Bureau Spectacular

BUREAU SPECTACULAR imagines other worlds and engages the design of architecture 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 buildings.

BUREAU SPECTACULAR is a group of individuals who engage culture through the contemplation of art, architecture, history, politics, sociology, linguistics, mathematics, graphic design, technology, and graphic novels. We often find ourselves at the crossroads of all disciplines, yet comfortably embracing the healthy intersections between the many human discourses.

JIMENEZ LAI works in the world of art, culture, and education. Around the turn of the century, Jimenez Lai lived in a desert shelter at Taliesin and resided in a shipping container at Atelier Van Lieshout on the piers of Rotterdam. Before founding Bureau Spectacular, Lai worked for various international offices, including MOS and OMA. Lai is widely exhibited and published around the world, including the MoMA-collected White Elephant. His first book, Citizens of No Place, was published by Princeton Architectural Press with a grant from the Graham Foundation. Draft II of this book has been archived at the New Museum. 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 / Design Miami. In 2014, Lai represented Taiwan at the 14th Venice Architectural Biennale. In 2015, Lai organized the Treatise exhibition and publication series at the Graham Foundation. Alongside MoMA, Lai’s work has been collected by SFMOMA, Art Institute of Chicago, and LACMA. Lai has taught at various universities, including OSU, UIC, Syracuse, Cornell, Columbia, and UCLA.