Recently in Concrete Category

Luccon is a light-transmitting concrete made with multiple sheets of thin optic cables layered into fine-grained concrete cast in prefabricated molds. It allows sunlight, shadows, and colors to project through the concrete -- one of the most beautiful and ethereal materials we have seen.

Because the fibers have such a small diameter, the strength and durability of Luccon is the same as for that of conventional concrete. The blocks appear comparably massive as well as translucent, with an unique light pattern created by chance. Blocks can be cut to achieve elements of variable thickness and size.

The most striking effect is the silhouetting of shadows cast behind the concrete.  It raises wonderful possibilities for use as a garden screen, for example, or as the wall for an outdoor shower.

These sidewalk trees fronting a big-box store in El Cerrito may appear ordinary, but they warrant a closer look.

Each concrete planter box is outfitted with multiple intake gutters to capture stormwater.

Runoff from the street flows down these narrow gutters and into the planters.

Hardy California native plants like Mimulus (monkeyflower), Calamagrostis (reedgrass), Juncus (wild rush) and Danthonia (oatgrass) love to be saturated with water in winter, then go bone dry in summer .