Jaemo Lee is a South Korean interior architect and designer whose practice lies at the intersection of object design, spatial design, and installation. His work explores contemporary environmental issues, with a particular focus on relationships between humans and non-humans, while drawing on the materials and resources available within the local contexts of his projects.
A graduate of the Master of Arts in Interior Architecture at HEAD – Genève, Jaemo was a finalist in the 2026 Design Parade for Interior Architecture at Villa Noailles. His graduation project, Living with Birds, received the Encouragement Prize from the Swiss Association of Interior Architects, VSI.ASAI. He has also received several prizes and commissions through competitions and open calls, including Histoires de frontières, initiated by several cross-border municipalities across Greater Geneva, and Tiny Hotels and Lodgings, organized by Switzerland Tourism. His work has been shown at international events including the 2025 Saint-Étienne Design Biennale and Alcova during Milan Design Week 2026.
Diploma Project
Living with Birds
The project Living with Birds reconfigures the relationship between architecture and urban birds, questioning a human-centered conception of space. Once established on cliffs, certain bird species have adapted to the city by perceiving buildings as substitute habitats. Yet recent architectural transformations increasingly erase the very conditions that allowed them to settle: gaps, cavities, ledges, and eaves disappear, while glass façades, sealed envelopes, and devices such as bird spikes make the urban environment more exclusive.
Going beyond making the existing surface bird-friendly, the project extends the birds’ habitat from the edges of windows into the interior of the building. The existing outer wall is maintained as a wind-regulating layer, while a second insulated wall defines a distinct interior space for human occupants. Between these two layers, an open zone emerges as a shared buffer space. Within a single building, this experimental structure brings together distinct ecological conditions and proposes a new spatial order, one in which humans and non-humans coexist in productive tension.
