This episode is supported by Brizo • Monograph • Miele • Graphisoft

Jimenez Lai was born in Taiwan, came of age in Canada, and lives in Los Angeles. He works at Bureau Spectacular. Previously, Lai lived in a desert shelter at Taliesin and resided in a shipping container at Atelier Van Lieshout on the piers of Rotterdam. Lai's work focuses on the relationship between storytelling and architecture. His first book, Citizens of No Place, a graphic novel, was published by Princeton Architectural Press. Draft II of this book has been archived at the New Museum. Bureau Spectacular was a past participant of the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015 and 2017. Lai has won various awards, including the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Debut Award at the Lisbon Triennale, and the 2017 Designer of the Future Award at Art Basel. In 2014, Lai represented Taiwan at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2015, Lai organized the Treatise exhibition and publication series at the Graham Foundation. Lai has taught at various universities around the world, including Cornell, National University of Singapore, University of Southern California, UCLA, and Columbia University.  Lai's work has been collected by MoMA, SFMOMA, Art Institute of Chicago, and LACMA.    Bureau Spectacular imagines other worlds and engages design through telling stories. Beautiful stories about character development, relationships, curiosities, and attitudes; absurd stories about impossible realities that invite enticing possibilities. The stories conflate design, representation, theory, criticism, history, and taste into cartoon pages. These cartoon narratives swerve into the physical world through architectural installations, designed objects, interiors, and architecture.  

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