Glass is the best. Glass is the friend who drives you to the airport without complaining, who helps you move your fourteen-ton couch in exchange for beer, who tells you that you’ll regret the neon green mohawk when you look back at your wedding photos. Glass goes the extra mile. Without glass we’d either live and work in rooms devoid of daylight or we’d punch holes in the walls and our homes and offices would be full of weather, confused seagulls, and the occasional ambitious praying mantis.  It would be chaos.

Now imagine if glass could go one better: if glass could get you tickets to the Superbowl, or if it let you drive its Bugatti. In my humble opinion, that day has dawned.

Image courtesy helixated.com

A group of South Korean scientists have developed new glass that “becomes more or less transparent according to the light outside, darkening to save air conditioning bills on hot days, and letting in warmth on cold days to reduce heating costs. But unlike other designs, it does so automatically, without users having to use a control to dim or brighten the effect” (Schiller).  At this point, if you’re a devoted reader of ARCHITERIALS, you’re probably thinking, “but wait wasn’t there that glass that changes color and then that other really cool irridescent glass film? Hasn’t this been DONE??”

Well …. yes.

BUT there are drawbacks to many of the existing varieties of smart glass (electrochromic glass, for instance, or suspended particle displays): “many are expensive, degrade after relatively short periods, or present environmental problems during manufacturing processes” (Schiller).  So if you’re looking for a way to reduce heating and cooling bills but don’t want to degrade the environment by more than the minimum possible, then theoretically this new smart glass might work for you.

The researchers assert that their layered assembly of polymer, counterions, and methanol creates a low-cost, stable window embettered by an ability to switch automatically from transparent to opaque in a matter of seconds (Schiller).  I assume that this is based on the amount of light that hits the glass. In case you are not familiar (I wasn’t): counterions exhibit a charge opposite to the substance with which they are associated.

Image courtesy Chang Hwan Lee, Ho Sun Lim, Jooyong Kim†, and Jeong Ho Cho

So here’s how I understand this: the researchers created an environment where nanocrystalline surface structures either scattered the incident light (producing an opaque effect) or dissolved away, allowing light to travel through the glass.  The assembly is less toxic to produce than other chemical-intensive composites, and rather than requiring an electric current to achieve a transition from opaque to transparent, the material can make the change on its own. Magnificent.

WU XING:

I have filed smart glass under WATER because it makes sense.

Cited:

Schiller, Ben. “Smart Glass Becomes More Or Less Transparent Depending On The Weather.” Fastcompany.com 10/3/11. Accessed 10/4/11. URL.

“Counterion-Induced Reversibly Switchable Transparency in Smart Windows.”  Chang Hwan Lee, Ho Sun Lim, Jooyong Kim and ,Jeong Ho Cho. ACS Nano 2011 5 (9), 7397-7403. URL.

Even thinking about glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) makes me itchy. The reason for this is that the glass strands involved with this material are so fine (by which I mean that they are extremely thin and tiny, rather than that they are really really ridiculously good looking) that they get caught in your skin and clothes and become profoundly irritating, after the manner of a wood splinter or Brett Favre.

Image courtesy taiwan.xpshou.com

At the Actuated Matter Workshop in Zurich, we were introduced to a particular configuration of GFRP developed by Loop.pH, which I have dubbed, “Lo-mein GFRP” due to its noodle-esque appearance. The material is much stronger and stiffer than pasta, however, which allowed us to bend it into circles and secure the shapes with small brass tubes.  I found out that if you bend Lo-mein GFRP too far, it fails spectacularly, emitting a quiet yet somehow disdainful pfffffft noise and spraying glass fibers everywhere like needle-sharp, toxic fairy dust.

GFRP circles can be intertwined and woven into a kind of structural textile that can take various forms according to the number of circles combined in any particular configuration.  For example: if you take one circle and surround it with five other circles and connect all of them, you will produce a spherical construction; if you surround your starting circle with six other circles you get a flat surface; and if you ring your circle of origination with seven other circles you will achieve a floppy but endearing hyperbolic paraboloid (aka saddle shape).

Spheres, circles, and saddles can be combined to form almost any surface you can imagine, from a column (a flat sheet, rolled into a cylinder) to a triply periodic minimal surface constructed entirely of conjoined saddles.  The construction we built at the workshop to support our sound, light, and movement modules was a just this sort of minimal surface, and it was glorious.

Invisible itchy splinters aside, I enjoyed working with GFRP because it’s lightweight, extremely strong, and delightfully robust.  It’s not as strong or as stiff as carbon fiber but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper and it’s much less brittle.  The material is commonly used for boats (holla!), automobiles, hot tubs, water tanks, roofing, pipes, cladding and external door skins, and less commonly it is used to make interactive architecture.

Please check out this video featuring the final installation and make it a great day!

Actuated Matter Workshop from materiability on Vimeo.

WU XING:

I filed GFRP under wood because it’s bendy and fibrous. And because I call the shots around here.

Image courtesy mirror.uncyc.org

In the case of Frankenstein’s monster, manufacturing a human being out of various other people resulted in the production of a highly unfortunate, eight-foot tall murderer. Mary Shelley was a little bit ambigous about the process (with good reason) but it’s clear that however it was accomplished, the manual combination of different human beings does not produce a new person who embodies the best characteristics of each of his constituent parts.  Thankfully, this is not the case for materials.  In fact, combining different materials often results in improved products that leverage the best qualities of their components; the strength of one material compensates for the weakness of another, and vice versa.

Wood appears to be a willing partner in many composite material ventures: last week I wrote about woodwool cement (read more here) and this week I am featuring TimberSIL GlassWood, which is wood that has been infused with glass.  More specifically, the wood is bathed in liquid Sodium Silicate, “comprised of microscopic particles of glass in an aqueous solution” (TimberSIL). Glass is a surprisingly strong material in compression, although it is brittle and shatters easily when subjected to tensile forces.  Wood, on the other hand, is weaker, but it makes up for that deficiency by being flexible. 

Image courtesy Treehugger

Sodium silicate consists of “a mixture of sand and soda ash used since the 1800s in detergents and as an egg preservative. Lumber soaks in it under pressure, then bakes until an insoluble matrix of amorphous glass hardens throughout the wood. It makes the wood highly resistant to rain, bugs, and general wear. It costs $4.50 per 8-foot 2×4.” (Thomas).  The glass layer surrounds and fuses with wood fibers, greatly increasing their strength and allowing nails, screws, and other fasteners to bite in more effectively. 

The glass keeps the wood from warping because it blocks the absorption of moisture, and it also acts as a fire retardant.  It renders the wood less pervious to traditional attackers (rot and decay, termites, fire, etc). The glass barrier is permanent, non-toxic, and non-corrosive, and since GlassWood lasts longer than regular wood, it requires replacement much less often (TimberSIL).  The product accepts stain and can be cut and sanded like conventional wood. 

TimberSIL takes wood to the next level by fusing it with glass.  And in contrast with Frankenstein’s monster, it doesn’t terrorize people all over the countryside with its appearance and subsequent random acts of violence, nor does it moan on and on about how it has been rejected by its creator. 

WU XING:

I have filed GlassWood under wood, for obvious reasons.

Cited:

http://www.timbersilwood.com/

Thomas, Justin. “Popular Science’s Best of What’s New: TimberSIL.” Treehugger.com 11/13/05. Accessed 03/29/11. URL.

Until this week I thought that Charlie Sheen was your ordinary aging Hollywood actor. Really, if I thought about him at all, I assumed he was working on a TV show, staying tan/undergoing the occasional face lift, failing at some marriages, and I believed that human blood and maybe some high-quality cocaine were flowing through his veins. But now I have a completely different perspective.  Now I know that Charlie Sheen has tiger blood and adonis DNA, and that he is a total freakin’ rock star from Mars.  

As if that news weren’t enough, I also learned this week that a team of scientists at Yale University have discovered that bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) – which are metal alloys whose atoms are randomly arranged (in constrast with the ordered, crystalline structures found in typical metals) – can be blow molded like plastics into complex shapes that ordinary metal can’t achieve without losing any strength or durability (Physorg.com). BMGs are biwinning. They win here, they win there. I can’t process this with my normal brain!

These alloys, made up of zirconium, nickel, titanium, and copper, which look like metal but can be molded as inexpensively and as quickly as plastic have allowed researchers to fabricate a number of complex shapes, including “seamless metallic bottles, watch cases, miniature resonators and biomedical implants-that can be molded in less than a minute and are twice as strong as typical steel” (Physorg.com). Like Charlie, they only have one speed, they have one gear: GO.

Image courtesy physorg.com

In fluid or a vacuum at low temperatures and pressures, the bulk metallic glass softens and flows like plastic without crystalizing. This allowed the reaserchers to shape the BMGs with unprecedented ease, versatility and precision.  Three separate steps in traditional metal processing (shaping, joining, and finishing) were combined into one step (Physorg.com). BOOM! That’s the whole movie. That’s life.

If BMGs are as easy to recycle as traditional metals and less toxic than plastics, then they will revolutionize the way we live. Radical.

WU XING:

Filed under metal. (For the win, bro).

Cited:

“Stronger than Steel, Novel Metals are Moldable as Plastic” Physorg.com 03/01/11. Accessed 03/03/11. URL.

ARCHITERIALS is a year old now, and like most healthy, well-adjusted one-year-olds it needs to be changed constantly, crawls all over my apartment, and makes strange burbling noises.  No, really – it does.  It’s terrifying.

Over the past year I’ve profiled approximately 65 materials and learned about blogging, bacteria, and biscuits, although I must confess that the biscuts were a side project.  A delicious, buttery side project.  Anyhow, to celebrate the birthday of ARCHITERIALS and the fact that the tagline “Investigating architectural materials since 2010” has finally attained temporal legitimacy, I’ve compiled for this, the 10th day of January,  a list of 10 materials from 2010 that are generally awesome.  I’ve also summarized the awesomeness of each material in a brief paragraph, and I’ve tried to frame each one as part of a larger, sort of big-picture trend in materials science that I’m studying.  Should you click on the links and read the detailed posts about each material for more information? Definitely. 

Finally, thank you so much to those who’ve submitted information, followed, liked, and posted photos over the past year, I appreciate it more than you can imagine!  Keep the materials coming and do tell your friends if your friends seem like people who might be interested in ARCHITERIALS.

Ten Awesome Materials from 2010 and Reasons They are Awesome:

1.  Materials that can be deployed in disasters or used to improve living conditions:  Concrete Cloth

Concrete cloth is a concrete-impregnated fabric that is fire-proof, waterproof, moldable, drapeable, durable and generally fantastic.  Applications include: gabion reinforcement, sandbag defenses, ground surfacing/dust suppression, ditch lining, landing surfaces, formwork, spill containment and landfill lining, waterproofing, building cladding, boat ramps, erosion control, roof repair, water and septic tanks.  Concrete cloth solves problems you don’t even know you have, although nothing can repair your terrible relationship with your mother-in-law.   

2.  Sustainable, non-toxic materials:  Reclaimed Wood and Agricultural Fiber Panels

Kirei Board, Kirei Coco Tiles and Kirei Wheatboard made from the non-food portions (stalks and husks) of sorghum, coconut, and wheat plants.  The agricultural fiber that’s not sold by farmers for use in the manufacture of Kirei board takes up space in landfills or gets burned up and pollutes the air – therefore repurposing it cuts down on that sort of thing.  Sustainable building materials make the planet happy, and a happy planet makes for happy people. 

3.  Biodegradable materials:  Arbofoam

As it turns out, lignin can be transformed into a renewable plastic if it’s combined with resins, flax and other natural fibers. The resulting bio-plastic, called Arboform, can be thermoformed, foamed, or molded via injection machines.  It’s durable and super-precise when it’s cast, and it degrades similar to wood into water, humus, and carbon dioxide. It’s very cool stuff indeed and I’d love it if someone would send me information about a project where it’s been used.  Biodegradable materials cut down on landfill and reduce environmental pollution. 

4.  Thermoplastic/thermoelastic/thermoformed/thermo-etcetera materials:  Chemical Velcro

How could you not get excited about an adhesive 10 times stickier than Velcro and the reusable gecko-inspired glues that many research groups have been trying to perfect that comes apart when heated??!  I have been trying without success to get my hands on some of this to build demountable partition walls for my tiny apartment, and I’m not giving up.  Materials that respond to changes in temperature by changing their behavior or attributes will find widespread application in the future. 

5.  Materials that clean and sanitize themselves:  Liquid Glass

Liquid glass a coating that takes advantages of the unique properties of materials at nanoscale.  It is environmentally harmless and non-toxic, and easy to clean using only water or a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It repels bacteria, water and dirt, and resists heat, UV light and even acids.  According to manufacturers, you can spray liquid glass on everything from wood to seeds to your sneakers.  It could someday replace all the toxic cleaning products you currently use to tidy and disinfect, and it reportedly costs about 8 dollars.  Materials that clean and sanitize themselves cut down on the need for toxic chemicals and pollutants. 

6.  Materials that emit light efficiently:   White LED Lights

White LED lights emit more light than a typical 20-watt fluorescent bulb, as well as more light for a given amount of power. With these improvements, the new LEDs can replace traditional fluorescent bulbs for all general lighting applications, and also be used for automobile headlights and LCD backlighting.  Shedding light on any given subject has never been more efficient.  As we transition to alternative forms of energy we are also looking for materials that emit light without using much energy in the first place.

7.  Nanomaterials:  Gold Nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles can be used to further increase the efficiency of LED lights.  Researchers have implanted the particles in the leaves of aquatic plants, causing the leaves to emit red light.  Theoretically, the light produced by the leaves could cause their chloroplasts to conduct photosynthesis, meaning that no additional energy source would be needed to power the process.  In fact, the leaves would actually work overtime, absorbing CO₂ at night.  Nanomaterials allow us to intervene in processes like photosynthesis with a previously unheard-of degree of delicacy.

8.  Materials that augment already useful material properties:  Bendywood 

Bendywood is wood that has been pre-compressed so that it can be easily bent by hand.  The tension that forms on the outside of a bend merely returns the plant cells to their former shape, and the wood doesn’t break.  The material is delightfully flexible and pliable.  Bendywood was developed for indoor uses such as furniture, handrails, or curved mouldings, and it shows enormous promise.  Materials like Bendywood amplify the appealing properties of familiar materials so that it’s even easier to use them to our benefit.

9.  Bio-based materials:  Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)

At the intersection of biology and solar tech, there are jellyfish that produce green fluorescent protein (GFP).  Dripping GFP onto a silicon dioxide substrate between two electrodes causes it to work itself into strands, creating a circuit that absorbs photons and emits electrons in the presence of ultraviolet light.  The electron current (aka electricity) can then be used to power your hairdryer.  I’m completely fascinated by materials that help us to blur the boundaries between biological and man-made machines.

10.  Materials that repair themselves:  Bacilla Filla

Bacilla Filla is a material that patches up the cracks in concrete structures, restoring buildings damaged by seismic events or that have deteriorated over time.  Custom-designed bacteria burrows deep into the cracks in concrete, where they produce a mix of calcium carbonate and a special bacteria glue that hardens to the same strength of the surrounding concrete.  Materials that can detect their own flaws and damage and repair themselves will revolutionize the way we build and think about building materials in the future.

Image courtesy www.virginmedia.com

Installing blast-resistant glass in buildings that are potential targets of attacks or in regions prone to severe weather can save lives but unfortunately, most blast-resistant glass cannot be placed in a regular window frame. The upshot is that it’s incredibly difficult – not to say prohibitively expensive – to replace standard glass windows in most structures (Verrico).  So what can ordinary people who are not now and probably never will be Pope do to avoid being on the receiving end of jagged shards of glass flying through the air as a result of high winds or explosions

Image courtesy University of Missouri

A team of engineers from the University of Missouri and the University of Sydney in Australia think the answer is to install a “blast-resistant glass that is lighter, thinner, and colorless, yet tough enough to withstand the force of an explosion, earthquake, or hurricanes winds” (Verrico).  In contrast with today’s blast-resistant windows, which are made of pure polymer layers, their design consists of a plastic composite that has an interlayer of polymer reinforced with glass fibers.  And most exciting, it’s only a quarter-inch thick.

Image courtesy University of Missouri

So let’s talk about this interlayer for a minute.  Long glass fibers 15 to 25 micrometers in diameter (about half the thickness of a typical human hair) are woven together to form a kind of glass cloth, which is then soaked with liquid plastic and bonded with adhesive.   The small size of the glass fibers reduces the incidence of defects and cracking in the glass.   The fibers also provide reinforcing for the polymer matrix used to bind them together.  The glass fibers, plastic, and the adhesive that bond the interlayer to two thin sheets of glass on either side are all transparent to visible light.

Image courtesy University of Missouri

It is expected that the blast-resistant glass will “slip easily into standard commercial window frames, making it much more practical and cost-efficient to install…. The goal is to create blast-resistant panes as large as 48 by 66 inches (he standard General Services Administration window size for qualification blast testing) that can still be cost-effective. While dependent on results from upcoming tests, [the] glass could become commercially available in three to four years” (Verrico).  I can see this type of glass being mandated in the future in places like Florida and the other Gulf Coast states, and for government buildings all over the world.  And maybe it one day lightweight, blast-resistant glass will even be used to increase the fuel efficiency of the Popemobile?

WU XING:

I’ve filed thin, blast-resistant glass under water, fire, and wood because it’s a composite and it just feels right.

Cited:

Verrico, John. “A New Kind of Blast-Resistant Glass.” Press Release. US Department of Homeland Security – Science and Technology. 12/9/10. Accessed 1/4/11.  URL.

Nanocrystalline cellulose, a “building block” of wood pulp, is organized in a helical structure similar to a spiral staircase.  Silica, a primary component of glass, er … isn’t.  Nevertheless, the researchers mixed the two materials together and then burned away the cellulose.  Once the smoke cleared from the room and restorative salve had been applied to singed skin, they found themselves confronted with yellow, blue, green, and red glass films punctuated by a large number of pores or holes arranged in a helical structure that … you guessed it – resembled a spiral staircase (Physorg.com).  

Image Credit Kevin Shopsowitz

Each hole in the glass film is less than 1/10,000th of the diameter of a human hair, and the presence of the pores in the helix lends the films a wide range of applications. For example, when certain liquids become trapped in the pores the optical properties of the films become altered.  According to Shopsowitz, “by functionalizing the pores to make them more selective to particular chemicals, we may be able to develop new sensors that are very sensitive for detecting substances in the environment” (Physorg.com). The films might also find a purpose in the pharmaceutical industry, whose members could use them for various molecule separation activities.

Anyway to recap:  the scientists replicated the structure of a biological material (wood) using an inert mineral material (glass) and thereby altered its properties.  In so doing they rendered said inert mineral material even more useful to human beings.  It should be observed however, that this isn’t the first time silica has assumed the position: the lab-created silica helices mimic the structure and consequently the coloring of the exoskeletons of iridescent beetles.

Image courtesy http://jackphoto.wordpress.com

The films might be used to reduce the energy needed to cool buildings: “windows could be treated with the transparent films that reflect infrared light – the light that heats up a building. Right now, metal particles are often used to do this but they tint the windows brown” (Physorg.com).  The optical effects produced by the films in conjunction with liquids might find application in lighting design or wall coverings as well.  And in closing, I’d like to point out that they are pretty because they are shiny.

WU XING:

I’m filing iridescent glass film under wood and fire because of how it’s made and because of its properties.

Cited:

“Researchers Create Iridescent Glass that can Reflect UV or Infrared Light.”  Physorg.com via the University of British Columbia. 11/17/10.  Accessed 11/17/10.  URL.

My apologies to bird lovers, but it can’t be denied that our feathered friends are somewhat lacking in gray matter.  To put it bluntly: birds are dumb.  They’re good at certain things like flying and pecking and saying “ca-caw!” but they have tiny brains.  The reason this becomes important in an architectural context is that you can’t reason with a bird.  You can’t say, “hey, maybe you should think about the fact that a lot of the openings you’re trying to fly into are actually filled with glass, and when you approach these ‘holes’ at a high rate of speed, you will smack into them and you’ll probably wind up dead.”  A person could attempt to have this conversation, but I am confident that any standard bird will merely look at that person, turn its head to the side, then carry on trying to steal his french fries.

The problem lies with perception:  birds do not see transparent glass.  Instead, they either see landscape reflected in the window or look through the glass and think their way is obstacle-free.  “Stickers attached to the glass have been shown to have almost no effect, and have even been taken off the market in Switzerland. Stickers are only really effective if they cover a significant portion of the glass” (Edwards).  I am not sure what to make of the Swiss disdain for stickers but can only assume it is born of contempt at their lack of efficacy, since for example upwards of 100 million birds expire per annum in the United States as a direct result of bird-on-glass collisions.

All of this brings me to telling you about a new product called Ornilux Mikado glass.  It’s an insulating glass developed by German company Arnold Glas treated with a special ultraviolet (UV) reflective coating.  The coating is almost invisible to the human eye but looks like a spider’s web to birds, who are able to see a broader spectrum of wavelengths than humans (Edwards).  Spiders have been trying to keep birds out of their webs for millenia, so it makes sense that the glass, which was developed with input from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, takes its cues from spider webs.

The glass reduces bird collisions by 76%, which means that some birds see the spider web design and don’t let it slow them down.  “The glass was tested on 19 species of garden birds in a flight tunnel at the Radolfzell Bird Sanctuary.  Wild birds were captured and released into the flight tunnel, where they could choose to fly towards a sheet of plain glass or a sheet of Ornilux glass. Of the 108 test flights, 82 of the birds flew towards the plain glass and avoided the Ornilux” (Edwards).  The glass has already found application at bird sanctuaries and swimming pools in Germany, and I’m thinking of suggesting it for use at our office, given the number of bird-prints I’ve seen on the windows during my time here…

Fun Fact: The product was named after the game Mikado (also known as “pick-up sticks”).

More information: http://www.ornilux.de/C

WU XING:

I’m filing this glass under the Water category because glass is a liquid and it makes sense to me.

Cited:

Edwards, Lin. “Bird-friendly Glass Looks Like Spider Web to Birds.” Physorg.com 08/26/10.  Accessed 08/26/10.  URL.

I’ve been thinking about bubbles today.  I’ve been thinking how they are friendly and approachable, associated with sunny days in the park, foam parties, and protective packaging for new glassware.  Soap bubbles are fleeting – one minute they’re launching themselves off the end of a little pink plastic wand, the next they’re floating through the air, and then … they pop.  Bubblewrap doesn’t last long either because it is so tempting to sit around compulsively popping all the air pouches.  Bubbles do stick around when you trap them in something like plastic or glass – which brings me to Bubble Glass: sheets of glass that contain nearly perfect grids of tiny bubbles and delightful bubble patterns. 

Image courtesy www.jenriks.de

Penny Herscovitch and Dan Gottlieb of PadLAb developed Bubble Glass in “response to an ad on Craigslist.org, the online bulletin board. ‘These two guys from L.A. had bought a beach house in Brazil and were looking for someone to do some murals. Their posting was, like, ‘Know how to paint on glass? We’ll fly you to Brazil.'” (Turrentine).  Down to Brazil the pair went, and while there, Herscovitch and Gottlieb developed a process inspired by traditional styles of Swedish glass blowing wherein they control bubbles to form images and even text within flat glass.

Image courtesy www.transmaterial.net

Image courtesy www.architonic.com

Multiple sheets and threads of glass in a variety of colors fuse at 1,450 degrees, trapping air bubbles in perfect, orderly grids. The effect is reminescent of see-through circuit boards, or translucent plaid, according to Herscovitch.  Interestingly, “although the manufacturer controls the patterns of trapped air, each piece of Bubble Glass is unique” (Brownell).  Potential applications for Bubble Glass include lighting, interior room dividers, privacy window and door panels, tabletops, vessels, and fine art (Source: Architonic).

WU XING:

Bubble Glass can be considered a water material because it is fluid and full of bubbles.

Cited:

Architonic. “Bubble Glass Text Pattern PadLAb.” Accessed 04/02/10.  URL.

Brownell, Blaine. “Bubble Glass.” Transmaterial 10/29/09.  Accessed 04/02/10.  URL.

Turrentine, Jeff. “Through a Glass, Bubbly.”  Washington Post 12/30/04.  URL.

Image credit coveringsetc.com

So now, I’m sure you’re wondering, exactly what Bio Glass is when it’s at home?  It’s a solid surfacing for counter tops, walls, floors, and other applications.  Bio Glass is “made from 100% recycled glass, heated and agglomerated under pressure. There are no binders, colorants, fillers, or other admixtures. Depending on color, the product is either pre- or post-consumer, or a blend. The translucent, nonporous material is available as 110-inch by 47-inch slabs, about 4.7 inches thick with a lightly textured, slip-resistant surface; smooth-surfaced slabs are also available, at approximately 4 inches thick” (GreenSpec).  In other words, they’ve taken old beer bottles and glass plates and compressed/fused them in to lovely mottled-looking glass slabs.  When you’re done using your slab you can recycle it back into bottles!

Image courtesy Inhabitat

According to their website, Coverings ETC’s Bio-Glass ceramics can be sawn and drilled with water-cooled diamond tools at the construction site.  The surface is closed, meaning it can be cleaned with traditional cleaning agents and solvents.  I’m wondering how brittle are these slabs?  What happens if you drop a cast-iron skillet on your counter top?  (Not that I’ve ever done that).

WU XING

This fused glass material falls into the wood category because that’s where I store glass.  But I’m going to add it to fire as well because of the recycling.

Cited:

“Bio Glass.”  Greenspec – Building Green 02/15/07.  Accessed 03/03/10. URL.

Yoneda, Yuka. “Bio Glass is a Gorgeous, Translucent, 100% Recycled Surface.” Inhabitat 02/16/10. Accessed 03/03/10. URL.