Light Transmitting Concrete turns walls into screens

From a functionality standpoint, innovations like this may seem a bit silly to those of us who use concrete to, you know, build sturdy structures. That’s the most important property of concrete after all, right?

Nonetheless, seeing a concrete wall transform around sunset from the gray boring slab you see to the right to the colorful face you see up top is a pretty cool way to transform the look of any building.

And it has huge implications for business owners looking to advertise or simply grab the attention of passersby.

The Light Transmitting Concrete technology is designed by German concrete maker LUCEM and is currently on display in Aachen, Germany on one side of a new building at RWTH Aachen University.

LUCEM manufactures panels of concrete 3 percent of which are composed of optical fibers, clear strands of plastic through which light can be passed through. The university building facade in Aachen is made up of 136 of these panels which can change color and can be controlled from an iPhone app.

Outside of light shows, the wall can effectively be used as a giant screen as well. Text and logos can be displayed on building meaning that the structures of the future could be their own TVs or billboards.