Photo Credit: Courtesy of M.A.D.Gallery

“I’m an intense person. Everything I do, I do with all my energy. I’m also cautiously curious and very sensitive,” says the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based artist. “I want to capture my passion within the work, charge the objects with my energy and emotions, so observers can feel my experiences when viewing the work.”

With URBIS, McNabb uses his vast imagination and talent to create abstract fantasy cities that become a visual experience, inviting one to study every detail of his pieces.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of M.A.D.Gallery

The URBIS collection reveals intricate architectural structures imagined by James, from towering skyscrapers and office buildings to high-rise apartment buildings. Each towering wooden skyscraper is skilfully carved out with a bandsaw and then carefully assembled piece by piece to create impressive urban landscapes.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of M.A.D.Gallery

In the City Square sculpture, McNabb visually transforms a skyline into an urban block by inverting each tower in such a manner that the antennas are practically touching in the center while the outer edges are squared off. The composition compromises 102 unique structures in American Black Walnut. This contemporary piece measures 66 x 66 x 6 cm.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of M.A.D.Gallery

ACK CTY WHL bends a modern metropolis into a sophisticated sphere due to the precise placement of each elongated wooden tower. The gentle rondure and simplicity of the perimeter contrast with more than one hundred highly ornate superstructures arranged inside. The negative space creates a glowing sun that adds to the complexity and depth of this architectural wonder. This piece of 91 cm in diameter incorporates a variety of wood types, including cherry, oak, mahogany and maple.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of M.A.D.Gallery

In a similar design, URB CTY WHL maintains the round construction of ACK CTY WHL though the interior is modern with clean structures crafted from American Black Walnut. The streamlined design of this rolling metropolis eases thoughts and draws on a simpler way of life.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of M.A.D.Gallery

Disposition is a sculpture balancing a bustling city filled with distinctive architecture at varied elevations. The sleek skyscrapers are composed in American Black Walnut and assembled to create a 46 x 46 x 51 cm modern metropolis. One has a bird’s-eye view into the streets of this city on the edge, and it’s easy to imagine an uphill climb or sliding down – or perhaps just hanging on.

McNabb primarily used a bandsaw to create these works of art. Each one takes 10-12 weeks to complete.

“To me, it’s a very expressive machine, responsive to its user in a very sensitive way,” explains James. “I’m sensitive to how the material behaves with the machine, and how my behaviour impacts the resulting forms. If we (maker, material, machine) can dance together, the results are often beautiful.”

“I like to spend most of my time cutting the wood pieces on the bandsaw. It requires patience and focus as each piece is cut one at a time by me,” he explains. Once all the architectural structures are finished, James assembles each individual component, piece by piece. The entire sculpture is then sanded to an impeccably smooth texture and finished with varnish to enhance the wood grain.

For more on URBIS by James McNabb, visit www.madgallery.net.

The post American Artist James McNabb Exhibiting New Wood City Skylines “URBIS” at the M.A.D. Gallery appeared first on Haute Residence by Haute Living.

Photo Credit: James Harris

Collaborations between designers and design institutions, panels and lectures with experts in the world of design, architecture, art and fashion have made Design Miami/ a yearly pilgrimage for all. The trading that takes place in Design Miami/ has far reaches in the design industry, setting trends and creating new ones.

Photo Credit: James Harris

It takes place December 4-8, alongs the Art Basel Miami fair. This year marks Aric Chen's debut as Curatorial Director of Design Miami/, and second overall. His first fair in the role was this year's Design Miami/Basel in Basel, Switzerland in June.

Chen will continue to direct the fair’s focus toward the material future of the planet with the theme Elements: Water, a companion to Design Miami/ Basel’s theme Elements: Earth.

Photo Credit: James Harris

Design Miami/ 2019 welcomes 33 galleries and 14 Curio presentations from 13 countries, including three galleries exhibiting for the first time at Design Miami/, AGO Projects, Erik Thomsen Gallery and Galerie Scene Ouverte. This is Aric Chen’s second fair as Curatorial Director, following his debut at Design Miami/ Basel in June.

Photo Credit: James Harris

For a complete list of galleries, expositions, solo projects and more, visit www.designmiami.com.

The post Design Miami/ Announces Galleries For 2019 Edition appeared first on Haute Residence by Haute Living.

Photo courtesy of Vitra

The exhibition will showcase an art installation divided into two segments -- "Past/Present" and "Future." The latter focuses on the concept of how homes will function in the year 2035 and will bring to life Abloh's vision of the future. Mixing living and working spaces together, Abloh tackles the concept of furniture usage and embarks on the journey of exploring what the world of design will be like.

Photo courtesy of Vitra

The three limited-edition home design products include an armchair, inspired by a 1950s Jean Prouvé design; a Petite Potence lamp with orange lacquer finishes; and a ceramic block, the most conceptual piece in the collection, forming the structural element of the TWENTYTHRITYFIVE exhibition.

Photo courtesy of Vitra

The home design products will be available for purchase online at Vitra and will make its way across the sea as the brand prepares for its North America exhibition in New York this fall.

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It just might be. Morphosis Architects recently unveiled renderings for its ambitious 1,250-foot mirrored resort hotel in the sleepy Alpine village of Vals. The skyscraper, dubbed “7132” (Vals postcode), will be located adjacent to Japanese architect Tadao Ando’s Valser Path (slated for completion in 2017) and Swiss architect Peter Zumthor’s “The Therme Vals,” the revered high-end spa resort built in 1996 from 60,000 slabs of stacked quartzite, and will stand to become the tallest skyscraper not only in Switzerland, but in Europe.

The 7132 Hotel is a controversial 1,250-foot resort skyscraper that dominates the surrounding Swiss Alps village of Vals, and obstructs some mountain views.

Rendering of the transparent tower which (as the proposed tallest building in Europe) does its best to achieve the impossible—blending into the landscape.

The luxury 7132 Hotel boasts 107 panoramic guest rooms and suites, a grand lobby, sky bar, restaurant, art gallery, library, ballroom, fitness and business centers, spas (of course), and a podium linking the tower to neighboring structures. It also offers village-shared public amenities such as a cantilever with restaurant, cafe and bar.

The proposed tower boldly dominates the landscape next to the picturesque Swiss Alps, evoking an incredibly perplexing optical double-take. Are skyscrapers supposed to be in a rural mountainous area? That’s like building a massive barn in midtown Manhattan. Or gazing at a gorgeous person who's missing eyebrows. It’s an intriguing spectacle, but it feels wrong. Something is off.

The 7132 skyscraper towers over the surrounding village, obstructing some mountain views for miles while touting unobstructed views from the hotel rooms. Vals ongoing resort development is actually the brainchild of local residents— collaborators Pius Truffer (executive director of the complex) and  Remo Stoffel (7132 Ltd. founder), who were both born in Vals. They also own and operate The Therme Vals, which was purchased from the municipality in 2012. The skyscraper hotel is is scheduled for completion by 2019. Their stated goal: for the 7132 tower to become one of the "five best hotels in the world,” attracting ultra-high net worth tourists from Asia and the Middle East. Rates will range from $1,043 to a jaw-dropping $26,063 per night.

The hotel is the third wing of the 7132 project, which also includes The Therme Vals spa and the Valser Path.

Thom Mayne's firm Morphosis designed a minimalist, mirrored hotel whose "reflective skin and slender profile camouflage with the landscape."

7132 Hotel will offer 107 rooms from $1043 to an staggering $26,063 per night.

Room view of the Vals valley.

When constructed, the hotel will become the tallest tower in all of Europe, including Vals, a modest village with a population around 1,000 people that's famous for being home to the only thermal springs in the Swiss Canton of Graubünden. The village’s Therme Vals spa has been a hallowed “site of worship for both bathers and countless design pilgrims since it opened in 1996,” according to The Guardian.

However, the new 7132 resort tower is dealing with visceral backlash from harsh critics who consider it an eyesore, or worse. “Skyscrapers in the Alps are an absurdity,” said Vittorio Lampugnani, Professor of Architecture at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, who claims it's unnecessary to accommodate that many people in such a small space in the mountains.

Yes, the hills are alive with the sound of protest—even in Switzerland, the neutral nation. Although non-interventionist by nature, the landlocked nation of timepieces and chocolates is also steadfastly protective of its industries, culture, and land. The controversy began when Stoffel wrangled control of The Therme Vals spa from architect Zumthor's consortium. Then an international jury walked out on the development competition process citing significant question marks on factors such as the project's scale.

But Truffer and Stoffel are locals. The loudest objections echo beyond the Vals valley (the Swiss are usually too polite to complain loudly). The avalanche of criticism comes from outside design observers who are apparently horrified by the 7132 hotel.

The Guardian critic Oliver Wainwright describes Mayne's tower as a "design statement that verges on farce… a gigantic mirror-clad middle finger aimed at the region... it's hard to imagine a more obnoxious gesture to inflict on a sleepy spa town." That critique is kinder than the Archinect commenter who skewers the 7132 hotel as the “worst piece of architecture in the history of architecture, including all Walmarts and Taco Bells.”

So tell us what you really think! These passionate skeptics consider the 7132 tower tantamount to a sin—in terms of clashing with the environment and disregarding the local community. Architect Ando begs to differ. He says, “The transparent and slim ‘7132’ tower designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis will create a completely new hospitality in Vals. I believe it will harmonize in the beautiful landscape and will attract and impress various guests and visitors from all over the world.”

The Therme Vals spa, a world-class tourist destination that contours to the Swiss Alps landscape.

The Therme Vals spa features meandering light-and-dark labyrinths that flow through various pools.

Therme Vals boasts a cave or quarry-like environment similar to the areas many quarries.

Just like The Therme Vals spa, the Therme spa is iconic for its design but also its environmental consideration. Inspired by Valser Quartzite slabs, Therme created a cave or quarry-like environment that respectfully contours to the natural surroundings—from bathrooms that lay beneath a grass roof structure half-buried into the hillside to the meandering light-and-dark labyrinths that flow through pools, bubbles and steam-saturated air for a complete sensory experience that recalls the ancient benefits of bathing. Its silent bathing experience receives rave reviews.

Mayne himself stated, “The incredible setting demands reducing materiality and presence in the design so that, as in all our work, the connection to site becomes paramount. As much as possible, the hotel is a minimalist act that re-iterates the site and offers to the viewer a mirrored, refracted perspective of the landscape. He says, "...the tower’s reflective skin and slender profile camouflage with the landscape, abstracting and displacing the valley and sky."

The beautiful Swiss Alps

The Swiss Alp village of Vals is populated by an estimated 1000 people who will ultimately decide on the fate of the 7132 Hotel skyscraper.

Vals’ magic formula is: 1,000 residents, 1,000 sheep and 1,000 hotel beds. Will the sheep be as confused by the skyscraper as we are? Judging by the fact that they pose for cameras, perhaps not.

Can you really blend Europe's tallest building into the Swiss valley landscape? The 7132 website bills the complex offerings as a rejection of mass tourism. How, by building a skyscraper hotel? The concept is a bit confusing but perhaps it would become clearer if we walked the Valser Path or soaked in Therme spa’s pools for awhile.

The hotel, path, and spa complex is part of a big 7132 marketing blitz for the village that states “Vals’ magic formula is very simple 1000 residents, 1000 sheep and 1000 hotel beds. This magical ratio is the secret of the relaxed atmosphere in the Vals valley. Discretion is everything. Vals is sheer indulgence.” Indulgence for sure. Discretion? Again, let us ponder this in the calm, misty Therme waters.

In Switzerland, the egos are small and the mountains are tall. On this one, the Swiss public and outside observers aren’t exactly neutral. The project still needs to secure planning permission, and it will be publicly voted on by Vals residents who will have final say. We shall see what happens when it's completed. Until then, hold on to your sheep.

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