Mailītis was included on the list for his design of the Shaolin Flying Monks Theatre in China, a structure resting on a slope covered in cypress trees on Songshan Mountain in China. It features a wind tunnel allowing monks to levitate. The making of the project is a subject of a Latvia-made documentary.
The prize-winning project was designed by a team of architects including Valters Murāns, Ints Menģelis, Kārlis Melzobs, Dina Suhanova, Andra Odumāne, and Jekaterina Olonkina.
Born in 1984, Mailītis heads an eponymous architecture firm and has authored several nationally important projects, including the Latvian pavilions at the Venice Art Biennale. The recipient of Latvia's national architecture award in 2017, his office is currently working on the reconstruction of the Open-air Stage in Mežaparks.
Europe 40 Under 40 is an annual awards program that celebrates the next new talented generation of European architects. The program is directed to support new and emerging design talent that will influence the near future of European architectural design, thinking, and theory with the direct consequence of impacting future environments and future European and international cities.
