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Concrete Casts New Light in Dull Rooms
opticsorg writes "Stuck for decorating ideas? Then the light-transmitting concrete that is set to hit the market this year is what you could be looking for! The days of dull, grey concrete could be about to end. A Hungarian architect has combined the world's most popular building material with optical fiber from Schott to create a new type of concrete that transmits light. A wall made of 'LitraCon' allegedly has the strength of traditional concrete but thanks to an embedded array of glass fibers can display a view of the outside world, such as the silhouette of a tree, for example."
If nothing else, I'm sure we can all agree that it would be cool to make a wall of this stuff and pretend you were Superman using Xray vision.
Paul Lenhart writes words!
You're right! Being able to see internal objects is a big no-no.
What's next? putting big glass panes in the wall? Oh wait a second...
Seriously though, there are a lot of building applications for opaque wall material. From the pictures on this website it looks like you wouldn't be able to see any more detail than you can see through those thick distorted glass bricks used in place of windows in many a public bathroom.
What is really amazing about this stuff is that it can be load bearing. Now when you want to build a huge transparent wall for cheap, you don't have to use as much glass. Or if you still want to use glass as much glass as possible, now you can have semi-transparent supports around the glass insted of just plain old concrete and dry wall.
Might be good for parking garages.
Will the mugger behind pillar #1 please step out....
I can think of several uses (mostly involving outside projects.)
You're right though about internal objects. Unless it is an art house, I doubt anyone would do their bedroom with this stuff. I can just image the shadow play of the beast with 2 backs.
Of course, back in the 90s there was a all glass house in Brazil (I think) as art. A woman agreed to stay in the house for a few months. Every morning there would be a large group of villagers outside the house waiting for her to wake up.
"Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
Instead of having the fibers run straight through the block, maybe they could twist or braid them; so that light could still seep through but would form random shadow blobs instead of clear silhouettes.
>;k
What are the heat-transmittal properties of this material? Is it a better or worse insulator than glass blocks?
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
So you'd only be able to see through the pillar in one direction, and nothing 90 degrees from that. I know you weren't being serious about the parking garage thing, after all there's the steel inside the concrete of the pillar, but there may be some interesting ways to exploit the anisotropy.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
modern construction (apart from some cheap warehouses) doesnt use simple concrete walls.
in a modern building you need insulation, electrical wiring, plumbing, etc.
I only see this kind of concrete being used as part of a specific decoration or artistic scheme.
The first thing I thought of when I saw this was, this could make a very interesting above-ground pool.
Besides, if you are looking at getting more light from the Sun into your building/house/whathaveyou, a friend of mine who is studying in photonics mentionned that a lot of people are working on optic fiber networks that would do just that, from a solar collector outside, to light fixtures inside.