LIVE T 00:00:00:00 PROJECT 01 / 06
TPE25.0330°N · 121.5654°E NYC40.7294°N · 73.9895°W

Crossing
Scales01

Architecture  ·  Research  ·  Drawing  ·  Making
Taipei ↔ New York   —   selected work 2015—2024.
Available for collaboration, fall 2026.
Scroll to cross scales
01
Year
2024
Type
Independent
Media
AxiDraw plotter, ink
Role
Author
Scale1 : 1 — the hand

AnarchronismIND 2024

FIG. A · PLATE 1— photo forthcoming
FIG. B · DETAILaxidraw exercise, loop
FIG. C · JIG— photo forthcoming

An exercise in mechanical drawing with the AxiDraw plotter — a study of the line as it is inscribed not by the hand but by a patient, procedural machine.

Page forthcoming —
02
Year
2023
Type
Studio · Film
Where
The Cooper Union
Length
00:42
Scale1 : 50 — the room

Accidental
CertaintyCU 2023

Accidental Certainty stillFIG. A · STILL 01frame study
FIG. B · STILL 02cover — loop
Accidental Certainty toe detailFIG. C · TOEdetail, ground plane

A performance drawn from somnambulism and habitual gesture: routine body movements — locking a door, pouring water — tuned against pitch and rhythm until the boundary between routine and music dissolves.

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03
Year
2023
Type
Studio
Where
The Cooper Union
Critic
—
Scale1 : 200 — the building

Framework
TraversingCU 2023

Framework Traversing coverFIG. A · PLANcover
Framework axonometricFIG. B · SECTIONstructural frame
Framework joint detailFIG. C · JOINTnode detail

A thesis on the frameworks — infrastructural, cartographic, cybernetic — through which we perceive what scale or medium places beyond direct experience. Two chapters: Cedric Price's Fun Palace, and cartography's expanded field.

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04
Year
2022
Type
Studio
Where
The Cooper Union
Keyword
Membrane
Scale1 : 500 — the block

Ephemeral
ShoresCU 2022

Ephemeral Shores inflatedFIG. A · INFLATEDpneumatic envelope
Ephemeral Shores collapsedFIG. B · COLLAPSEDsame form, deflated
Ephemeral Shores seamFIG. C · SEAMweld detail

A rethinking of the park, beginning with a highway interchange's columns that meet the water without weight. A floating architecture on the East River at Astoria, reading flood and flux as structural form.

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05
Year
2015
Type
Studio · Material
Where
Tunghai University
Keyword
Casting
Scale1 : 1000 — the neighborhood

Material—
scapeTH 2015

Material-scape collageFIG. A · COLLAGEterrain composite
Material-scape castFIG. B · CASTplaster, sand, resin
Material-scape diagramFIG. C · SWATCHmaterial index

Beneath the Taichung Interchange: a fragmented industrial landscape read through the material accumulation of plastic pipe and wood — a vast, blanketed threshold within the city.

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06
Year
2017
Type
Studio
Where
Tunghai University
Keyword
Underground
Scale1 : 5000 — the territory

Project
UndergardenTH 2017

Undergarden conceptFIG. A · CONCEPTphotomontage
Undergarden sectionFIG. B · SECTIONbelow grade
Undergarden planFIG. C · PLANground plane

A terminal on the polluted estuary of the Changhua Industrial Zone — a factory proposed to repair landscape and body as two scales within a single circulation. Section as the real plan.

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§ 02 — INDEX

All projects, filed by year.

№ThumbTitleInstitutionTypeYear
01AnarchronismIndependentPlotter / Ink2024 02Accidental CertaintyThe Cooper UnionStudio / Film2023 03Framework TraversingThe Cooper UnionStudio2023 04Ephemeral ShoresThe Cooper UnionStudio2022 05Material-scapeTunghai UniversityMaterial2015 06Project UndergardenTunghai UniversityStudio2017
§ 03 — ABOUT

Architect and thinker working between Taipei and New York, at scales from the hand to the territory.

Kai-Min Lee is an architect and thinker originally from Taipei, currently based in New York City. His academic and professional work centers on the spatial tensions between mega-scale infrastructure and the human body — examining how frameworks, both physical and virtual, mediate our perception of the built environment.

I firmly believe that even the smallest architectural elements — a tectonic detail, a screw on a wall — can influence human behavior and shape our environment. Yet the significant scale difference between our bodies and our surroundings often obscures this relationship.

In Taiwan, we encounter a fascinating array of architectural phenomena: from small informal structures to expansive highway ramps in suburban areas, where beauty and disorder coexist. These elements are too often dismissed as random fragments rather than recognized as a coherent architectural identity. I believe that by rethinking their construction mechanisms and understanding how and why these structures came to be, we can develop a more systematic approach to bridging the gap between humanity and its environment.

Selected CV
2023MArch, The Cooper Union
2020Practice, Taipei
2017BArch, Tunghai University
— CV, 2026 PDF on request