A desert installation powered by sun, mud, and memory
What if homes were grown, not built? What if the future of shelter lies in the earth beneath our feet and the sun above our heads?
In the Coachella Valley, where palm oases bloom from desert aquifers, Adobe Oasis reimagines architecture from the ground up. Architect and activist, Ronald Rael, brings ancestral knowledge into dialogue with artificial intelligence. The installation, part of Desert X 2025, was formed entirely from clay-rich earth and printed layer by layer by a custom 3D printer. To make this possible, we prototyped a 480V off-grid solar-powered energy system capable of running the robot autonomously, without generators or grids.
WHY IT MATTERS
Responsible for nearly 40% of global emissions, modern architecture is resource-intensive, extractive, and often toxic. Adobe Oasis is one of the first known instances of an earthen structure being fabricated with sunlight as its sole energy source–printing shelter directly from the earth and the sky.
In this project, we proved that it’s possible to generate clean, high-voltage, industrial-grade power from solar alone. Combined with Rael’s adobe-based building techniques, it’s a zero-emissions construction prototype that has implications far beyond art.
This same approach could be adapted to:
Remote mining operations
Off-grid base camps
Post-disaster shelters
Mobile housing in climate-stressed regions
WHAT WE BUILT
A fully off-grid solar and battery system delivering 480V of clean, quiet power–no concrete, rebar, or emissions–to support Rael’s proof-of-concept for regenerative construction.
Together, the technology and material form a closed-loop, leave-no-trace system.
The future of building is regenerative
Art often gets labeled as abstract or esoteric, but Adobe Oasis is a proof-of-concept for the future of housing. Both our team and Rael’s are prototyping new technological applications for sustainability through the catalyst of art.
Rael’s work is built on ancestral knowledge, enhanced by modern technology, and powered by the sun. Printed with precision robotics, adobe becomes both timeless and futuristic. This is architecture as both climate action and as cultural remembrance, and Adobe Oasis is both an artistic endeavor and a research initiative.
Project powered by the sun via SOLARPUNKS. Originally commissioned by Desert X 2025.
Art can move us forward. This is just the beginning. Your support helps us continue:
Developing high-voltage solar prototypes for field use
Scaling regenerative construction tools for broader application
Bridging art, technology, and sustainability through real-world deployments
