Inhabiting the Process: Techniques, Craft, and Community: RAMA estudio

Inhabiting the Process: Techniques, Craft, and Community

This lecture presents how RAMA estudio understands architecture as a living process; one that is inhabited, adjusted, and built in dialogue with time, territory, and the people involved. Inhabiting the process, means activating preexistences, learning by doing, observing everyday use, and allowing the work to evolve. This vision intertwines with a technified vernacular practice that recovers techniques such as rammed earth, bahareque, bamboo, toquilla and wood, integrating local craftsmanship and proximal resources. The approach emphasizes sustainable strategies that reduce environmental impact and strengthen community bonds, shaping an architecture that is human, adaptable, and deeply coherent with its context.

About RAMA estudio

RAMA estudio is an architecture, design, and construction practice based in Quito, founded by Carla Chávez, Carolina Rodas, and Felipe Donoso. Their work approaches architecture as an act of responsibility toward the environment, the community, and local heritage. Internationally recognized, they have received the Holcim Award 2023 and the Ammodo Architecture Award for Social Engagement 2024. RAMA Estudio has been nominated for the Swiss Architecture Award 2022, the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2024, and was a finalist for the Divia Award 2025. Their practice prioritizes social impact, sustainability, and the value of preexistence, focusing on real needs over formal aesthetics. With a team composed of 70% women, RAMA is committed to equity, empowerment, and transformative design.