Innovative glass blocks and transparent wall modules based on marine lightweight structures: sustainable, load-bearing, climate-friendly, heat-insulating and aesthetic solutions

The biomineralized shells of marine organisms such as diatoms and radiolarians are multifunctional, i.e. essentially lightweight, transparent/permeable and highly aesthetic (Hamm and Moeller 2015). Building on this, load-bearing, thermally insulating and aesthetic lightweight wall modules are to be (further) developed and effectively manufactured.

To this end, the load-bearing structures of the geometries are designed with double walls and optimized using genetic algorithms; at the same time, design principles are used that are generally perceived as highly aesthetic (results of the "Light Beauty" project). Due to the fractal structure of the shells, transparent layers such as polymer films or glass can be made very thin, which minimizes weight and resource consumption (BEA project, up to TRL 5). Due to the special structure of the wall modules, it is possible in principle to enclose a layer of air in the cavity or to create a vacuum so that the walls become vacuum insulation panels (VIP). 

Appropriate approaches for sustainable wall modules were developed up to around TRL 5 in the BEA project. This application focuses on the most promising results to date, the transparent variants, and applies for their systematic further development in terms of sustainable technology transfer.