996-1997 (somewhere around New Year’s, I estimate): Shiro, who was an Upper First Class exorcist at the time, cures Myou Dha and oh is that a sword in your pocket or are you just happy to return to your boss after a successful mission? 1997 (probably mid-to-late March): Blue Night sucked for everyone, but at least Shiro and Tatsuma got promotions - yay 1997: Shiro unwillingly becoming the caretaker of orphans: part II 2003: when you’re a cursed, massacred and financially broke sect like Myou Dha, there’s few options but to join the Order of the True Cross to stay afloat 2005: Saburota recruits Mamushi to spy by raising suspicions against Mephisto ‘cause really, that ain’t hard 2013: a giant pile of shit appears in Kyoto and unleashes destruction on its surroundings and for once it isn’t Mephisto

The manga and the timeline are pretty self-explanatory so what I wanna stress here is what happened 24 years ago, in 1989, ‘cause that’s something Katou hasn’t touched upon yet and it’s really fun except for those involved. In 1989, a disease starts plaguing Myou Dha and the symptoms are identical to what you get from exposure to the miasma from the Impure King’s Eyes. It seems to be a very local problem, as we don’t hear of any epidemic in the rest of Kyoto. Did the seal on the Right Eye spring a leak? Nope. Because the Eye wasn’t there.

We haven’t seen the shrivelled up bit of IK cause any trouble - not saying it couldn’t, but it seemed like that one hadn’t been active much for the past 150 years and it had been constantly monitored by the High Priest. I cross-referenced with the dates given in the new flashbacks but the outbreak doesn’t coincide with any boost of demonic activity related to Satan’s progress. So? The disease in Kyoto is its own separate disaster, and it’s most likely engineered. Let’s work our way back from the present to see how Mephisto set up this stage~ Mephisto knew of Saburota’s plan to unleash IK, and was all cool with that ‘cause hey, good opportunity to test Rin’s flame, build some team spirit, power up Bon, etc. For that reason he decided to move the Right Eye from his own keep to Myou Dha’s: if Saburota had been able to steal both of them from True Cross he wouldn’t have needed the pit stop at the Kyoto Office. He would have revived IK straight away, and even Mephisto couldn’t have motivated sending a bunch of kids into that chaos. So, move the Eye to a secret strategic location in Kyoto and force Saburota into jumping through a couple of extra hoops to get it. The Eye was moved in 2003 or thereabouts: this coincides with Myou Dha joining the Order, and makes perfect sense. The relic has ties to their sect, and it’s kinda fair to give them something back since Meph indefinitely borrowed their main relic, and now that they’re part of the Order and all - yada yada, smoke screens. Mephisto gave them the relic to set Saburota up, but not until he had the means to also give Saburota a trail to follow. Our fav Uncle Goat approached Mamushi, his student, in 2005 and recruited her to get the Right Eye. He probably thought he was cleverly working around Mephisto’s attempt to prevent theft, but if we think about it: who gave Saburota the opportunity to manipulate her in the first place? It is much easier to get your hands on an impressionable young Myou Dha kid if the Myou Dha kids attend the school where Saburota teaches. But why would they? When their families are very competent exorcists on their own and they’re used to keeping to themselves and...

Keeping to yourself is only an option so long as you can survive by yourself, and from 1989 on Myou Dha couldn’t. But Granpa Suguro, being as stubborn as he is, has refused any modern/outside help for 7 bloody years. This disease is weird for several reasons. Its localised spread, for one; its similarity with the Eye mashou when there is no Eye present; the way it vanishes and is never heard of again after Shiro’s visit; the suspiciously good timing. We now know Mephisto is aware of the future to a certain extent - we saw that confirmed when he set Shiro up with that promise. That was the last doubt removed from my theory about the Kyoto disease, so here we are. Satan hadn’t even manifested with a consciousness yet but Mephisto had his sights on Kurikara and Myou Dha’s cooperation in 1989. He is a man of sophistication, so he takes the “if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, Muhammad must come to the mountain“ approach: he used the Eyes to orchestrate an outbreak that would force the sect to reach out to True Cross - the biggest, most knowledgeable exorcist organisation around - for aid. Because the alternative would be to smash in there and outright steal the sword and nobody would send their kids to your organisation after that. But it didn‘t work. Granpa Suguro refused to follow script and so the years went by, Satan gained consciousness, grew intelligent, grew bored, oops there goes the Asylum ceiling, jfc Suguro how many more have to die before you just play along like a good boy...? In the end Mephisto had to deploy Plan B: screw it, theft it is. If Muhammad won’t go to the goddamn mountain I’m gonna drop the mountain right on Muhammad’s stubborn head.

Of course this means fucking things up for Shiro, ‘cause that’s just how these things go when you’re running a tight deadline getting the Antichrist(s) a birthday present. Also it’s fun.

This frame says everything, really. xD Come now, how would you expect these people to trust you, and develop a friendly attitude to the Order, if you barge in there on your black-ops mission like a humanoid battleship, grab their relic and ditch the scene? Bad PR, very bad PR. Buuut if you’re injured enough that you can’t make that immediate escape, and you just happen to know how to cure this very specific disease that never flares up again, which you can contract from only 2 items in the world, of which both are owned by the snake-tongued sass ball you are enslaved by work for...? What a fortunate coincidence, what a golden opportunity to create some debt gratitude and-

Nevermind... 

I headcanon that if Granpa Suguro hadn’t died on Blue Night, Mephisto would have set him on fire personally for being such a roadblock to his plans. After Blue Night Myou Dha was decimated, bankrupt, thought by the population to be cursed - what is a poor sect to do? Who could possibly help? Oh wait wasn‘t there some guy a while back, y’know, that exorcist dude who came crashing in and saved the lives of our families and friends? He seemed to know what he was doing, think we could ask him? So the take-away from this is If not for that disease, if not for Mephisto’s misinformation and Shiro’s break-in, Myou Dha would never have joined True Cross. The Right Eye would never have been kept in Kyoto, there had been no Myou Dha kids at the Academy for Saburota to recruit, and the cram school kids would never have been in Kyoto to fight the Impure King. And also that Mephisto is a fabulous bastard and a pure joy to write! ☆

[asryakino]

Bowden’s Cure ch.3

"Confirm it." Captain Cassian's voice was icy. The trembling female was passed off like some sack of tubers to Jakar. The darker man was much more gentle with her but no less firm. He set her on her feet with a strong hand held to her small torso as support as he led her to medical. The Startear's medical bay contained some of the most advanced Terran and non-Terran medical technology as well as Mepha - one of its few non-Terran crewmembers. With walls of impressive-looking bioprinters, scanners, and various other production machines that whirred, beeped, and seemed to be in constant use despite the overall healthy nature of the current crew.

Confirmation was nothing but a way to keep messy, ugly things like paperwork in order. Cassian had no question of the identity of the escaped pincushion. She'd damn near cost him everything when she'd gotten out of containment. Five lost to direct contamination, a dozen more to quarantine, and the oversite board becoming increasingly persistent about their damned bureaucratic trocq. Cassian could still recall the fallout clearly, and the looming losses in the event of failure. Something he was not willing to accept.

-----------------

If an ancient Terran had dreamed up the Sera'phar'im no one would have questioned it. Though it eventually came out that the Sera had simply discovered the planet after becoming spaceborne themselves. Finding it primitive, full of rowdy, noisy apes who seemed to stare at the skies more than they observed their own world- they had no interest in leaving it alone. Before the Gaarth had arrived the Sera had left their mark on the developing cultures, going so far as to return over and over throughout the ages to see how their little stone-bound pets were developing. Their images dotted the entire planet in various forms becoming powerful symbols of everything from death, war, and destruction to love, devotion and purity. One extreme was slightly more true than the other. Tainted by the interference, Terrans, especially High Terrans, found themselves in awe of Sera'phar'im, often without a solid understanding of why the race created such primal reactions. But, when compared to the ancient texts concerning the Terran concept of 'angels', said reactions made more sense.

Stepping into Startear's medical bay was as good as stepping into another world. One filled with constant activity that the necessity of which could, and should, be questioned. Jakar didn't like the ships medical officer. Seras bothered him at the best of times and the one employed by Captain Cassian always unsettled him more than others of the species. That unsettled feeling was justified.

Mepha made a brilliant medical engineer. Boundless knowledge paired with incredibly sensitive senses allowed the being to diagnose various forms of illness and research biological medicine with ease. Meph themself had been on the Atlemarian project for as long as the Terran scientists had been. She had followed their interest and advancements and eventually took an interest in the unique prion disease and it's devastating effects on every organic species it came in contact with. It was an absolutely fascinating subject. Jakar stiffened his shoulders as he entered into the gleaming medical bay with his escorted guest. "Mepha. The captain wan-" The speed and sudden appearance of the massive wing-like appendages startled him as they surrounded the pale blue figure. He felt her get snatched out of his grasp, and the odd fluttering sound Mephas 'wings' made sent shivers down the helmsman's spine.

They wrapped around the smaller figure and a cooing, dual-toned voice emerged from within the flurry of activity. "My favourite little 'Maran has come home again. Oh I'd know that scent -anywhere-. You'd never hide it from me…" Mephas arms were just a little too long, her legs just a little uncannily slender. The wiry body held a terrifying air of strength and the Seras' features were just a little too wrong to be Terran. As if Mepha had been a Terran and had been poked, stretched, and adjusted here and there. Eyes that were too bright, too alert, and features that were too pretty to look at for long. But the wings… looking at them from a distance they were magnificent and impressive. Easily twice the size of her main body, gleaming and covered in what appeared to be white feathers. The reality was revealed every time the predatory species was on the hunt. The wings, which could be used for short gliding were actually covered in hundreds and thousands of sensitive sensory organs. Flaring them open revealed hundreds of larger light and chemical sensory organs that looked like disembodied eyes. The white 'feathers' were tactile sensory organs. The main body of Sera'phra'im seemed to exist to deceive other species by mimicry as the eyes were effectively blind to several wavelengths of light, limited even by Terran standards. "You reek of a dozen species and more. No one cared for your balanced needs." Mepha's dual-layered voice was irritated. "We will have to ensure you are properly decontaminated. I don't appreciate all the nasty, ugly things you've been putting in my body." She tugged the small Atlemarian around by her arms, yanking her somewhat violently from one machine to the next in some kind of unknowable dance. Each time the pair stopped at another machine, something would ping, ding, or beep. Several times the tiny female would yelp in what sounded like pain. The sounds chilled Jakar's core, but he was more relieved that the Sera wasn't interested in -him-. "So it's confirmed to be the escaped subject." "Yes yes! Fine, tell Cassian I've confirmed her identity. As if I couldn't have confirmed it from a klik away. Yes. Fine, now…" Mepha was quite suddenly across the room, one long arm outstretched and holding a vainly squirming female by the head against one of the scanner machined. The eyes that stared too long focused terrifyingly on the Terran. Her other hand planted against his chest, talon-like nails prickling at the skin under his uniform through the material. "Get. Out." She shoved, sending him off balance and having to quickly correct himself. The medical bay doors slammed shut, and a two-toned shriek could be heard just as they sealed. "So much to ge-" Jakar didn't wait around, he ran a hand through his mussed up hair to smooth it back down before returning to the Captain.

-------------------------

[arafatshouvo]

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[architectnews]

3XN unveils visuals of high-rise office complex for London

Danish studio 3XN has released its proposal for the 2 Finsbury Avenue office complex in central London, UK, which includes a 35-storey skyscraper.

The 2 Finsbury Avenue scheme, which is 3XN's first project in the UK capital, has been developed with British Land for a pedestrianised area in Broadgate.

If approved, it will replace two buildings built by British architect Peter Foggo in the 1980s and override engineering and architecture firm Arup's plan for a 32-storey office on the site, which was authorised in 2016 but never realised.

A visual of the 2 Finsbury Avenue towers. Top: the office complex will have green spaces and communal areas

"We are extremely happy and grateful to have been chosen to design 2 Finsbury Avenue at Broadgate in London," said 3XN's co-founder Kim Herforth Nielsen.

"Together with British Land, a project was developed demonstrating that architectural as well as development ambitions can come together in a forward-thinking office building."

As revealed in the visuals, 3XN's proposal is divided into a 35-storey East Tower and a 20-storey West Tower, both of which will contain office spaces. They will be built next to a sculptural bench by Paul Cocksedge.

The towers are linked by a 12-storey podium that will contain green spaces and communal areas, designed by 3XN to reflect the qualities of the Broadgate area.

"The Broadgate campus offers a fantastic range of amenities, outstanding public spaces as well as workspaces, retail and restaurants and we wanted to introduce these qualities to the building," said Audun Opdal, senior partner at 3XN.

"Therefore, the building is perceived as a series of interconnected volumes, where the connecting points are the social spaces, amenities and green spaces," Opdal told Dezeen.

The 2 Finsbury Avenue buildings will have matching facades, characterised by triangular patterns that are made from a combination solid and glazed sawtooth-shaped facade modules.

This is intended to animate and visually unify the towers, but will also help them to self-shade to prevent overheating and reliance on air conditioning.

The proposed entrance area of 2 Finsbury Avenue

The interiors for the office will be developed in collaboration with behavioural scientists from 3XN's innovation arm, GXN, to ensure a comfortable working environment.

They will include flexible workspaces that cater for individual and collaborative work as well as spaces for socialising.

"We have worked closely with British Land to conceive an elegant and accessible building that puts people first", said Opdal.

"The design combines individual workplaces with a variety of internal and external amenity spaces that foster well-being and social interaction and inspires people to engage with each other and work creatively."

According to 3XN and British Land, 2 Finsbury Avenue's design is being developed with the goal of being net-zero carbon in both its construction and operation.

The duo states this will be achieved with "a series of forward-thinking environmental initiatives" such as the use of low carbon materials, passive design strategies and possibly the re-use of elements from existing buildings on site.

"Reductions in embodied carbon are sought through structural optimisation of the towers, circular economy strategies, and low carbon materials," 3XN explained.

"Passive design strategies are further employed to minimise heating and cooling demand while maximising the value of select low-carbon and on-site renewable technologies."

3XN is a Copenhagen-based studio that was founded in 1986 by Nielsen alongside Lars Frank Nielsen and Hans Peter Svendler Nielsen. The studio is currently also developing a pair of towers in Mumbai that are modelled on mangrove stalks and a 200-metre-tall building overlooking the Sydney Opera House.

Elsewhere, 3XN has recently completed a cube-shaped office block in central Berlin and the new headquarters for the Olympics on the shore of Lake Geneva.

Project credits:

Architect: 3XN MEPH and structural engineer: Ramboll Executive architect: Adamson Associates Vertical transportation: SWECO Innovation consultant: GXN Sustainability consultant: Atelier Ten Planning consultant: DP9 Cost consultant: Core Five Project manager: Gardiner & Theobald Framework contractor: Sir Robert McAlpine

The post 3XN unveils visuals of high-rise office complex for London appeared first on Dezeen.

[ebenalconstruct]

BAM wins £100m Bristol hospital upgrade

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust has picked BAM Construction to deliver its phased estate modernisation programme worth up to £100m.

BAM’s team of architects, engineers and construction professionals has started working with the trust on plans for several facilities including haematology, cancer and oncology and a cardiology research unit.

The trust’s professional team include architects Stretto, Stride Treglown, Avanti, engineering consultant BDP, WSP, Hoare Lea, Hulley & Kirkwood and QED.

MEPH contractors engaged to date are T Clarke and Briggs & Forester.

BAM has started work on its first scheme, a Cath Lab facility, which includes extending cardiology ward capacity with extensions to two existing wards. This aims to complete around September this year.

Carly Palmer, Associate Director for Capital at the trust, said: “Our five-year strategic and annual operational capital programmes will take in a wide range of construction schemes, from internal refurbishments, complex internal redesigns and new build developments.”

Dermot Parkinson, a veteran of several major healthcare schemes, is BAM’s lead for the UHBW schemes,

He said: “We are working now in a very constrained site with little space for storage and deliveries, and have to keep the hospital working of course while we are here.

“This means careful attention to such matters as access routes, which emphasises how important day-to-day understanding is across the project for us all. We are bringing our acknowledged experience and expertise to bear on this and have already established an excellent relationship with the trust which will serve these critical schemes well.”

    from https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2020/05/12/bam-wins-100m-bristol-hospital-upgrade/

[mephestopheles]

Hi, I'm Finn, or Meph, however you know me. I'm a writer and world builder. I work full time, which doesn't give me a lot of time to write, and I would like to change that. I would like to write part or even the pipe dream of full time. I'm in my late thirties, I'm published, in fact you can purchase the ebook of my short story in the anthology Dystopia from the Rock on Amazon Canada. I'm also trans and in the very middle of my transition. I'm hoping the patreon will help maintain the necessary stuff for the internet and my writing so I can set aside money to travel for surgery in the coming year.

I have a variety of tiers and bonuses that both encourage my writing and are of interest to anyone wishing to pledge money to my goals.

If you have read something of mine you like, be it any of my fanfic, and would be interested in my original work, my patreon is the way to go. If you cannot afford it right, even sharing this post as a signal boost helps because the more who see this the better.

The current project I am funding is a second world fantasy of romance, political agendas, and finding your truth when faced with adversity. Featuring a queer romance, lgbt+ characters, and enough worldbuilding to shatter a star.

My second project is a futuristic cyberpunk adventure in post climate collapse Toronto. Caldera Rey is a First Nations AI engineer who is kidnapped as the result of trying to repair her dear friend and not quite mother, Mara, a surrogacy bot. Escaping from the corporate goons sent to bring her in, she uses her skills and wits to navigate the strange city and find her way home. Her disappearance is the catalyst as rising tensions against the government, foment into mass protests and political upheaval. Featuring a large cast of diverse characters, this novel kicks off the Spindle Series. Who are we and who do we become when the future is balanced on the head of a spindle?

[bimmeup]

Learning from Mistakes

This is not a blog post (read rant) for the faint hearted, I’m going to take a stab at people (and myself) , and there will be some bad language….

To start, I’m going to take a comment from Rich at BCU in Birmingham,

‘We love mistakes, so we’re going to make some more’

Now, the precedent to this comment was that learning from mistakes is a good thing, because a best practice method can be established off the back of it.

My outlook is:

It’s good to make mistakes, as you learn from it, but to continually make mistakes, results in you being a fucktard.

I’ve been using Revit for around 8 years now, and I’ve made mistakes, I’m not going to count technical / architectural mistakes with this, as it’s a Revit BIM blog. I’ve made mistakes about BIM, referring to BS1192 as BS1192-2 for quite a while, rather than PAS1192-2, I assumed at one point that I ‘did Level 2 BIM’ because I worked in a collaborative 3D manner with MEPH and Structural engineers….

Revit? Yup, I’ve made a fuckload of mistakes with this programme. As users know, there is a huge amount that goes into a programme like this, and is it possible to learn it in a couple of months? No. No its not. What this has done, is allow me to understand a better way of doing things. I’ve said it here many a time, that I want to make life simple, both for myself, and also for the Revit users in my offices. Why would I want to over complicate things, meaning I never get a second to get on with my own work, because I’m the ‘go to guy’?

Back when I started using Revit, there was a lot of people keeping tricks to themselves, to protect their jobs, it was the height of the economic collapse, and jobs were in much shorter availability (this is what is causing a problem that’s still going on today, that I’ll delve into a little more later in a separate rant post). In the good old CAD days, people would scream from the rooftops, when they worked out a new trick, this would spread through the office, and everyone would have a new toy to play with, that in most cases, would improve efficiency. I found at a few companies I worked for, this simply wouldn’t happen.

The result? Me spending time trying to figure something out, to find it couldn’t be done, or that it was counterproductive. This is why I started BIM Me Up. It was essentially a blog for my own reference, a go to page of tricks, which I shared to colleagues. The result was a better workflow where people could use the tricks I’d found, or been told about. As I moved from BIM Technician to BIM Coordinator, I created templates that made life easier. Yes, there were mistakes in the early versions, that were found out when working on live jobs. It’s what happens. These were fixed, and we moved on. Moving from BIM Coordinator to Manager, I would then undertake Revit training with staff, where I told them tricks, and gave them links, and cheat sheets to make life easier for everyone. Why keep something to yourself? You’re only gonna have to fix it later….

What narks me is when people refuse to ‘learn from experience, and will carry on doing things ‘their way’ because they’re too arrogant to listen to what I’m saying. Delivered a project using Revit or another BIM tool? Good, you’re probably going to have a better idea of what a contractor, or client wants/ needs. I build this into my templates, with the TIDP being half created, following our own office QA system, but also with a switch in the sheets to create a BS applicable drawing number with minimal input. Holding libraries contain system, and families loaded with information, that are audited, and approved for usage. See my trying to keep life easy for people here?

I once worked with someone so stupid, that we couldn’t understand how 20 some years into his career, he still had such a small grasp on what his job role consisted of. Did he learn from mistakes? No. And that was the problem.

So, by all means, make mistakes. It’s part of human nature. But if someone’s offering you a solution, listen to it, and embrace it. Heard of the term ‘best practice’?

There will be a couple of posts off the back of this one on how to ‘share the wealth’ in a simple way, so stay tuned…

[parlideldiavolo]

have mercy, pt. 01

l.

“You have to stop doing this.”

The devil’s plea fell on deaf ears. Vic could only flick his eyes heavenward in a fit of blasphemous humor when Alicia Davenport freed him from a hug. He sighed and released his palms from her arms and maybe the lopsided quirk of his mouth wasn’t as severe as it could have been.

“Okay,” Alicia lied with a wide smile.

“I mean it. Shoo.”

This was met with a kiss on his cheek and Vic huffing before he waved the young woman away. She waved back before breaking into a jog and disappearing down the street. The devil waited until she was well out of sight before shaking his head and smiling to himself as he tucked a bit of hair behind his ear.

Fucking hell.

She’d caught him picking up some mail this time. (Alright, ‘caught’ was a strong word.) Every now and then the soft-spoken human appeared in his periphery like the weight of their shared secret kept pulling them together, though them living in adjacent neighborhoods was the real reason for their occasional run-ins. He’d been careful to keep an eye on her because it was his duty as a gentleman to cut her off at the quick if any interest in him developed beyond ‘freaky guy who saved my life.’

That hadn’t happened (and she was a lesbian.) What had happened was her insistence on a friendship of a kind, and, eh—maybe Vic didn’t push back too hard on it because at least she was keeping her distance otherwise. Ambushing him at the corner of a post office for a few seconds was fine.

And why was he at the post office? To pick up a package, of course. Why hadn’t it been sent to the house? Because Vic happened to live with a mischievous Caligo who couldn’t be trusted not to mess with it if he found it first. That just wouldn’t do, not when the package contained a gift for him.

Vic slid said delivery into the seat next to him as the car roared to life. The dangly, red devil charm hanging from the mirror sparkled against the tinted shades Vic slipped on when he stopped to check himself in the mirror. He smiled at his reflection, flicked his tongue out and finished tying up the rest of his hair. The radio had popped on with the engine and picked up where it’d left off: on the playlist he and Tom had slapped together for the times they felt like tearing up the road on one of their high-speed ventures, and the devil was content to let it stay that way.

He finished primping and checked his phone. Tom got a warning that Vic was on his way back (whether the vampire was home or not. If he wasn’t, maybe he would be.) A few others got memes, his dad got a reply and a series of hearts… (Pfft, Logan liked MCR? Who’d have guessed?) ...

… Aaand, perfect.

(…)

Vic sat in the car a little longer. An odd feeling settled over him when he leaned back in the driver’s seat and gazed out over the dashboard with one gloved hand tracing the wheel. The Maroa streets stretched out in a haze and the car’s A/C purred over the sound of distant traffic and music. After a moment’s consideration, Vic flicked the air off.

That was enough to stir Mephistopheles from his nap. The black cat rose and gave a great languid stretch when he clambered over the seats from the back. He stopped and sniffed at the package before bumping his head into Vic’s shoulder, to which the devil hummed and bunted back.

“Awake now, harlot?” He teased before scooping Meph against him and kissing him on top of his little silken head. Vic then released him and waited til Meph was settled in the passengers seat next to the box before he finished buckling in.

“C’mon,” he told the cat. “Let’s go home.”

Fuck, Vic thought with quiet amusement and another quick glance at the mirror. It really is home now, huh. There’d been a time when he’d thought he’d left that word behind.

But! There was one pit stop to be made. He’d already grabbed some snacks and a few extra items for the candy drawer back at home because he owed Logan and Skipper that much, but the household was also getting low on non-blood drinks and schnapps and that couldn’t be allowed. Vic pulled up at his favorite liquor store and hopped out to correct this while Meph dozed on top of the package whose box he would surely receive after it was opened.

The sensation hit him again when he was checking out. It grew like a shadow in the back of his mind—not quite clear, but lingering. Vic accepted the drinks and stopped in front of the door.

Several heartbeats passed.

He could hear that same heart in his ears. The rest of the world faded. The doors chimed. Hazy sunlight filtered through the windows and pooled around his booted feet.

Vic gazed out the door and knew the taste filling his mouth for what it was, because everyone was a little different and a waterfall of years can never put out the feeling of taking the hand of someone you thought could be your family only to have them let you be swallowed by fire.

Fire. Vic could feel it crawling up the back of his neck like a ghost. 

Fire.

He stepped out onto the street and the older man who’d been standing next to his—Tom’s—their car looking through the window instead turned to look at Vic.

Fire. It was still written in his face. Years hadn’t diminished the mark it had left or the smile he now wore, set deep amongst well-worn laugh lines and bright eyes shadowed by the sun.

Fire. Vic was burning up just like all those years ago.

You can’t be saved.

The man smiled. “It has been a while.” He looked back down at the car with his hands drawn behind his back.

Fire. 

(Of course it’d be here. Of course it’d be now.)

<“Let us go for a drive,”> Mercy said.

(Of course he thought he’d have more time.)

[jaigeddes]

BAM wins £100m Bristol hospital upgrade

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust has picked BAM Construction to deliver its phased estate modernisation programme worth up to £100m.

BAM’s team of architects, engineers and construction professionals has started working with the trust on plans for several facilities including haematology, cancer and oncology and a cardiology research unit.

The trust’s professional team include architects Stretto, Stride Treglown, Avanti, engineering consultant BDP, WSP, Hoare Lea, Hulley & Kirkwood and QED.

MEPH contractors engaged to date are T Clarke and Briggs & Forester.

BAM has started work on its first scheme, a Cath Lab facility, which includes extending cardiology ward capacity with extensions to two existing wards. This aims to complete around September this year.

Carly Palmer, Associate Director for Capital at the trust, said: “Our five-year strategic and annual operational capital programmes will take in a wide range of construction schemes, from internal refurbishments, complex internal redesigns and new build developments.”

Dermot Parkinson, a veteran of several major healthcare schemes, is BAM’s lead for the UHBW schemes,

He said: “We are working now in a very constrained site with little space for storage and deliveries, and have to keep the hospital working of course while we are here.

“This means careful attention to such matters as access routes, which emphasises how important day-to-day understanding is across the project for us all. We are bringing our acknowledged experience and expertise to bear on this and have already established an excellent relationship with the trust which will serve these critical schemes well.”

[mallisia-ring]

Elliot: "Both of you come with me. If they're going where I think they're going, we need to cut them off before they reach the engine room." Mephelis said, phasing into a black fog and floating out of the room.

Meanwhile, Mallisia was working on some more plans with Racheal & the rest of her group, with her’s involving the recruitment of Zelda & her Surface Dweller tribe.

[architectnews]

3XN unveils visuals of high-rise office complex for London

Danish studio 3XN has released its proposal for the 2 Finsbury Avenue office complex in central London, UK, which includes a 35-storey skyscraper.

The 2 Finsbury Avenue scheme, which is 3XN's first project in the UK capital, has been developed with British Land for a pedestrianised area in Broadgate.

If approved, it will replace two buildings built by British architect Peter Foggo in the 1980s and override engineering and architecture firm Arup's plan for a 32-storey office on the site, which was authorised in 2016 but never realised.

A visual of the 2 Finsbury Avenue towers. Top: the office complex will have green spaces and communal areas

"We are extremely happy and grateful to have been chosen to design 2 Finsbury Avenue at Broadgate in London," said 3XN's co-founder Kim Herforth Nielsen.

"Together with British Land, a project was developed demonstrating that architectural as well as development ambitions can come together in a forward-thinking office building."

As revealed in the visuals, 3XN's proposal is divided into a 35-storey East Tower and a 20-storey West Tower, both of which will contain office spaces. They will be built next to a sculptural bench by Paul Cocksedge.

The towers are linked by a 12-storey podium that will contain green spaces and communal areas, designed by 3XN to reflect the qualities of the Broadgate area.

"The Broadgate campus offers a fantastic range of amenities, outstanding public spaces as well as workspaces, retail and restaurants and we wanted to introduce these qualities to the building," said Audun Opdal, senior partner at 3XN.

"Therefore, the building is perceived as a series of interconnected volumes, where the connecting points are the social spaces, amenities and green spaces," Opdal told Dezeen.

The 2 Finsbury Avenue buildings will have matching facades, characterised by triangular patterns that are made from a combination solid and glazed sawtooth-shaped facade modules.

This is intended to animate and visually unify the towers, but will also help them to self-shade to prevent overheating and reliance on air conditioning.

The proposed entrance area of 2 Finsbury Avenue

The interiors for the office will be developed in collaboration with behavioural scientists from 3XN's innovation arm, GXN, to ensure a comfortable working environment.

They will include flexible workspaces that cater for individual and collaborative work as well as spaces for socialising.

"We have worked closely with British Land to conceive an elegant and accessible building that puts people first", said Opdal.

"The design combines individual workplaces with a variety of internal and external amenity spaces that foster well-being and social interaction and inspires people to engage with each other and work creatively."

According to 3XN and British Land, 2 Finsbury Avenue's design is being developed with the goal of being net-zero carbon in both its construction and operation.

The duo states this will be achieved with "a series of forward-thinking environmental initiatives" such as the use of low carbon materials, passive design strategies and possibly the re-use of elements from existing buildings on site.

"Reductions in embodied carbon are sought through structural optimisation of the towers, circular economy strategies, and low carbon materials," 3XN explained.

"Passive design strategies are further employed to minimise heating and cooling demand while maximising the value of select low-carbon and on-site renewable technologies."

3XN is a Copenhagen-based studio that was founded in 1986 by Nielsen alongside Lars Frank Nielsen and Hans Peter Svendler Nielsen. The studio is currently also developing a pair of towers in Mumbai that are modelled on mangrove stalks and a 200-metre-tall building overlooking the Sydney Opera House.

Elsewhere, 3XN has recently completed a cube-shaped office block in central Berlin and the new headquarters for the Olympics on the shore of Lake Geneva.

Project credits:

Architect: 3XN MEPH and structural engineer: Ramboll Executive architect: Adamson Associates Vertical transportation: SWECO Innovation consultant: GXN Sustainability consultant: Atelier Ten Planning consultant: DP9 Cost consultant: Core Five Project manager: Gardiner & Theobald Framework contractor: Sir Robert McAlpine

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