Craftsmanship carries the traces of those who shaped it, revealing how materials respond to different techniques and even offering clues about the tools used to create them. Within the architectural experience, however, craftsmanship can be expressed not only through materials and structures but also through space itself. Seeking to deepen and learn from the connections between design and execution, amass studio has explored the translation of informal, everyday construction methods into spatial systems across several of its projects. By integrating mechanisms, materials, structures, and furniture, the studio creates new spatial narratives in which the dialogue between the handcrafted and the industrial becomes mutually reinforcing. Beyond craftsmanship itself, then, why not make visible the processes that bring it into being?

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Videos

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Founded in Quito in 2017 by Martín Real and Florencia Sobrero, Taller General works across housing, rehabilitation, exhibitions, and community projects. What ties them together is less a type of building than a way of building: architects, builders, craftspeople, students, organizations, and communities move in and out of the process, and each project takes shape from whatever is already there.

This approach grew from direct experience with construction. Before Taller General was formally established, Real and Sobrero became involved with Actuemos Ecuador, one of the civil society initiatives formed in response to the earthquake that affected Ecuador's coast in 2016. Working within the realities of building connected architectural decisions to materials, budgets, available labor, and local knowledge, this established a relationship with construction that has remained central to the practice.

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For years, advances in architectural visualization have been measured by image quality. Physically accurate lighting, sophisticated material systems, and real-time rendering have made photorealistic imagery an industry expectation. Yet architectural practice has evolved in a different direction.

Today, clients, consultants, engineers, and design teams contribute earlier and more frequently throughout the design process. Design reviews no longer simply present decisions. They increasingly become part of how those decisions are made.

German filmmaker Wim Wenders is set to present "From Inside Out – The Architecture of Peter Zumthor," a new documentary examining the work and architectural approach of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor. Running for 114 minutes, the film uses 3D cinematography to document Zumthor's buildings through the perspectives of visitors, users, inhabitants, and craftspeople. The documentary will have its world premiere in September 2026 as part of the Venice International Film Festival's Venice Open – Out of Competition program.

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On Monday, 10 August 2026, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia's Pacific and Caribbean coasts. While the seismic event lightly affected the southern border of Panama and the northern border of Ecuador, Colombia has declared a national state of emergency. The earthquake has caused 111 deaths according to official reports, with the toll expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue. According to the Servicio Geológico Colombiano (SGC), the epicentre was located 96 kilometres beneath the surface near San José del Palmar, a rural area in the northwest of the Chocó province. Infrastructure damage extends to densely populated cities including Cali, Pereira, Manizales, and Armenia, affecting an area with a population of about 3.5 million people. This seismic event follows four others that occurred less than two months ago in Japan, the United States, and Venezuela, adding to reconstruction efforts already underway worldwide.

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In 2021, a collaboration between the Italian architecture studio Mario Cucinella Architects and WASP, an Italian 3D-printing company, led to the development of TECLA: a house 3D-printed entirely from raw earth. Five years later, the technology behind it has grown, quietly spreading across several continents and design practices. By controlling the speed, angle, and path of the extruder nozzle, architects are able to create more than just walls. Throughout the years, they have been experimenting with how to shape the 3D-printed material into detailed surface motifs, reintroducing relief, texture, and intricate patterns directly into the structure. In this way, they are attempting to bridge earth-building traditions with digital computation, in an era where code is starting to influence form and material expression in architecture.

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