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]
Concrete Glass = Glasscrete (Well something like that)
Glass concrete
Glass concrete…
That is (as my ex-IT tutor would but it) very sexy. However I can imagine some people would think twice about living in a building where you could see through the walls, even if it is only shadows.
All it would take is an unfortunately positioned lamp and you could be unpopular with your neighbours for years to come.
Is this product going to be cost effective, for example, for a exterior wall where shadows are welcome? Can you give some pricing ?
Thanks. TT
So this liquid stone, is it for sale? Have you contacted the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers. If not you should, as a mason we are always looking for new materials. I enjoyed the articale on this Liquid stone, in the Deseret Morning News.
Thank you Francis
Translucent concrete: does anyone know how to make it? I’d like to try making some this winter.
Check out the article on liquid stone at the National Building Museum website from Washington D.C., for their Macromedia Flash article about this and other new concrete materials.
Glass concrete
Glass concrete…
Translucent concrete
Saw this in city of sound which I can highly recommend. This translucent concrete sounds an amazing material and so counterintuitive- think about it, a structural material that you can see through! I’d love to see some in real life.
Optic article ….
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Saw this in city of sound which I can highly recommend. This translucent concrete sounds an amazing material and so counterintuitive- think about it, a structural material that you can see through! I’d love to see some in real life.
Optic article …. [Read More]
first of all, I read this about translucent concrete or glassconcrete and as a student of Architecture I think is really intresting but my question is How did you make it? just mix glass fiber with cement or concrte????
thank you IB
As an architect I am interested in a source available for manufacture in the U.S.
Its incredible im an architecture student in Brazil, and concrete structures are qhat we most have around here but there are many problems involving thermal exchange and light. id like to know more about how its made components used
Dear,
I need more details about this products.As we want to produce it in Turkey.
Best regards
Ebru
This could be a product which could be used in Sports Stadia, or other public areas such as entrance foyers,Concrete rooftops, balconies. etc
Another example, the dark areas under concrete seating areas would be lighter if the concrete seating sections were made of Glasscrete, or if used on a concrete highway, the area under the highway would not need to be lit up, saving lighting energy. It would also be safer, and more attractive.
In South Africa, we have energy problems at present, and any natural lighting ideas would be useful.
John
could you send me more info about this product?
I am a Design Student and would love to now how to make some of this Concrete. if anyone could like my have the info that would be a big help
Thanks
hi i am a sculptor , always searching for materials . i liked this material , so can i have details about this
i will realy apriciat
thanks
Hi
Is this being produced I would like to obtain some for renovation of an early 70’s modernist concrete block house in Australia.
Thank you
i like this material,i would know if can produce it in Albania,the way it s made
thank you
as far as I can see, this concrete contains fibres going from one side to the other. if they were deliberately put in carefully (as I suspect, with the amount of light that gets let through)then it would only work from one angle. sounds fairly expensive at first, but I’m sure one could come up with a machine to do it for them.
As an architect, I could see this material being used efficiently for the surroundings of standing shower rooms. But as an exterior application, I can foresee a lot of privacy problems.
there is another wonderful product called Paint!! :O
Great material with lots of valid uses, cant imagine a whole building made of it, as sunlight would enter a room without windows, but something similar to these opaque glass blocks we saw in retro times.
there are smart, creative people out there that would find a great use
iam final year student of BE CIVIL and my thesis is transperent concrete”…..i done 50% practical work its realy amazing….if u have more knowledge about this concrete plz send me….thank you
yes dear i have procedure how to make translucent concrete…….