I saw a block of this at an exhibition on New Hungarian Architecture at RIBA a month or so ago. It’s wondrous stuff, – concrete infused with glass fibre. Truly beautiful. Imagine a building made of this?! The strength and exterior texture of concrete, but a lightness imbued by, well, light itself. At night, with lights on inside, shadowy projections of the inhabitants would be visible moving across the exterior of the building … Sexy.
The article linked below at Optics.org suggests the real benefits are likely to be inside the building though. Could the ability for this new concrete to be as transparent, light, and airy as our ubiquitous glass mirrored buildings provide a richer set of textures for the built fabric of our cities? According to the inventor, Hungarian architect Áron Losonczi:
“In theory, a wall structure built out of the light-transmitting concrete can be a couple of meters thick as the fibers work without any loss in light up to 20 m,” explained Losonczi. “Load-bearing structures can also be built from the blocks as glass fibers do not have a negative effect on the well-known high compressive strength of concrete."
Optics.com: Concrete casts new light in dull rooms
[via douglas.typepad.com]
City of Sound 
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