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 Carbon nanotubes are tubular carbon structures with incredible strength. They are basically made from single or multiple graphite sheets and owe their strength to the strong carbon bonds present in graphite, being even stronger than those in diamond lattices. Nanotubes naturally align themselves in rope-like structures.
Carbon nanotubes, mostly in the form of composite fibers in polymers, have many applications that take advantage of their strength, such as in tennis racquets, building materials, and clothing. Due to their unique conductive properties applications such as the use for paper batteries, solar cells, and ultracapacitors have been proposed.
  comment on this definition on the Index of Re-inventing Construction blogSource: WhatWow
 Carbon nanotube open-cells skin prototype.
Microstructure research for building skins
This project deals with new construction materials – and was winner of the Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 1st prize for 2008 in North America. The visionary and novel idea consists of developing a building skin that offers construction without joints and assembly and is also able to accommodate different functionalities such as load bearing capacity, natural ventilation through osmosis, thermal and noise insulation and changing light penetration wherever and whenever requested.
What might sound like a miracle shall be achieved by a hierarchical combination of carbon nanotubes, polymers and traditional building materials such as steel, wood and glass. Although the invention is still at the level of computer simulations, lab tests and prototyping at small scales, the jury is convinced that this fantastic vision possesses a realistic potential to design, fabricate, construct and maintain a material architecture which is specifically assigned to accommodate particular structural, functional and environmental conditions.
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