(“Text as submitted by architect”)
Carolina Rodas
Architect, Cofounder of Rama studio and Torno Co. Lab., collaborative platform. Master in city and housing by the Polytechnic University of Madrid, master in collective housing MCH, and architect by the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. Professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, and guest lecturer at Indo-American University of Ambato. Academic coordinator of the Pan-American Biennale of Architecture of Quito (2012). Speaker at TEDx Cuenca 2016. Collaborator in architecture studios in Taiwan and Colombia. Coordinator of the International University Competition CIU HABITAT, in the framework of HABITAT III.
Carla Chávez
Architect by the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. Laboratory master in sustainable housing by the Polytechnic University of Barcelona. Cofounder of Rama studio and Torno Co. Lab., collaborative platform. Winner of the first mention in urbanism at the Pan-American Biennial of Architecture of Quito 2010. Collaborator in architecture studios in Spain and Colombia. She has lectured and given workshops at several universities in Ecuador.
Felipe Donoso
Architect, Cofounder of Rama studio and Torno Co. Lab., collaborative platform. Master in sustainable product design, innovation, and management by the European Institute of Design in Barcelona. Architect by the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, and currently professor and researcher at the same university. Part of the 2017-2018 directory of the College of Architects of Ecuador – Pichincha Province (CAE-P). Coordinator of the Center for Architectural Studies (CEA) from CAE-P. Collaborator in the Nadine Meisel studio (Germany – 2013). Speaker at TEDx Cuenca 2016. He has lectured and given workshops at several universities in Ecuador.
Practice Ideology
Rama Estudio is an architecture studio, design, and construction that focuses on the optimization of resources through experimentation. This group is interested in processes that strengthen the design and production with coherence to the needs, the place, its memory, and the environment. Scales of work, which range from the territory to the object, are related to achieve an integral vision that objectively responds to social, cultural, and spatial issues. The studio has been invited to give lectures and workshops in different universities of Ecuador and has been awarded with the first national award in the Pan-American Biennial of Architecture of Quito (2014), in the category of rehabilitation and recycling. Our work has been published in different magazines and digital platforms, worldwide. Also, the studio has been selected nationally for the Ibero-American Biennial (BIAU), and as national representatives for the Biennial of Navarre – Spain. Most of Rama Estudio works are linked to architectural pieces in disuse or change of use. Also, we see great potential in what is already done and that through time has taken a different way and deserves being reformed because we are interested in using what is already and adapting to the present time, to new users or needs. A less invasive architecture that doesn’t start from scratch; with this vision, we have directed our response to spatial, social, and environmental problems. Each project has different priorities but has the same basis: OPTIMIZING resources. Starting from this idea, we have developed different constructive and furniture systems.
