1 - The freshly cut banyan tree prior to mold making.

2 - The tree must first be prepared to make it suitable for the mold making process.

3 - Preparation includes stripping residual bark, sanding and cleaning the surface.

4 - Deep undercuts and gaps are filled to make the mold making process easier. Care is taken to ensure the original shape is preserved. Filling in gaps and undercuts helps prevent a mechanical lock between the original and the rigid support shell.

5 - Once the tree has been cleaned and the gaps filled, Smooth-On's Super Seal® is applied to fill in pores and prevent possible cure inhibition of the Rebound® 25.

6 - 4 layers of Rebound® 25 are brushed on until a mold thickness of 3/8' (1cm) is achieved.

7 - Rebound® 25 is allowed to fully cure. A fiberglass and resin support shell is then created.

8 - Demold: Once the support shell has fully cured it can be removed followed by the Rebound® 25 mold.

9 - Rebound® 25 silicone is flexible and strong enough to be pulled away from the original without tearing. The Rebound® 25 mold reflects perfect detail captured from the surface of the original banyan tree.

10 - The flexible rubber mold is then seated in the rigid support shell.

11 - The Rebound® 25 mold is seated and ready for casting

12 - GFRC casting is done in layers. First, an initial spray coat of concrete is applied to the rubber mold.

13 - Glass fiber is chopped and applied into the mold behind the initial layer of spray concrete.

14 - Glass fibers will make the finished thin-walled castings extremely strong.

15 - Additional layers of concrete and glass fibers are applied until the desired thickness is reached.

16 - Concrete castings are allowed to cure. They can then be removed from the Rebound® 25 molds and prepared for installation.

17 - The GFRC column halves are joined around a structural support column using more GFRC to eliminate seams. Post-finishing and painting is done on site.

18 - Finished and painted castings look exactly like the original banyan trees, giving a truly organic feel to the Condominios Quadra Alea in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

19 - The key to creating realistic castings of the banyan tree is to capture and reproduce the smallest detail. Rebound® 25 silicone rubber perfectly reproduces even the smallest wood grain from the original.

20 - The Rebound® 25 mold can be used many times for production casting of these architectural elements.

21 - The Rebound® 25 mold can be used many times for production casting of these architectural elements.