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Virginia San Fratello

@vasfsf

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National Design Award Winner, Architect, designer, creative technologist and partner at #raelsanfratello @emergingobjects, Chair of Design @sjsu.

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Happy Birthday Mattias! by @vasfsf

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6 days ago

🌾 Die Zukunft ist aus Lehm
Am Freitagabend haben wir in der Kugelhalle „Mud y Máquina“ eröffnet, das künstlerische Forschungsprojekt von Virginia San Fratello @vasfsf mit dem Sonderforschungsbereich TRR 277 AMC @amc_trr277 und Studierenden der TU München @digitalfabrication.tum , der TU Braunschweig @tu.braunschweig und aus Hannover.
Entstanden ist eine geschwungene Wand aus Weidengeflecht. Ein Roboterarm hat den Lehm in einem Waffelmuster aufgesprüht, das von Hand nicht möglich wäre. Dazu kommen Maisblätter vom Feld gleich nebenan. Drinnen riecht und klingt es anders: ein Raum für alle Sinne.
💬 Virginia San Fratello ist überzeugt, dass die Gebäude der Zukunft aus Lehm gebaut werden und robotisch gesprühtes Lehmflechtwerk in 30 Jahren ganz normal sein könnte.
Wir gratulieren der Künstlerin und dem wunderbaren Team von Wissenschaftlern:innen und Studenten:innen!

🙏 Danke an Christoph Rabl @rablchristoph Stadtrat in Landshut und Vorstandsmitglied der Fritz-und-Maria-Koenig-Stiftung, an Bürgermeister Sebastian Stanglmaier @sebastianstanglmaier und Prof. David Andreen (Universität Lund) @david.andreen für ihre Grußworte.

👀 Es geht weiter: Noch im Oktober folgt unser nächstes Projekt mit der TU München, diesmal rund um Keramik.

✨ Morgen, Sonntag, 11. Oktober, ist „Mud y Máquina“ beim Tag des offenen Ateliers von 13 bis 18 Uhr zu sehen. Eintritt frei

📍 Künstlerhaus Ganslberg, Ganslberg 24, 84032 Altdorf

Fot. Hannes Eichler & Milena Pospischil für AMC TRR 277
#künstlerhausganslberg #mudymaquina #fritzkoenig #lehmbau taken in Ganslberg, Bayern, Germany by @vasfsf

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7 days ago

Coffee grounds, grape skins, wildfire ash… and architecture? 👀

At first glance, ‘Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations’ is full of unexpected materials and playful experiments. But look a little closer, and there’s a lot more going on: questions about sustainability, borders, and how design can bring people together.

The exhibition explores more than two decades of work by Oakland-based architecture and design studio Rael San Fratello, including ‘Sanctuary,’ a 3D-printed structure made from soil, straw, and water, and the iconic ‘Teeter-totter Wall.’

📍 @ybca 701 Mission Street, San Francisco
📅 On view through January 31, 2027
🎟️ Free admission Wednesdays, 11 a.m.–8 p.m.
🕒 Thursday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

@rrael & @vasfsf

Save this for your next San Francisco museum day!

#ybca #sfthingstodo #artandarchitecture #artexhibition #sanfranciscoart taken in Yerba Buena Center for the Arts by @vasfsf

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8 days ago

🍂 There’s a lot to see and do at YBCA this fall!

🖼️ Don’t miss our newest exhibitions: Hyperallergic says “Dread Scott: The Body Politic” is one of the 10 shows to see this season in SF, and Dezeen praises the ‘radical imagination’ of “Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations.”

🧑‍🎨 Creativity Explored is still in residence, offering free hands-on art making in our gallery building at 701 Mission. Come by between 11 am and 2pm on Wednesdays and Fridays to make work alongside their wonderful artists—and there’s a stunning selection of art on display for purchase.

🖌️ Every Wednesday, our Free Art Workshops offer another chance to make something of your own. And Wednesdays are a great day to linger a little longer! We’re open until 8 PM with free admission all day.

Make YBCA part of your fall in San Francisco.

Photos by Matthew Millman, Corey Marsau, and Mahelly Ferreira for Drew Altizer Photography. A contemporary art exhibition at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts features work by architecture and design studio Rael San Fratello. The art includes "The Workshop," a small house structure with a textured roof and walls decorated with square elements. Nearby, a large yellow artwork with the word "REUNITE" and silhouetted figures is displayed on the wall. In the foreground, a white table contains various 3D-printed pieces. The gallery space has a modern, minimalist design with high ceilings and natural light. taken in Yerba Buena Center for the Arts by @vasfsf

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11 days ago

Commissioned by YBCA, Sanctuary continues Rael San Fratello’s research into the possibilities of 3D-printed earth construction. Built on-site from locally sourced soil, the structure creates a contemplative environment while demonstrating a lower-impact approach to architectural production. Glass solar rods, recovered from the 2011 collapse of Bay Area manufacturer Solyndra, are embedded throughout the walls, connecting the work to the complicated history of federally supported green technology. By bringing robotic fabrication into dialogue with long-standing earthen building practices, the project proposes a future in which technological progress is strengthened by, rather than separated from, inherited knowledge.

3D-printed soil, Solyndra glass rods, plywood, mirrored inflatable

Project team: Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello with Logman Arja, Yoni Asega, Dorothy Dávila, David Prigge, David Tim, and O Soo Vegh

Photographs by: @matthewmillmanphoto

@ybca @vasfsf by @vasfsf

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12 days ago

Commissioned by YBCA, The Workshop functions both as a practical space for making and as a vision of a future shaped by sustainable abundance. Its exterior is covered in wavelike tiles produced on desktop 3D printers using polylactic acid (PLA), a bioplastic derived from renewable materials such as cornstarch, sugarcane, and tapioca. Designed to support small succulents, the tiles transform the building’s walls into a vertical garden.

The roof incorporates recycled Korean broomcorn brooms from Swept Away, a previous project presented in Seoul as part of the Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism. By bringing these domestic tools into the creative workspace, the installation highlights the connections between labor, care, and making.

The Workshop, 2026
Photos: @matthewmillmanphoto
@ybca @vasfsf

Materials: 3D-printed bioplastic, broomcorn, wood, lumber, 3D printer, 3D-printed objects, and tools

Project team: Virginia San Fratello + Ronald Rael, with Yoni Asega, Dorothy Dávila, David Prigge, David Tim, and O Soo Vegh by @vasfsf

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14 days ago

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for the opening of “Dread Scott: The Body Politic” and “Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations.” We loved seeing the galleries filled with conversation and curiosity—and now’s your chance to take a close look at these shows.

See the work this week during normal gallery hours: Wed 11am–8pm (with free admission all day), or Thu through Sun 11am–5pm.

Or see the exhibitions during the Nexus Party, co-presented by MoAD & YBCA this Thursday night.

Photos by Mahelly Ferreira for Drew Altizer Photography. Ronald Rael, Rene Morales, Mari Robles, Dread Scott, and Virginia San Fratello smile at the camera for a group photo inside the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts lobby at night. The lighting behind them is bright pink and yellow. taken in Yerba Buena Center for the Arts by @vasfsf

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19 days ago

Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations at YBCA @ybca curated by René Morales @renebot2 brings together over 20 years of creative work by Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello.

The exhibition focuses on borders, play, curiosity, and experimentation.

Special thanks to the entire YBCA staff who unboxed a lifetime of work with care, who helped us build two new building onsite and made this ambitious exhibition possible.

So much of the research in the show was made possible by San Jose State University @sjsudesign and @sjsu.ha and the University of California, Berkeley. We have also had an incredible team of students from both universities supporting us over the years. We are especially thankful to @logmanarja from @clayponic, who came out to help us 3D print Sanctuary.

It was also an honor to open alongside @dreadscottart and his powerful exhibition, Dread Scott: The Body Politic.

@rrael #raelsanfratello @emergingobjects taken in Ybca by @vasfsf

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19 days ago

Among the works visitors can see in “Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations” is the “Teeter-totter Wall.”

In 2019, Virginia San Fratello and Ronald Rael slid three bright pink teeter-totters through the slats of the border wall near Puerto de Anapra. Within minutes, kids and adults from both sides of the wall began to ride the teeter-totters. The project underscored the delicate balance between Mexico and the U.S., normally a site of violence and oppression. Rael reflected on how the border wall had been transformed:

“We thought that this would be a moment to show to the world a very important reality of the border, which is that the border isn’t a desolate place where no one lives. This is a world where women live and children live, and that we can use play as a kind of vehicle for activism.”

See artifacts, documentation, and the teeter-totter itself on opening night Fri. 9/25 from 6–9pm.

Rael San Fratello, “Teeter-totter Wall,” 2019. Photos and videos courtesy of the artists. by @vasfsf

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25 days ago

Opening Sep 25: explore the fascinating work of Rael San Fratello, where cutting-edge technology meets traditional building techniques.

A centerpiece of “Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations” is “Sanctuary,” a new large-scale commission 3D-printed onsite in our gallery using soil and water. The cylindrical structure offers a quiet space for reflection while demonstrating the studio’s innovative approach to ecologically-sound building.

“Sanctuary” expands on techniques developed in the 2019 project “Mud Frontiers.” Bringing together ancestral adobe construction techniques rooted in Puebloan and Indo-Hispano traditions with large-scale 3D printing, Rael San Fratello created structures from locally sourced sand, silt, clay, straw, and water—essentially printing architecture directly from the landscape.

These practices are being explored further with “Sanctuary.” Be among the first to see the completed work on opening night Fri. 9/25 from 6–9pm.

Rael San Fratello, “Mud Frontiers," 2019. Photos courtesy of the artists. taken in Yerba Buena Center for the Arts by @vasfsf

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a month ago

3D printing Sanctuary at @ybca. Mud and glass. by @vasfsf

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a month ago