If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, where does drawing comics fit in?
Jiminez Lai is an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, but he's also the founder of Bureau Spectacular, an "operation of architectural affairs" based in Chicago. He's lived in desert shelters and shipping containers, and recently won the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects.
Lai's Citizens of No Place is a collection of graphical short stories that explore different aspects of space, architecture and urbanism. The idea is to move beyond traditional renderings and models, and express some of the ideas that sit behind them. It uses manga-style storyboards to tell the stories behind the designs, as well as introduce elements of theory and criticism.
Lai's work is also being exhibited at the Architecture Foundation in London. He's built a three-room installation as a walk-in cartoon. It has three graphical voids that interact with the windows of the project space, on Tooley Street, near London bridge. That will run until 25 August, 2012.
Citizens of No Place is available now, and costs £13.
Take a closer look in our gallery.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
