Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)Yerba Buena Gardens, SoMa

Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations

Now showing25 September 2026 – 31 January 2027$10

Mid-career survey of the Oakland design studio, from the Teeter-Totter Wall on the US-Mexico border to 3D-printed earth architecture, including Sanctuary, printed onsite from soil.

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On now All of October 2026

Bright pink seesaws were installed along the US-Mexico border wall so that people on either side could ride up and down against each other. That is the Teeter-Totter Wall from 2019, the best-known work in this survey of the Oakland studio Rael San Fratello, and it sets the tone: architecture used as a prank with a point.

The show is in Gallery 2. The newest piece is Sanctuary, a cylinder 3D printed onsite from soil, straw and water, with earthen walls set with glass solar rods salvaged from the bankrupt manufacturer Solyndra. Elsewhere there are models, structures and films, inflatable Tyvek coats designed as temporary shelter, and a long table of printed objects made from salt, chardonnay grape skins, coffee grounds, clay, sawdust and ash from California wildfires. The coffee-ground ones are what your morning flat white leaves in the bin.

Galleries are open Wednesday 11am to 8pm and Thursday to Sunday 11am to 5pm, closed Monday and Tuesday. Wednesdays are free for everyone, and tickets are sold onsite only.

Editor's pick

A mid-career survey of the Oakland design studio, from the Teeter-Totter Wall on the US-Mexico border to 3D-printed earth architecture, including Sanctuary, printed onsite from soil.

Look for

Sanctuary
A cylindrical structure printed onsite from soil, straw and water, with solar rods from the bankrupt Solyndra set into its earthen walls.
Teeter-Totter Wall
Bright pink seesaws installed along the border wall, which let people in the US and Mexico play together across it.
The printed-object table
A large table of 3D printed objects in salt, grape skins, coffee grounds, clay, sawdust and wildfire ash.
The Workshop
A structure with a roof made from repurposed broom heads and undulating walls wrapped in biodegradable thermoplastic.
Tyvek shelter coats
Inflatable coats designed for temporary shelter, shown alongside open-source protest posters.