Light-Sensitive Concrete
concrete, feature — By Blaine Brownell on November 6, 2009 at 9:00 amLight-Sensitive Concrete is a technology that allows concrete to be sensitive to ambient light levels. It senses the luminosity distribution throughout a concrete surface and sends the data to a computer. By converting this data to various values within custom-designed software, one can control sound, light, projected visuals, and other effects by modifying the light condition on the concrete surface.
Developed by University of Tokyo researcher Tokihiko Fukao, Light-Sensitive Concrete consists of concrete, embedded optical fibers, photodiodes, and electrical circuitry. Optical fibers are distributed within a regular grid, and sensors are attached beneath them in the same arrangement. The interactive properties of the material are intentionally hidden within what appears to be conventional concrete—suggesting possibilities for other light-sensitive building materials and surfaces as part of a total ambient interactive system.
Contact: Noguchi Lab, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.
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5 Comments
why is this concrete and not an frp???
This is similar to Litracon, only it’s used for human interaction and not for visible light transmission. I think the designer’s impetus was to make concrete interactive; not merely to make an interactive surface. Also, traditional FRP is comprised of short, randomly placed fibers that wouldn’t work in this application.
seems very similar to a project I did a few years ago with a partner.
We called it Set in Stone. It was concrete embedded with fiber optics and capacitive touch sensors.
setinstone dot wordpress dot com
it’s not easier/cheaper just grab a light sensor to a ordinary wall? I know that it create some new possibilities, but adjust a light sensor should provoke the same reaction…