NEWS

  • Plugin House Book Coming 2026

    Announcing Plugin House, published by Thames & Hudson and releasing on February 24, 2026. The launch will coincide with an exhibition at the Chengdu exhibition space of Pritzker-winning architect Liu Jiakun.

    Click Here

  • 2025 Venice Biennale China Pavilion: Renew City Plugins

    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.

  • 2025 Venice Biennale US Pavilion

    2025 Venice Biennale US Pavilion

    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.

  • 2025 Milan Triennale

    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.

  • Archigram Ten

    Archigram Ten

    December 2024
    PAO contributed ‘Megacity Plugins’ to Archigram Ten, edited by Peter Cook.

    https://www.accartbooks.com/us/book/archigram-ten/
  • Interrogative Design

    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 byIan Wojtowicz.

    https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262048651/interrogative-design/

  • 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 Recreation selects our designs for Public Art Park Benches

    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.

  • 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.

  • 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 project Topping Out Ceremony

    December 13, 2023

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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.

  • Esperanza Community Plugin Houses and gathering spaces for people suffering from homelessness complete

    September 12, 2022

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  • Liminal City featured in 'Do You Miss the Future?' exhibition for Hyundai Motorstudio Busan

    December 9, 2021

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.