Negotiating with the Environment

Emerging Objects' ONEder Grant research, Under Fire, transforms two of California's defining climate threats, wildfire and extreme heat, into building materials that remember rather than destroy. Co-founders Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello share with us how they 3D-printed wildfire ash from California fires into a 22-foot tapestry, and how a foot-thick earthen pump house in the Colorado high desert holds a steady interior temperature through weather extremes with no mechanical heating. Together they explore the alchemy of turning ash into printable filament, the cultural memory embedded in earthen building, and why good design research has to leave room for failure along the way. Listen in for an overview of Emerging Objects’ research for architects, designers, and anyone curious about building for a climate-impacted future.