In a small workshop in Csongrád, Hungary, a young architect is in the final stages of the development of a revolutionary material: translucent concrete. Edited by Beatriz Arman. Photography by Ramak Fazel.

Heavyweight transparency
From an interview with Áron Losonczi  on 16 October 2004

LiTraCon
Light Transmitting Concrete (LiTraCon) consists of concrete blocks with a percentage of plastic or glass optical fibres ranging from 3% to 4%. The material becomes translucent without losing its resistance. The diameter of the glass optical fibres varies from 30 to 100 micrometres and the plastic ones from 0.5 to 2.5 mm. For the moment, we are working with 70-micrometre glass optical fibres. The effect produced changes according to the type of fibre, partly for the pattern created but also because plastic ones transmit colours better.

Definition
If we had to give a description of our material based on the components, we could say it was concrete, but actually it is very different from what the word means in the traditional sense. Terrazzo Veneziano is also concrete. To avoid any misunderstanding, I would simply call it LiTraCon, although I like to describe it as polished concrete. I also prefer not to speak in terms of pros and cons; it doesn’t matter whether it is better or worse than others; the fact that it is different is what matters. I hope those using it will be able to describe it better than me.

Production
We already know how to process this material industrially and we know the results but we must find a way to speed up manufacture. The problem is that optical fibres are very delicate. We are currently able to produce small quantities but we are testing new production methods in Csongrád. At the moment, we are able to produce blocks measuring 15 x 25 cm with thicknesses starting at 2 cm. Perhaps we will increase this to 1 x 1m slabs in varying thicknesses in the future. We are already trying this out, for example for the exhibition I am working on at the moment - “Glass Tec” in Düsseldorf, where a wall made of six one-metre-wide panels will be exhibited. We aim to be on the market early in 2005 when nearly all the technical tests are complete. At present, we are only able to manufacture small quantities of LiTraCon but we will be in full swing by around the middle of next year.

Csongrád
Csongrád means ‘black fortress’ in Slavonic, because the first inhabitants came from that area. It was initially a fishing village close to the convergence of the Körös and Tisza rivers. Only a few houses survive from that time, inside a protected area. Agriculture was also quite important and the main occupation up to World War II. In the 1960s, they opened a factory that manufactured kitchens for low-cost housing and this offer of work resulted in a rise in Csongrád’s population. Unfortunately, the firm is going through a difficult period. At present, animal feed is the most important production. There is also a small factory manufacturing concrete pipes and it is working on a project for a dam in the old part of the town; the river overflows regularly causing extensive damage.

Me
I was born in Szolnok in 1977, but I moved here at the age of 14 with my family and I lived here until 1995, when I started studying architecture at the Technical University in Budapest. I graduated in 2001 and attended a postgraduate course at the KKH Arkitekturskolan in Stockholm for two years after my degree. Many people ask what having created a new solution for the field of building materials means to me and whether I have changed. I want to say that I spend a great deal of time developing this idea, which is actually very simple. Apart from that I feel like the same person, someone who enjoys spending time with friends, his girlfriend and his family. Nothing is any different for me here in Csongrád.

Stockholm
I could have stayed in Stockholm. My friend György Dán, an economist, and I participated in two competitions proposing the development of the LiTraCon project and we won first prize both times. All the doors were opened to us and the state offered us the financing needed to start up a business of our own, but we decided only to accept what it took to pay for the patent and then I came back here. I have always believed that if the idea I am working on is good, I can carry it forward anywhere, so I chose my hometown. This is a quiet place and I have friends who help me in the workshop. What I like most is that they don’t do it for money, but out of conviction.

Concrete
My interest in concrete and the idea for LiTraCon were determined by a series of events. Every two years they hold a concrete workshop in Csongrád. I attended it in 1998 and again in 2000. It is held right opposite my home in a house divided into three workshops: painting, sculpture and ironwork. Artists and architects come from all over the world and the best works are put on permanent display in the garden. I believe concrete has always been present in my life to some extent, even though it is considered a material of little worth in Csongrád, something to be concealed. One of the commonest questions asked when I was describing LiTraCon was: “can you still see the light after it has been plastered?” I was greatly motivated by the idea of changing this attitude and that is partly why I conducted my research.

Invention
In 2000, I was struck by a sculpture by Varga St. Luigi, a fifty-year-old man from Romania. It was a block of concrete with panes of glass inserted through it from one side to the other. I went to Sweden to do my doctorate in October 2001 with this image in my mind. In the first week of the course we went on a 10-day trip and in Düsseldorf I was attracted by the “Innside Hotel” - a concrete building in which glass rods have been inserted to close the holes made to hold the formworks together. The effect on the inside was beautiful; you see numerous dots of light against a dark background. Then, in Essen, we visited the Meteorite Museum (a sort of park with spaces given over to light and sound; it included a room called “Light Cocoon” with walls covered with hundreds of optic fibres). I was sitting there with my companions when the idea prompted months earlier by the sculpture in Csongrád took shape. On my return to Stockholm, I made the first prototype and by May 2002 I had an international patent.

Craftsmanship
After the Stockholm prototype, I was asked to build a wall measuring 150 x 80 x 20 cm, which is now in the “Liquid Stone” exhibition in Washington. The same piece has been in Stockholm, Budapest, London and Glasgow, and it may soon go to New York as well. I had nowhere to work at the time, so I rented the workshop opposite my home for a while. Later, when I was commissioned to produce a sculpture for the town of Komárom, for Hungary’s entry into the European Union, I worked in my home garage and the concrete pipe factory, assisted by its workers. For some time now, I have been working in a former factory that used to manufacture electrical material during the Socialist period. The owner of it is Mr. János Sarusi Kis, twice world kayak champion, a friend of my father’s.

Price
Many famous architects - such as Foster, Calatrava, Jean Nouvel, Steven Holl, Zaha Hadid, Herzog & De Meuron, Ron Arad, etc. - are interested in our product. The problem is that we are unable to supply the quantity of material required in acceptable times. There is also a price issue. Prof. Taeg Nishimoto contacted us to make the memorial to 11 September in New York with LiTraCon but a few days ago he told me that the client thought it was too expensive. At the moment, it costs €3,000 per square metre / 10 cm thickness.
Standardisation
I am often asked if it will be possible to work it on the spot in the future. Frankly, I don’t think LiTraCon is suitable for this. Only the fact that it is mass-produced, using a very precise technique and controls, makes it reliable. Even buildings that look as if they are made in one piece actually consist of a number of panels. If we can make LiTraCon panels large enough, the problem of on-the-spot processing does not arise.

Insulation
Among other things, we have experimented with a heat-insulating version, in which the optical fibres pass through three layers: concrete, insulation and concrete. The final effect is no different. The insulation can be of any type: air, polystyrene, etc. depending on the requirements.

Application
I often wonder how this material will be applied. The only thing I am almost certain of is that it will not become a standard, mass product - not just for the costs but because it has many applications. We have a very simple strategy: we would like to create a factory capable of flexible production. As an architect and someone very familiar with LiTraCon, I would like to work with the designers and manage to meet their requirements in each specific case.

Resistance
The compression test results have been better than those for normal concrete. All the tests should be completed by the end of the year. The presence of the fibres does not significantly alter the conduct of the material; they make it slightly more resistant. It is the quality and percentage of elements used that makes the greatest difference and now we have achieved an optimum mix.

Half art half architecture
It is easy to think that LiTraCon can only have an aesthetic application, but we want it to be used like any other form of concrete. Today, it lies midway between art and architecture, between art and industry. Indeed, a building constructed with LiTraCon would be seen as a sculpture because it is an uncommon material and we have not yet become accustomed to its presence.

Heavy but transparent
Another consideration to be made is that resistance is subconsciously associated with heaviness. The fact that LiTraCon is translucent may seem a contradiction in terms but this is its strength. No other material has this peculiarity. In Hungary, it will be even harder for it to be assimilated and understood because, as well as being new, there is the problem that no one conceives concrete as a beautiful material.

Privacy
As artificial light can project shadows onto the outside, the immediate thought is that its use will be limited to public spaces. I believe that those wishing to use this material will do so to see beyond the wall. Anyway, the effect will depend on how LiTraCon is used; I think very interesting results will be obtained with artificial light, which can even be used as a curtain. If the problem were that of protecting private space from view and avoiding being seen, you just have to change the position of the light source, placing it between person and wall. It is a new material and we will have to learn how to use it.