Translucent concrete: Fid-Bau Portal

Translucent concrete

Short notice given only subastantially as follows: A process for fabrication of a functional translucent building material - light transmitting concrete - won a techtextil innovation prize in 2007 for the Technische Universität Dresden. Now, Andrea Bittis has launched commercial products in translucent concrete manufactured by Florack Bauunternehmung GmbH, Germany. Translucentconcrete is a combination of optical fibres and fine concrete. Thousands of fibres run side by side through the material transmitting light between faces. The small size of the fibres enables them to become an integral component of the concrete resulting in a new material that is homogeneous in its inner structure and on its main surfaces as well. In theory, a wall structure created out of translucentconcrete blocks can be a couple of metres thick as the fibres work almost without any light loss up to 20 metres. Moreover, the blocks are loadbearing and provide the same effect with both natural and artificial light. Glass fibres transmit points of light between the wall surfaces. Colours remain the same and shadows on the lighter side will appear with sharp outlines on the darker side. Such a wall with glass fibre pixels acts as if a scanner and screen are united. This special effect creates the general impression that thickness and weight of this concrete wall disappear. The translucentconcrete blocks are produced to order for the aesthetic and structural requirements stipulated by the architect. Basically, all sizes of precast concrete are possible - from small bricks to fagade plates. A maximum size of 2.0 x 1.2 m and minimum thickness of 2cm are quoted figures. Gross density is 2400 kg/m3, compressive strength min. 70 N/mm2 and a bending tensile strength of 4-5 N/mm2. Since the optical fibre accounts for only 5% of the material, translucent concrete blocks have the same technical data as the concrete used in them. Different diameters of fibre are available from 2 micro- to 2mm. The translucent effect ranges from slight diffusion aesthetic to a specific grid or even a logo. The concrete blocks themselves are available in white, grey or black. They are joined together through either splicing, agglutinating or in conjunction with any common framework.