The American building tradition is deeply rooted in resourcefulness, producing a wide range of architectural typologies shaped by climate, material availability, and local culture. Examples such as the tobacco sheds of the Connecticut River Valley, the cantilever barns of East Tennessee, Florida Cracker Houses, Dogtrot houses, and Shotgun houses demonstrate how vernacular construction embodies community through craft. These structures reveal the energetic and environmental potentials of their regions while fostering enduring social and economic resilience through their connection to people and place.

Created for the 2025 La Biennale di Venezia U.S. Pavilion exhibition, PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity, the installation MASS Haptic reflects the core architectural values of Atelier Mey. Originally conceived as 074-9 MASS Haptic for the University of Florida campus, the project functions as a communal gathering space at the center of campus life. The structure provides shade, shelter, orientation, and a setting for shared experience, while simultaneously operating as a spatial and cultural marker.

MASS Haptic establishes a dialogue between the act of building and its broader territorial implications. Embedded within the structure is a narrative shaped by material origin, craft, labor, and collective knowledge. Both the pavilion and exhibition invite visitors to engage with the relationship between construction and the larger systems that inform it, including territory, energetics, environment, and economy.

Visitors to the U.S. Pavilion were encouraged to touch and interact with the installation’s varied surfaces as they transition from milled timber to crafted architectural assemblies. These tactile expressions reinterpret patterned façades and material languages central to Atelier Mey’s work. The installation promotes inquiry and reflection, presenting a layered narrative that traces the connection between forest, material, craft, and building within the context of American architecture.