August 17 2008

Litracon: Light-transmitting Concrete

Litracon is a light-transmitting concrete product able to move light through concrete up to 20 meters thick. The product is composed of roughly 4% optical glass fibers placed parallel within a fine concrete mix. The result in a homogeneous material from exterior surface to center which retains the compressive strength qualities of concrete. The material can be used for interior and exterior walls, pavements, art projects, signage, lighting fixtures and anywhere else a designer's imagination can apply this marvelous material.

Light, or shadow, activates the material. The parallel optical glass fibers are like tiny pixels on one side of the concrete, conducting any light that strike their ends to the other side of the material. This means that any light source or shadow on the receiving side of the wall is transmitted accurately to the opposite side. People walking, objects, images, text, animations and film are all legible on the opposite side of the wall dematerializing the concrete into lighter more interactive material. Interestingly, the material is true to the color temperature on the light absorbing side.

Litracon is a wonderful advancement added to the already large catalogue of options available for concrete design. What makes Litracon so unique among the options is that the aesthetic results directly contradict the physical properties of the material. Concrete is strong in compression, weak in tension. Steel is added to aid it in tension, but the material, and designers working in the medium, must adhere to its basic physical properties. Notable designers like Santiago Calatrava, Nervi, and Cecil Balmond are able to stretch the boundaries of what concrete can do, and do many times make it appear free from its constraints, but the material is always bound to its characteristics. What Litracon has done is upend the fundamental property of concrete. Litracon turns a heavy, solid material into a light one and that means a world of new opportunities for designers to create striking architecture.

For more information please visit the Litracon website.

August 17th, 2008 at 9:19 PM. Posted in Products + Technology. Share this post.