Biography
James artistically deploys technology and green design principles to articulate an evolving comprehension of the 21st century city.
Born on the Caribbean Island of St. Thomas and spent his formative years in St. Paul, Minnesota where he developed an early interest in the workings of cities—especially the buildings, people, and interstitial spaces that compose them. As a visual artist and published writer—trained as an architect—he expresses the urban condition through the lenses of art and design. His work employs diverse media (aerosol, ink, critical text, digital collage, physical sketching and material modeling) to explore complex theoretical topics from a unique, ethnoexperiential perspective.
James is a registered architect in the states of Minnesota and New York. He holds an A.B. Degree in Architecture from the College of Environmental Design at the University of California (Berkeley, CA) and an M’Arch degree from Parsons School of Design (New York City, NY). He is a 2015 American Institute of Architects MN Chapter Young Architect Award recipient who currently serves on the Metropolitan Council Livable Communities and Transit Oriented Development Advisory Committees.
His creative work and art installations have been shown in New York City and Minneapolis, where he successfully completed a residency program entitled, “The Artist Is In”, at the prestigious Minneapolis Institute of Art for the “Marks of Genius” exhibition in 2014.
In 2002, he co-founded 4RM+ULA (FORM + Urban Landscape Articulation), a full-service architecture firm focused on Transit Design, Transit-Oriented-Development, and urban infill redevelopment projects.