Translucent Concrete

A mesmerizing new material: LiTraCon transparent concrete. Instead of the normal concrete aggregate material of small rocks, fiber optic cables run the width of the concrete blocks. Not only do they hold the material together, but they allow light to pass uninhibited from one side of a concrete wall to the other.

Standing on the brightly lit side of the wall, it appears to be normal concrete, but once backlit, all sorts of shadows and images from the other side of the wall become clear.

There is a strange coexistence of heavy solidity of the stone-like concrete material with the ethereal lightness of the glowing backlit wall, giving the strange sense that the solid wall could be made insubstantial and penetrable.

I'd love to see a building made completely out of concrete blocks, with these transparent blocks in a pattern on the wall, in such a way that at certain times (when it's dark outside), the walls would appear to be solid and imposing, while during the day, with the lights dim inside, shadows of people walking outside and the placement of the sun would permeate the interior space. The effect reminds me of the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale, with its thin translucent stone walls.