Light passes through concrete. That is not a typo. Translucent concrete, also called LiTraCon, is manufactured by embedding thousands of optical fibers into a cementitious matrix. Each fiber runs parallel from one face of the panel to the other, creating a grid of light-transmitting channels through solid concrete. Here is how it works: • Thin layers of concrete are poured in sequence, with strands of polymer optical fiber (POF) laid between each layer • The fibers make up roughly 4-5% of the panel by volume, which means 95% of the board is still structural concrete • When light hits one side of the panel, it enters each fiber and undergoes total internal reflection, bouncing along the core until it exits the opposite face • The result is a concrete surface that displays shadows, silhouettes, and color shifts from the light source behind it The science that makes this possible is Snell’s Law. Each optical fiber has a core with a higher refractive index surrounded by cladding wi...