Lai lived and worked 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 OMA. Lai is widely exhibited and published around the world, including the MOMA-collected White Elephant. His first manifesto, 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Draft II of this book has been archived at the New Museum as a part of the show Younger Than Jesus. Lai has won various awards, including the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Debut Award at the Lisbon Triennale. In the past years, Lai began building structures at an architectural scale, including the Taiwan Pavilion at the 14th Venice Architectural Biennale, and a 52’ object at the 2016 Coachella Valley Music Festival. Amongst his other efforts, Lai organized the 14-volume Treatise publication series.