--- title: "Alexander Frings · Design, engineering and AI · APEX OS" description: "Alexander Frings, design engineer and AI researcher in Santiago: installations, applied AI and computational design. Projects, services and contact." image: "https://apexdesign.cl/og/apex.jpg" url: "https://apexdesign.cl/en" lang: en content-signal: "search=yes, ai-input=yes, ai-train=no" --- # Alexander Frings: design, engineering and AI Alexander Frings is a Design Engineer with an MSc in Innovation and Design and an AI researcher at CRTIC, pronounced "critic": the Center for Technological Revolution in Creative Industries. Based in Santiago, Chile. A designer who thinks with technology. Native Spanish. Fluent English. Japanese N5. APEX OS is the portfolio in the shape of an operating system: design, engineering and AI. Explore the work as if it were a computer. ## Featured projects - [Romeo & Juliet Flowers: Teatro Municipal](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/flores-romeo-julieta) (2025): Interactive wall at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago for the Clásica No Convencional gala. A laser tracker detects the visitor's silhouette and transforms it in real time with generative AI into a field of flowers, the visual metaphor for Romeo and Juliet, performed that evening in ballet and orchestra. - [StarMatch: Networking Data Art](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/starmatch) (2025): Data art and B2B networking installation designed for events. It transforms the attendee list into an interactive 3D galaxy: each person is a star. When someone activates theirs, the installation shows them in real time their top 3 matches at the event, looking for real complementarity (founder with investor) rather than same-sector similarity. Three versions of one product: the installation (Fintech 2026, 3,045 attendees), the tool in the attendee's phone (SmartCity Expo, 6,350 people, in production) and the version that complies with Chile's personal-data law 21.719, in design. - [Smart Expense Agent](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/agente-rendiciones) (2024): AI agent connected to WhatsApp to receive and process photos of financial documents. Computer vision + NLP to extract data, detect anomalies and structure into a corporate database. - [Metamorphosis](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/metamorfosis) (2024): Generative art installation for the CRTIC Lab. A digital mirror that transforms the visitor's identity into permanent mutation, exploring the paradox between persistence and change. Real-time open source generative AI. ## All projects by Alexander Frings - [ActiveUnlock: Exergaming](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/activeunlock) (2026, Applied AI): CRTIC research and prototype on body-tracked physical play to increase active breaks at work. Using MediaPipe as the computer-vision engine, it proposes a background app that, with a couple of… - [CRTIC-Chat](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/crtic-chat) (2026, Applied AI): CRTIC's own conversational assistant built on nanochat, Andrej Karpathy's small open language model. It is fine-tuned on a synthetic dataset that represents the centre's identity (culture, tone… - [Digital Signage with Audience AI](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/digital-signage) (2026, Applied AI): Digital signage that reacts to who is looking at it. On the screen's own hardware, a vision model estimates presence, attention (where the person is looking) and audience profile, and a rules engine… - [La Vega: An Isometric Map of the Market](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/la-vega) (2026, Software and tools): Santiago's Mercado La Vega Central as an interactive isometric map: you fly over it, click a stall and get its name, trade, typical produce and hours. The 555 stalls are generated procedurally and… - [Oráculo: A Digital Twin of Chile](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/oraculo) (2026, Applied AI): A multi-agent simulation engine to support decisions at CRTIC. From real Chilean signals it builds a knowledge graph, generates dozens of synthetic people and has them debate in a social simulation… - [PortugalEdge: Live Detection by Distillation](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/portugaledge) (2026, Applied AI): Detect, live and at over 30 frames per second, only the Portugal players in a match. A large vision-language model, slow but able to understand “the ones in red shirts”, acts as the teacher: it… - [VOLT.EXIF](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/volt-exif) (2026, Software and tools): A mobile app for photographers: it reads a photo's EXIF metadata (camera, lens, aperture, shutter, ISO), applies filters with character and composes the image with that data in a frame, ready to… - [Perforated Wood Structure](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/estructura-perforada-madera) (2024, Computational design and digital fabrication): Architectural membrane that modulates light through computationally generated perforation patterns. Algorithmic optimization for structural lightness and aesthetic complexity. - [Gus: AI Brand Assistant](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/gus-asistente-marcas) (2024, Applied AI): A platform of AI agents for the food business, born as a thesis for UAI's MSc in Innovation and Design. n8n automation for small owners: it manages the brand identity (palette, logo, references) and… - [3D Modular Structure](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/estructura-modular-3d) (2023, Computational design and digital fabrication): A construction system where no panel is the protagonist: architecture emerges from assembly. An exploration of how the repetition of a simple unit generates spatial complexity, documented as pure… - [Parametric Spatial Mapping](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/mapeo-espacial-parametrico) (2023, Computational design and digital fabrication): Color as data. Data as geometry. A translation exercise where spatial information (density, flow, temperature) becomes built volume. The form isn't decorative: it's the direct consequence of what… - [Parametric Tree Table](https://apexdesign.cl/en/files/mesa-arbol-parametrica) (2023, Computational design and digital fabrication): Nature doesn't design in straight lines. This table was born from a concrete purpose: making the inorganic look organic. The base was algorithmically generated from how a tree distributes its load… ## Services: workshops, consulting and development I am a designer, not a programmer. But to me, designing means solving a problem using the best possible tool, and these are things I have already built, and that work today elsewhere. - [AI for innovation](https://apexdesign.cl/en/services#ia-para-la-innovacion) (Workshop): Teams and organisations that want to create new solutions (apps, websites, services) and do not know where to start. - [Automations and agents](https://apexdesign.cl/en/services#automatizaciones-y-agentes) (Build): Teams with repetitive processes: expense reports, documents, queries, customer care. - [Websites that rank](https://apexdesign.cl/en/services#sitios-web-con-posicionamiento) (Build): Anyone who needs a website that shows up on Google and is worth sharing. - [Custom software and apps](https://apexdesign.cl/en/services#software-y-apps-a-medida) (Build): A need that no existing tool covers well. - [Operations and data flows](https://apexdesign.cl/en/services#organizacion-operativa-y-flujos-de-datos) (Consulting): Teams that want to put order into how they work: processes, information, tools. ## Contact Alexander Frings For work, academia or community. - [Contact](https://apexdesign.cl/en/contact) - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-frings-526821227/) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/alexfrings/) - [GitHub](https://github.com/DGApex) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://apexdesign.cl/#website","name":"APEX OS","alternateName":"APEX OS · Alexander Frings","url":"https://apexdesign.cl/","description":"Design, engineering and AI. 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