stumbled across this – interesting…
WASHINGTON – It used to be only Superman who could see through concrete walls, but an exhibit at the National Building Museum shows mere mortals can do it too.
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Called “Liquid Stone,” the show features variations of translucent concrete, a newfangled version of the old construction standby that offers a combination of aesthetics and practicality.
One display is a wall of translucent concrete blocks. When someone stands in front of it and light is shone from behind, the person’s shadow can be seen clearly on the other side…
…The translucent blocks are made by mixing glass fibers into the combination of crushed stone, cement and water, varying a process that has been used for centuries to produce a versatile building material. The process was devised by Hungarian architect Aron Losonczi in 2001.
“The idea came from a work of art I saw in Budapest,” he said in a telephone interview from Csongrad in southeast Hungary. “It was made of glass and ordinary concrete, and the idea of combining the two struck me. Then I went to Stockholm to do post-graduate work in architecture and it developed there.”
One of the first demonstrations was a sidewalk in Stockholm made of thin sheets of translucent concrete. It looks like an ordinary sidewalk by day but is illuminated at night by lights under it….
…A company in Aachen, Germany, called LiTraCon for “light transmitting concrete,” makes translucent blocks and plans to have them market-ready this year. Andreas Bittis, in charge of marketing, said that thus far, they have mainly been used in demonstration projects, such as the Stockholm sidewalk….
….Translucent concrete is strong enough for the uses for traditional concrete, and chemical additives can greatly increase the strength. Moeller pointed out, however, that until demand increases, experimentation continues and production costs fall, the price of any new product will be significantly higher than similar older products…
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=499&e=1&u=/ap/translucent_concrete
Replies
I saw that too, it was in my ACI magazine this month.
I love it! Wanna put it in a design. Wonder if it's possible to shotcrete it?!?!?!?!
That's really cool! I would even think that it might be worth the added cost--depending what the cost is. Endless possibilities--like translucent swimming pools, concrete domed buildings, etc..
Yeah, exactly my thought: Swimming pools that would have wide soft lights glowing all the way around. No leaking, do all your bulb changing and maintenance from the dry side.
-- J.S.
What's really cool is if you were tired of waiting for the building inspector you could go ahead and pour! If he questioned the size or quantity of rebar just whip out your flashlight.
They'd of found old Jimmy Hoffa years ago with this stuff!LOL