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Ronald Rael: Glass Scaffold

December 2022 – December 2023

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Glass Scaffold by Ron Rael, composed of clear glass rods connected together in a scaffold-like structure, installed in the Albuquerque Museum's East Atrium.

Ronald Rael, Glass Scaffold (detail), 2022, glass rods, 3-D printed couplings, lent by the artist. Special thanks to Elliot Surber, Studio Assistant.

Glass Scaffold by Ron Rael, composed of clear glass rods connected together in a scaffold-like structure, installed in the Albuquerque Museum's East Atrium.

Glass Scaffold

Glass Scaffold by Ron Rael, composed of clear glass rods connected together in a scaffold-like structure, installed in the Albuquerque Museum's East Atrium.

Glass Scaffold

Detail of Glass Scaffold by Ron Rael, composed of clear glass rods connected together in a scaffold-like structure, installed in the Albuquerque Museum's East Atrium.

Glass Scaffold (detail)

Albuquerque Museum’s Visiting Artist program is generously funded by the Frederick Hammersley Fund for the Arts at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

Glass Scaffold was constructed of nearly 500 glass rods salvaged from Solyndra, a start-up company that failed in 2011 because they were not able to compete with conventional solar technology. Solyndra designed, manufactured, and sold solar photovoltaic systems made of racks of cylindrical tubes which the designers claimed absorbed energy from any direction.

Ronald Rael salvaged and repurposed nearly 500 of these glass tubes for this installation. The tubes were held together with 3D-printed components. While the installation referenced the Solyndra debacle—an example of how even the most supported organizations can collapse, the structure also referenced social and economic inequality.

According to Rael, “Glass ceilings are those invisible barriers that minorities, people of color, and women experience when discrimination prevents them from rising in the hierarchies of their organization. The scaffolding in place that elevates and supports these groups is often equally as invisible and extremely fragile and precarious, often collapsing from under them.” 

A headshot of the artist Ronald Rael, who has short, dark-colored, curly hair and wears a brown collared shirt.

Photo: Elliot Ross

About the Artist

Ronald Rael (born 1971 Conejos County, Colorado; lives Berkeley, California) is a designer, architectural researcher, author, entrepreneur, and thought leader in the fields of additive manufacturing and earthen architecture. He is the author of Borderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the U.S.-Mexico Boundary (2017). Rael San Fratello, the studio he co-founded with architect Virginia San Fratello, was named a 2014 Emerging Voice by The Architectural League of New York—one of the most coveted awards in North American architecture.

In 2019, Rael San Fratello (along with Colectivo Chopeke) installed Teeter-Totter, three pink see-saws on the US-Mexico border, named 2020 Design of the Year.

Ronald Rael's Website