Bale Tale

Ronald Rael hails from a ranch in Colorado, while Virginia San Fratello grew up on a tree farm in North Carolina. Both those places are a long way from Rael San Fratello Architects's studio in Oakland, California. That said, the couple have never lost their roots

Edie Cohen -- Interior Design, 3/1/2012 2:00:00 AM

Ronald Rael hails from a ranch in Colorado, while Virginia San Fratello grew up on a tree farm in North Carolina. Both those places are a long way from Rael San Fratello Architects's studio in Oakland, California. That said, the couple have never lost their roots. "We made several attempts to design a building constructed of bales of straw-but only on our computer screens," San Fratello says. Virtual turned into reality when the firm was tapped by the appropriately countrified-sounding Hedge Gallery to build its stand at the annual SF 20/21: San Francisco Art and Design Show & Sale.

To enclose Hedge's 576-square-foot stand in solid straw, Rael and San Fratello stacked 204 bales into four walls, tied together with rebar. They were detailed by lintels, window frames, display niches, and shelves in hot-rolled steel, an industrial contrast to the otherwise agrarian vibe. Other contrasts came from the existing floor and the ceiling, in aluminum mesh framed by painted Douglas fir two-by-sixes. "The mesh is another humble material, but it's reflective when the light hits it," Rael adds.

After the four-day fair ended and Hedge's contemporary furniture, ceramics, and glass returned to the gallery in Jackson Square, the straw bales had the opportunity to demonstrate their ultimate asset: Tactile and acoustical properties aside, straw is 100 percent recyclable. The feed store where the bales were purchased retrieved them, and they're now bedding for animals

Photography by Matthew Millman.