LiTraCon_ - Light-Transmitting Concrete

red dot: best of the best
red dot award: product design 2005

Light walls - fascinating material

As a material, concrete - a mixture of several components - has excited the fantasy of architects all over the world. Probably one of the most impressive examples, demonstrating the possibilities of this material, is Brasília - the capital of Brazil, created by urban architects and city planners. With its sculptural buildings, the city resembles an impressive architectural vision in concrete. LiTraCon_ - Light-Transmitting Concrete is an innovative building material with translucent characteristics - a mixture of optical glass fibre and fine concrete. The main idea behind this interesting material was the integration of glass: thousands of optical glass fibres create a matrix of lines that run in parallel, connecting the two opposing main faces of each block. The fibres integrate into the concrete as a kind of "undemanding" additive and the surface still reminds one of homogenous concrete. The material is translucent because the glass fibres carry light in the form of little dots from one face of the block to the opposite one. Due to the parallel arrangement, the light information from the brighter side of such a wall appears on the darker side without any changes. However, the most interesting aspect of this phenomenon is the sharpness with which shadows become visible on the other side of the wall. Even the colours of the light coming through do not change. LiTraCon_ can be used in architecture in many ways - as pre-cast blocks or in the shape of panels. Theoretically, a wall structure can even be several metres thick, since the fibres carry light through blocks with a thickness of up to 20 metres without significant loss in brightness. These blocks can be used to erect supporting walls and building structures and they provide thermal insulation as well. This material with its innovative and fascinating characteristics thus serves as the basis for architectural visions to create new aesthetic spaces filled with light - for the architecture of the future.