RAEL SAN FRATELLO ARCHITECTS
RAEL SAN FRATELLO ARCHITECTS
RAEL SAN FRATELLO ARCHITECTS
RAEL SAN FRATELLO ARCHITECTS
RAEL SAN FRATELLO ARCHITECTS

Blog

HEX Curtain

The HEX curtain is designed to open and close automatically in response to natural daylighting conditions. Each row of the HEX  curtain is composed of  hexagonal shaped apertures that are covered by 2 operable shields.

aperture diagram

The 2 shields have the ability to pivot open and closed. The shields are hinged at the bottom and threaded at the top. The top thread connects each shield to the one next to it. At the end of each row a rotary motor pulls the thread and slowly opens or closes the shields in tandem.

micro-controller diagram

The rotary motor is driven by an arduino microcontroller connected to a solar sensor so on a sunny summer day the shields remain closed and on a sunny winter day the sheilds are automatically opened to allow sun to enter the interior and warm the space. The HEX curtain is constructed of laser sintered nylon and is 3D printed in 27” x 22”  panels.

Mar 18, 2012 | Categories: HEX Curtain | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

WAVE Curtain

The WAVE curtain is a passive solar curtain that is designed to admit the low winter sun into the building interior and restrict the direct, intense summer sun in order to help keep the interior cool.

The curtain does this through the use of cylindrical tubes that vary in width and depth along the length of the window. Because the cylindrical tubes are hollow one always has access to exterior views -even when the sun is being blocked – unlike a typical shade or curtain.

solar diagram

The WAVE curtain is 3D printed from a white recyclable thermoplastic.

Mar 18, 2012 | Categories: WAVE Curtain | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

emerging objects

 

www.emergingobjects.com

Rael San Fratello Architects launches emerging objects, a pioneering design and research company that specializes in designing and 3D printing objects for the built environment. Our research and designs focus on the development of innovative 3D printed objects that serve the fields of architecture, interior design, furniture design and product design. Design research will serve as the foundation for this consulting practice with the aim to work with a range of industrial partners, companies, nonprofit foundations and creative practices.

For more information visit: www.emergingobjects.com

Feb 20, 2012 | Categories: Emerging Objects, News | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

l’Arca

The Seat Slug is featured in December issue of l’Arca. The issue is guest edited by Richard Meyer with a focus on texture.

Jan 26, 2012 | Categories: News, Publications, Seat Slug | Leave A Comment »

Moderators of Change

Moderators of Change

The essay, “Designing Local” is featured in the new book Moderators of Change, edited by Andres Lepik.  The book focuses on the socially responsible role of architecture as more and more people around the world live under unacceptable conditions, for instance in slums and shantytowns. Based on twenty projects that have been implemented as well as stances taken by artists from throughout the world, this publication demonstrates how innovative design solutions can transform society.

Publication Information: Moderators of Change Architecture That Helps, Edited by Andres Lepik, essays by Regina Bittner, Carson Chan, Rainer Hehl, Andres Lepik, Ronald Rael, Anne Schmedding, Christian Welzbacher, graphic design by Verena Gerlach. Series: Jahresring No. 58. German/English. 2011. 256 pp., 170 color ills. 17.20 x 24.00 cm. Hardcover. ISBN 978-3-7757-3186-7

Jan 21, 2012 | Categories: News, Publications | Leave A Comment »

Digital Wood: The Bevel Bowl


Bevel Bowl from above

The Bevel Bowl represents a new innovation by Rael San Fratello Architects—3D printed wood! Made from reclaimed and recycled wood and cellulose material, the 3D printed wood has the look and feel of medium density fiberboard wood products, but can take any shape imaginable.

The Bevel Bowl side

The 3D printed wood is water resistant, durable and strong and is part of our continuing line of additive manufacturing experimentation with a focus on materiality, economy and form.

Detail

Project Date: 2011
Project Location: Berkeley, CA
Design Team: Ronald Rael, Virginia San Fratello, Kent Wilson.
Project Information: Technical assistance: Dr. Mark Ganter (Solheim Additive Manufacturing Laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Department on the University of Washington)

Dec 20, 2011 | Categories: Bevel Bowl | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

MARK Magazine

Rael San Fratello are featured in the October/November issue of MARK Magazine.

 

Nov 18, 2011 | Categories: News, Publications | Comments Off

Architecture and Activism at the Contemporary Jewish Museum

Student design activists

Ronald Rael of Rael San Fratello Architects lectured and collaborated with Bay Area high school students on the topic of Architecture and Activism at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. As part of a design charette, students were asked to think of ways that the common bus stop could be transformed to engage an important societal issue.

Bus stops with an agenda

The design solutions were ingenious and dealt with issues of community activism, global warming, homelessness and pollution. Bus stops with community bulletin boards, gardens, recycling centers, were just some of the unique ideas put forward by the teen activist designers.

Oct 13, 2011 | Categories: News | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Straw Gallery

The Straw Gallery. Photo: Matthew Millman

The Straw Gallery was designed for HEDGE Gallery for the 4th annual sf20/21 San Francisco Art and Design Show held at the Festival Pavillion, Fort Mason Center. The temporary gallery was on display from September 15th through 18th opening with a benefit for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s educational programs.

Entrance to the Straw Gallery. Photo: Matthew Millman

The gallery is an aromatic, enveloping, and raw space in contrast to the refined and modern elements that are displayed within. The gallery consists of three unfinished, blackened steel display niches interwoven within the walls of straw bales. Each niche is an excavation that is filled with HEDGE’s highly edited visions of 20th and 21st century design, art and craft, presented at different levels relative to the eye and the hand of the visitor.

Stacking diagrams

Interior. Photo: Matthew Millman

Folded metal shelves

The juxtaposition of the two materials, steel and straw—one industrial and the other representing a storied agrarian history—heightens the tactile sensibilities as one navigates between the richness of the hay and the clean surfaces of the steel compartments. Straw is an incredibly effective acoustic buffer and the walls are in most places two bales thick and placed strategically to block views to the exterior as you enter the space.  The experience within Straw Gallery is one of quiet, calm and focused observation in contrast to a busy exterior.

Elevation in context of SF20/21. Photo: Matthew Millman

The several hundred wheat straw bales, an agricultural by-product used for bedding, roughage and fuel, used to construct the gallery were returned to the feed store. The steel shelves were recycled and will be used to construct furniture and shelving in San Francisco.

Detail. Photography: Matthew Millman

Project Date: 2011
Project Location: San Francisco, CA
Design Team: Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello.
Project Information: Photography: Matthew Millman Photography, Straw: Concord Feed, Metal Fabrication: Hicks Metal. Client: HEDGE Gallery, Press: “The star of the night was undoubtably Hedge Gallery, who enlisted Rael San Fratello Architects from Oakland to design and fabricate a booth out of hay bales and blackened steel“, ”a jaw-dropping, don’t-miss hay and steel space“, “the elevated environment was Hedge Gallery’s hit of a hay-bale box smack dab in the center of the hall“, “Party Central, once again, was Hedge Gallery, where owners Roth Martin and designer Steven Volpe created a one-of-a-kind straw bale salon“ ]

 

Sep 30, 2011 | Categories: Straw Gallery | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments »

Monterey Design Conference

Praised as the most prestigious and best attended architectural design conference in the United States, the Monterey Design Conference was founded in 1979.  Held in Pacific Grove at the historic Asilomar Conference Grounds, past attendees of this prestigious design conference include such starchitect names as Rem Koolhaas.

This year’s speakers include Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello of Rael San Fratello Architects, MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, Tom Kundig, Michael Maltzan, David Salmela, Brigitte Shim, Borja Ferrater, Andrew Kudless, Johnston MarkLee and Peter Walker.

Sep 15, 2011 | Categories: News | Leave A Comment »