Using a custom 3D glass printing technology provided by MIT spinoff Evenline, the researchers made strong, multilayered glass bricks, each in the shape of a figure eight, that are designed to interlock like LEGO bricks.

They tested their mechanical strength in an industrial hydraulic press that squeezed the bricks until they began to fracture, finding that the strongest bricks were able to hold up to pressures comparable to what concrete blocks can withstand.

The researchers envision that 3D-printable glass masonry could be reused many times over as recyclable bricks for building facades and internal walls.

Kaitlyn Becker, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, said: “Glass is a highly recyclable material.

“We’re taking glass and turning it into masonry that, at the end of a structure’s life, can be disassembled and reassembled into a new structure, or can be stuck back into the printer and turned into a completely different shape. All this builds into our idea of a sustainable, circular building material.”

Michael Stern, a former MIT graduate student and researcher in both MIT’s Media Lab and Lincoln Laboratory, and also founder and director of Evenline, said: “Glass as a structural material kind of breaks people’s brains a little bit. We’re showing this is an opportunity to push the limits of what’s been done in architecture.”