29-year-old Argentinian invents magnetic cement

The global construction industry has been slow in adopting innovative materials in the past few decades. Concrete still reigns supreme as the preferred choice of building material, amounting to 30 billion tones per year. To put this into perspective, it is the second most widely consumed material on Earth after water.

Although cheap and strong, concrete can also be ugly and messy. The installation of shelves, racks or frames often means a lot of drilling and nailing, which in turn leads to dust and potential damage that has to be patched up at a later date. As a solution to these issues, 29-year-old Argentinian inventor Marco Agustín Secchi has developed Ironplac, a specially formulated cement blend with mineral and ferrous fillers that lets finished walls hold magnets while looking no different from ordinary concrete walls.

The theoretical implications of such a wall are obvious: screws and nails become unnecessary, objects can be moved around without acute damage. It could reshape how we organize homes, offices, workshops and classrooms. It is important to note that a wall made from Ironplac is not a "magnetic wall" in the sense that it attracts and pulls anything metallic. Rather, the wall only attracts objects that contain magnets. 

But for now, Ironplac still remains a prototype. Beyond the hype, practical questions remain: How much weight can it hold over time? How does it handle humidity, repainting or repeated use? Such questions will determine whether Ironplac remains a impractical novelty or becomes a construction staple.