Research Expertise and Interest

3D printed buildings, additive manufacturing, earth architecture, mud, artificial intelligence, U.S.-Mexico border wall, arid landscapes, ranching, acequias, alipne deserts, ceramics, rural architecture, ruralism, animation, digital modeling, furry buildings, unnatural materials, rasquachetecture

Research Description

The creative endeavors of Ronald Rael blur the borders between architecture, art, technology, land-based practices, and social justice. He writes books, forms startup companies, advocates for human rights at the U.S.–Mexico border, creates software, invents novel materials and new forms of construction, and designs buildings as an applied research enterprise. His studio is known globally for the project, Teeter Totter Wall, a forty-minute guerilla event that took place on both sides of the U.S. – Mexico Borderwall to bring families and communities together. He co-founded the startup company, FORUST, which rematerializes wood waste via 3D Printing to produce beautiful end-use products and has innovated the processes for the robotic construction of raw earthen buildings.  His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, The London Design Museum, LACMA, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Renwick Smithsonian American Art Museum. He is the Chair of the Department of Art Practice and Eval Li Memorial Chair in Architecture at the University of California Berkeley.