NONITA MITTAL PRERNA TIRKEY PRIYADARSHINI SHARON MICHAEL SURABHI ANAND B.F.

T- VII

Concrete is one of the worlds most ubiquitous building materials, with over seven billion cubic meters produced each year. Concrete use has stood the test of time and is a multibillion dollar industry that provides millions of jobs throughout the world. Despite its versatility and popularity, the aesthetic reputation of concrete leaves much to be desired.

Common descriptive phrases such as concrete jungle do little to increase the desirability of concretes aesthetic attributes. Due to economic development and space utilization requirements, high rise buildings and skyscrapers are mostly built downtown in metropolitan areas around the world, especially those countries with great populations. Those buildings are isolated biosphere only based on man-made lights to maintain peoples optical activities. For example, China consumes 25% of global architectural energy and 13% of that energy is used to power lighting.

An optical fibre is a flexible, transparent fibre made of a pure glass (silica) not much wider than a human hair. It functions as a waveguide, or "light pipe", to transmit light between the two ends of the fibre. Optical fibres are widely used in fibre-optic communications, which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths than other forms of communication because signals travel along them with minimal loss and are also immune to electromagnetic interference.

Optic fibres are also used for illumination, and are wrapped in bundles so they can be used to carry images, thus allowing viewing in tight spaces. Optical fibre typically includes of a transparent core surrounded by a transparent cladding material with a lower index of refraction. Light is kept in the core by total internal reflection. This causes the fibre to act as a waveguide.

Invented in 2001 by Hungarian architect Aron Losonczi. LiTraCon is now a trademark, owned by Losonczi. It is a combination of concrete and optical fibres. Ratio: 96 vol.% aggregate free fine-grain concrete, 4vol.% optical fibres.

An array of thousands of optical glass fibres runs parallel to each other between the two main surfaces of each block. The fibres blend into the concrete, becoming a component of the material like small pieces of ballast. As a result, the two materials are not just mixed but a third, new material is produced which is homogenous in its inner structure and on its main surface as well. The glass fibres allow light to travel by points between the two sides of the blocks.

Due to their parallel placement, the lightinformation on the brighter side of such a wall seems unchanged on the darker side. On the bright side of the wall, you cant tell that the concrete is much different from what youre used to seeing. On the dark side, however, things are more interesting: you see a sharp display of shadows where people or things are blocking the light.

DARK SIDE

BRIGHT SIDE

OPTIC FIBRES The thickness of the fibres used can vary depending on the particular requirement. Usually fibres of between 2 microns and 2 millimetres in diameter are used. Using fibres of different diameters can help achieve different illumination effects.
CONCRETE Made by mixing water, cement. RESULT The most important requirement for the success of the product is assurance the fibre optic strands make contact with both surfaces. An uninterrupted passage through the concrete is paramount. If they were to break within the product the light transmitting capability would almost certainly be void. This would deliver a standard concrete appearance. To ensure that the ends of each fibre make contact with the surfaces on both sides of the material, blocks of concrete are built in stages. First, a thin layer of concrete is poured into a long, narrow mould. Then, a layer of optical fibres is laid along the length of the mould. After several repetitions, the product can be removed, and then cut to length accordingly, effectively assuring the strands span the length of the block.

LiTraCon can be used as a building material instead of normal concrete to brighten up the interiors of offices, homes, libraries. Future buildings constructed out of LiTraCon wont consume as much electrical energy during the daytime, when one takes into account the additional daylight factor. The fact that the light can pass through up to 20 metres thickness of the material without diminishing helps the case. In buildings like offices that have a daytime function, therefore, LiTraCon could substantially replace electricity.

One firm in New York has proposed using the new concrete in its design of a police college in Kuwait City. Because concrete is an excellent insulating material, the building would protect against the desert heat while letting through some sunshine. This property could potentially make LiTraCon a highly sought after product in arid climates as well as in cold countries, with the added advantage of protection against termites. A further corporate benefit is less tangible, but one associated with the connection between natural sunlight and human behaviour a theory, basically, that people are happier when the sun is shining, and LiTraCon would exacerbate this effect.

It can be used as partitions within buildings in the form of interior walls To exchange light from one room to another, therefore using less electricity. And are more durable than rice paper, which are used in Japan as partitions. LiTraCon can well replace windows in the future, in corporate houses. Where windows are only used for sunlight and not for ventilation. The strength is a lot higher than glass hence making the building stronger in Interior partition wall(above) case of disasters like earthquakes. Surface illuminated pavement(below) One of the most exciting applications of Litracon is the pavement - surface illuminated from below. During the day, it looks like the surface is a simple concrete pavement. At sunset the paving blocks start to shine, even in different colours.

Cinema Urnia: day view and night view of the entrance logo

Litracon is applicable to various areas of design.The most interesting application is Litracons use as a logo. Colourful figures, inscriptions, and pictures can be displayed on the logos LiTraCon can be used in an area of a building where you want natural light to come through, such as a fire escape stairwell. In an emergency situation where power is lost, the blocks would allow light to pass through and you could find your way down the staircase.

In theory, a wall structure built out of the light-transmitting concrete can be a couple of meters thick as the fibres work without any loss in light up to 20 m A wall made of LiTraCon has the strength of traditional concrete. They act as a kind of structural component/modest aggregate since there isnt a negative effect on the compressive strength of the concrete. The shape of the fibres is more elongated compared with the aggregates and promote interlocking. Considering the product uses conventional concrete, it has the same variety of finishes. It can be prefabricated in a range of colours by additives, and can even be polished to a highly glossed finish. Considering the product contains 96% concrete, its maintenance remains the same as traditional concrete. It is able to withstand all weather conditions.

Visible light and infrared rays (wavelength varies from 400nm to 1100nm) were both used to test the translucent blocks light transmitting and heat conduction functionalities.
The results mean that the translucent concrete can not only transmit visible light steadily for optical activities but also thermal energy. It can reduce the consumption of both illuminating and thermal-based energy consumption.

TECHNICAL DATA SHEET

FEATURES
Ingredients: Form: 96% concrete, 4% optical fibre prefabricated blocks

White (Cserht C/D4)

Density:
Maximum block size: Standard block size: Thickness: Colour: Fibre distribution: Finish: Compressive strength: Bending tensile strength:

2100 - 2400 kg/m

600 x 300 mm 600 x 300 mm 25 - 500 mm grey, black or white organic polished 50 N/mm 7 N/mm

Grey (Duna C/D4)

Black (Balaton C/D4)

Europe Gate (2004) The Europe Gate was made during the summer of 2004 to celebrate Hungarys EU membership. It is located at the public entrance area of Fortress Monostor in the Hungarian town, Komrom by the River Danube. The sun illuminates the 3.5m2 large Litracon piece of the statue in the mornings and late afternoons. By night, an even more impressive view can be seen because of the embedded light sources. Hungarian Minister of Culture Mr. Andrs Bozki inaugurated the Europe Gate on 10th May 2005.

Logo for A4 Architects(2005 ) This totem-like logo plate stands in the entrance garden of the architect studio. There is an engraved area on the top of the piece around the characters A4. The engraved part became less transparent than the ordinary polished Litracon material.

Sunshade in a private house(2004 ) The very first "real" application of Litracon was in a private house in Budapest during the summer of 2004. A piece of the light transmitting material was set in the window of the dining room of the house facing east. This plate is illuminated every day by the shines of the morning sun. By night the inner lights percolate through it from the opposite direction. Award: Architectural Award of the Hungarian Media, 2005

Montblanc Boutique - Illuminated interior wall(2006) Litracon blocks were used as illuminated wall in the new flagship boutique of famous producer of handwriting instruments and jewellery, Montblanc. Each block is fixed by 4 bolts onto a steel structure.

Iberville Parish Veterans Memorial(2008) The memorial symbolizes that every evening as the sun goes down. The largest use of translucent concrete blocks in the USA brings the monument to life as the structure is lighted from within as well as by surrounding flood lights. The veterans were the true inspiration behind this monument and all the credit should go to the veterans"