NEWS
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2026 DTLB ART + DESIGN WALK - Long Beach Lights
April 11, 2026
Join us on for the unveiling of Long Beach Lights, a solar-powered lighting installation located on The Promenade in Downtown LB. -
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Plugin Stories Exhibition in Chengdu
March 03 to June 06, 2026
Plugin Stories is now on at Pritzker Prize Laureate Liu Jiakun's Yulin Song Project Space in Chengdu. The exhibition features content from PAO’s newly published Plugin House, scale models, DIY model components, and a full-scale Plugin House! -
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Plugin House book now available!
February 24, 2026
Plugin House, published by Thames & Hudson, is out today! -
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2025 Venice Biennale China Pavilion: Renew City Plugins
May 10 to November 23, 2025
Curated by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, the China Pavilion features Renew City Plugins, a speculative city assembled from discarded architectural models gathered across China. Green Plugin insertions reveal how unused buildings and residual spaces can be repurposed and revitalized, illustrating PAO’s strategies for enhancing urban environments. -
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2025 Venice Biennale US Pavilion
May 10 to November 23, 2026
PAO and Plugin House present housing for people experiencing homelessness at PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity, curated by Peter MacKeith, Susan Chin, and Rod Bigelow. -
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2025 Milan Triennale
May 13 to November 9, 2025
Curated by Stefano Boeri under the theme Inequalities, PAO presents a selection of Plugin projects in the Urban Regeneration and Cities section, curated by Nina Bassoli. -
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Archigram Ten
December 2024
PAO contributed ‘Megacity Plugins’ to Archigram Ten, edited by Peter Cook. -
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Interrogative Design
October 2024
James contributed ‘The Practice of Interrogative Design’ and ‘People’s Canopy’ to the publication about Krzystof Wodiczki’s art practice, edited by Ian Wojtowicz. -
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Time Pieces at Frieze LA 2024
February 13, 2024
Time Pieces will be exhibited together with Gordon Matta Clark’s ‘Clockshower’ at the ‘Inhabiting Time’ exhibition curated by Somi Sim from February 29 - March 3. -
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LA County Parks and Rec Selects our Civic Art Bench Designs!
January 25, 2024
PAO collaborated with artist Jennifer Tran to design Cursive LA and Folded LA, public art benches for 9 parks across LA County. -
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Long Beach City Council Approves PAO's Covid-19 Memorial
January 16, 2024
We are pleased to announce that our design for the Long Beach Covid-19 Memorial to be located in Lincoln Park in downtown Long Beach was approved by city council tonight. -
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Governor Newsom gives State of the State address in front of Plugin House
March 16, 2023
Governor Newsom announced plans to build 1200 emergency sleeping shelters for people experiencing homelessness. The Governor was very excited to tour our unit. -
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Published Paper for Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
July 2023
James Shen co-authored the Pew Cheritable Trust sponsored paper with Chris Herbert and Chad Reed comparing the costs of manufactured and site-built housing. -
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Learning Landscape Elementary School Topping Out Ceremony
December 13, 2023
An exciting project in Shenzhen that explores the intersection of landscape, play and education. -
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Plugin House at the 2023 Lisbon Architecture Triennale
February 1, 2023
Excited that Plugin House is included in Multiplicity, curated by Tau Tavengwa and Vyjayanthi Rao. On view at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale. -
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Esperanza Community Plugin Houses
September 12, 2022
Working with residents of the Esperanza Community, Plugin House installed several Plugin units at The Other Ones Foundation (TOOF) in Austin, TX. The units serve the needs of residents who are experiencing homelessness. -
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Liminal City exhibited at the Hyundai Motor Studio in Busan
December 9, 2021
A site-specific installation of tubes and mirrors that create visual connections across the gallery’s multiple levels and between inside and outside.
ABOUT PAO
Los Angeles-based PAO is led by James Shen. With offices also in Beijing and Shenzhen, PAO is a multi-disciplinary practice working at the intersection of architecture, art, product design and urbanism. PAO believes that design is for the masses, and focuses on social impact through design.