2006
Starch and plaster, binder and
flexible epoxy infiltrant (white),
3D print (Z-printing)
64 x 23 x 21 cm, grey pedestal (12 x 32 x 28 cm)

‘Synthetic Syncretism’ is based upon the hybrid Cuban Santeria religion—a mixture between Catholicism, African Yoruba tribe beliefs and Sakralraum with animal sacrifices.

The project is a  ceremonial processional funerary route through the city. Slotted inside an existing cross-shaped courtyard, the inverted ‘Chapel of Our Lady de Regla’ acts as an architectural, ritual, and cultural highlight.

Its formal and structural expression is provided by a series of designed Santerian relics held inside the Sacristy—skeleteral and visceral utensils, 3D-modeled and 3D-printed in order to perfectly fit 3D-scanned animal bones.

With a plethora of means of representations not available to the analogue practice, the work provides an impeccable example of syncretism of contemporary CAD techniques and CAD/CAM technologies with historical architectural references, site-specific design narratives, and intuitive non-linear design processes.

Although digitally driven, it does not succumb to the pervasiveness of parametric protocols. His portfolio is more than the display of extraordinary 3D modeling and rendering skills, it is a virtuoso performance of patience, precision, and tremendous creativity that re-enacts a challenging architectural conversation on ritualistic objects, pre-Modern typologies, and religious ornaments.