Ronald Rael was born on 1971, in Conejos County, Colorado. He works independently, and operates collaboratively in the design ventures Emerging Objects, a "make-tank" that develops 3D printed materials, objects, software, hardware, as well as startup companies, and Rael San Fratello, a social practice design based studio with the architect
Virginia San Fratello. In 2020 Rael San Fratello received the prestigious Beazely Award from the London Design Museum and in 2021 the International Award for Art from the Institute for Public Art for their project Teeter Totter Wall. In 2014 Rael San Fratello received the
Emerging Voices award from the
Architectural League of New York. He co-founded FORUST, a 3D printing company that uses sawdust, which was acquired by the 3D printing company Desktop Metal. His collaborative work is in the collection of the
Museum of Modern Art, the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, He was educated at the
University of Colorado Boulder and
Columbia University. Rael is the author of several books including
Borderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the U.S. - Mexico Boundary (University of California Press, 2017),
Printing Architecture: Innovative Recipes for 3D Printing (Princeton Architectural Press, 2018) and
Earth Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press, 2008). His widely viewed TED talk on
Borderwall as Architecture presents a "subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall." ==References==