Would you use it?

[Cardinal]

Here's a new twist on an old material - transparent concrete. What do you think? I have to admit that I like the look of it, although you will have to remember that people can see your profile from the other side. I wonder if it has the same structural properties as normal concrete.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040707/ap_on_en_ot/translucent_concrete_1

 

[mendelman]

seems analogous to glass brick

I don't know......seems like a neat trick.

 

[Michele Zone]

If it retains the load-bearing traits of normal concrete block -- or at least something close to that -- it seems like it would be a neat substitute glass brick, which is too fragile for some things. I remember a custom home with a glass block circular stairwell. Designing it was quite a challenge because of the issue that glass block does not make for adequate structural support.

 

[jordanb]

It's not going to be as strong as modern concrete unless someone's invented transparent rebar too. ;-)

 

[DecaturHawk]

"Man who live in translucent concrete house may throw stones."

 

[H]

cool! that would be fun to have in the house. like maybe for the outside wall on the back of the house if you had a sreened room or pool there. or maybe as accents in walls areound the house.

fun

PS> I also like the glass brick

 

[ludes98]

I liked some of the ideas for its use in the article, but don't see it in my house anytime soon.

 

[Plannerbabs]

Ooooooh, nifty. I'd use it. Not sure how well it would integrate into a ranch house, but perhaps in the Future Perfect (tm) house. Sounds like there's all kinds of great potential applications for it. Could take daylighting to a whole new level, or have great lighting effects in skyscrapers.

 

[The One]

Try this one out.....

Reminds me of the story told by the personal plumber to the guy that played "Rocky" (vague enough to protect me from lawsuit) Here goes:

This plumber said that he was employed to install external translucent PVC pipes for the in house sewer lines. This means that the sanitary sewer pipes leading from the toilets through the house were clear and allowed viewing of the waste as it traveled through the home :-c Combine that system with clear concrete and how cool would that be...... :-#

 

[Gedunker]

Reminds me of the story told by the personal plumber to the guy that played "Rocky" (vague enough to protect me from lawsuit) Here goes:

This plumber said that he was employed to install external translucent PVC pipes for the in house sewer lines. This means that the sanitary sewer pipes leading from the toilets through the house were clear and allowed viewing of the waste as it traveled through the home :-c Combine that system with clear concrete and how cool would that be...... :-#

[OT]My wife used to work at the wastewater treatment plant here and often got calls from old folks that had lost their false teeth down the toilet -- wondering if anybody at the plant had found them. Would you put those back in your mouth? :-# [/OT]

 

[The One]

Raw Sewage

Gotta love the tour of the local sewage treatment plant :-c I especially liked the little conveyor belt that separates out all the "organic material" and other larger "debris", such as false teeth, false eye's, paper products and the such..... :-# It was all I could do to keep from yacking........ :-c :-# I highly suggest that all planning departments take this tour, gives you new found love for your job and office environment... :-D

 

[giff57]

I took a tour of Iowa City's plant once. There is a Proctor and Gamble plant there that makes Prell shampoo. Best smelling treatment plant ever. Big balls of suds blowing around....very different

 

[JNA]

I highly suggest that all planning departments take this tour, gives you new found love for your job and office environment...

You don't have to tell me - boy oh boy do I know
I worked on the LINE CLEANING crew. Other field work included making the taps (open trenches) and maintaining the manholes.

 

[spokanite]

Here's a new twist on an old material - transparent concrete. What do you think? I have to admit that I like the look of it, although you will have to remember that people can see your profile from the other side. I wonder if it has the same structural properties as normal concrete.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040707/ap_on_en_ot/translucent_concrete_1

I went to the exhibit here in DC just last weekend and really liked it. They had a large number of small architectural models of buildings where concrete was the primary material along with loads of photos and samples. The LiTraCon material was interesting and was the last item in the display. In the web-photo it looks like a solide piece of concrete, but here it was actually a wall of stacked blocks. Regardless, it was pretty amazing stuff and I'd considering using it on an interior wall or an exterior wall that forms part of a dark hallway.

If you're in the area I'd encourage you to go see it.

Brian

 

[ambmason]

I enjoyed the exhibit as well- and it isn't that easy to make a concrete exhibit interesting.

 

[spatialmongrel]

I would imagine that you could add dyes and what not to the concrete matrix and create stained-glass effects and other colour variations. Or embed diodes within...