Lights flicker, music booms, 35,000 fans stand – in the middle of the NBA All-Star Weekend 2024. But this time it’s not just the game that’s extraordinary, but also the floor under the stars’ feet. The glass floor lights up, reacts and pulsates with every movement. Animations flow across the surface, statistics appear live, a countdown visually bursts out of the underground. What looks like science fiction is reality – developed by a Bavarian family business with roots in squash. ASB GlassFloor has reinvented the sports floor: Safety glass and LED technology are used to create a surface that not only fulfils all the requirements of professional sport, but is also a stage, playing field and digital experience all in one.
From building material to playing field – how glass is redefining the sports floor
ASB Glass Floor at the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup in Madrid, Image: FIBA Media
It was a visit to the trade fair that changed everything. Horst Babinsky, founder of ASB, watched as someone walked across a seemingly fragile sheet of glass – five metres long, which bent gently under their weight. What at first seemed like a technical curiosity never left him. Why should glass surfaces only be used on walls? What if you could do sport on it? This question was the starting point for a development that is now changing sports halls, event arenas and television studios around the world: the ASB GlassFloor. In this interview, the ASB GlassFloor team talks to Christof Babinsky (CEO), Martin Egner (CRO) and Philipp Landgraf, Marketing and Content Manager at ASB GlassFloor, provide insights into the beginnings, technical challenges and the vision of a floor that can do far more than just withstand stress.
How did the idea of using glass as a sports floor come about?
To explain how the idea came about, we need to take a brief look back: our company was founded in 1965 and in the early years realised a large number of sophisticated modular construction projects – from nurseries and schools to office buildings and research institutes. From the mid-1970s, we used this experience to focus on the construction of squash courts and facilities and became the world market leader in this field within a decade. Even then, glass played a central role – at least in the construction of the walls of the courts.
In 2006, Horst Babinsky (founder of the company) saw at a trade fair on the subject of glass how someone walked over a clamped pane and it bent over 30cm to a length of 5m. We tested a glass floor for the first time. If all four walls can be made of glass, why not the floor too – and the concept worked. The ASB GlassFloor was born from this idea, and not just for the squash market. We quickly discovered that the properties and possibilities offered by the new product belong in the sports hall.
What makes ASB GlassFloor fundamentally different from traditional sports and event flooring manufacturers?
The decisive difference lies in the combination of uncompromising performance for professional and popular sports and the flexibility and event capability of GlassFloor. Our floors fulfil the highest standards and are FIBA Competition Level 1 certified, which means that basketball world championships can be played on them. They also have FIVB, IHF and other international certifications and are regularly used in the Basketball Bundesliga, Basketball EuroLeague and the Greek Basketball League.
This also clearly sets us apart from traditional event floor manufacturers: While many floors are primarily designed for shows and temporary events, our glass LED floors enable professional sports operations at the highest level. In short: we combine the worlds of sport and events in a globally unique multifunctional floor.
What technical challenges did you have to solve when developing the LED glass floor?
The development of the ASB GlassFloor presented a number of challenges, particularly in terms of sports suitability and athlete safety. Thanks to the combination of safety glass, which is more elastic than wood, and our steel/aluminium substructure, we achieve optimal cushioning. The ball bounces as usual, while the surface is gentle on the player’s joints. The burnt-in ceramic dots on the glass surface also ensure a secure grip so that players neither slip nor are stopped abruptly – further minimising the risk of injury. An additional effect is that there are significantly fewer burns in the event of falls, as everyone knows them from school sports.
The realisation of line guidance and visibility was also a challenge. The combination of glass and LEDs creates a rear projection in which individual pixels blur into one another and the lines for the players produce a sharp, clear image. The deep-etched, matt glass surface prevents distracting reflections.
How does the interaction between the glass floor and the GlassCourt OS software platform work?
GlassCourt OS is our proprietary operating system developed in-house for controlling the glass floor and includes a kind of “app store” for various applications ranging from fitness apps and interactive games to professional coaching applications. GlassCourt OS allows the floor to be operated intuitively via iPad and enables changes to court designs as well as the import of high-quality animations in fractions of a second.
External technologies can also be integrated: Tracking systems enable interactive use of the floor, and video cubes and LED boards in arenas can be synchronised via media server integration. With GlassCourt OS, the ASB GlassFloor is brought to life as a digital and interactive screen – the possibilities are practically unlimited and extend far beyond the examples mentioned.
What safety and quality standards do your floors fulfil – especially in live operation at events?
Our glass floors fulfil all relevant sports standards and fire safety regulations and are designed to perform reliably even in professional sports under extreme conditions. During live operation, backup systems ensure that faults are reliably ruled out. In addition, the floor and ambient temperature is permanently monitored to ensure optimum operating conditions.
FC Bayern Basketball and Panathinaikos BC have already played an entire season on glass without any significant downtime.
How flexible are your glass floors in terms of format, use and interaction?
Our large-format glass floors are multifunctional and the possibilities are practically unlimited: In conjunction with tracking systems, players or fans can compete against virtual opponents, leave digital tracks or shoot virtual balls across the floor. The format, layout and court design can also be easily customised to the respective event or location and support a unique fan experience.
Which specific event formats are currently using your technology?
Our core business is indoor professional sport, especially basketball, but our glass floor is also used for high-profile events and shows. For example, our floors were used for the NBA All-Star 2024 and Big Blue Madness 2024 in the USA. In Germany, the floor has been an integral part of the show since season 1 of Joko und Klaas vs Pro7.
Our floors are currently permanently installed at the professional clubs FC Bayern Basketball (in BMW Park Munich) and in the OAKA Arena of Panathinaikos BC Athens. In addition, the floor also opens up a variety of new possibilities in innovative event contexts, such as at “Beats N Buckets”, Germany’s first basketball culture event, held in July this year at BMW Park in Munich, at the DAZN Infinity League or at events such as the Silvester Schlagerboom 2024 with Florian Silbereisen.
We are very proud of these references, which underline the diversity and flexibility of our GlassFloor at the interface of sport, entertainment and interactive experiences.
Can your floors also be used in other sectors or at other events?
Our primary focus is on sport, but at the same time our three central corporate pillars – multifunctionality, uncompromising and innovation – also reflect the wide range of possible applications for our products.
Our floors are also used at concerts, TV shows, in TV studios or special event formats and offer new creative possibilities.
In addition, exciting applications are emerging in the field of architecture, for example in smart office and workspaces, where we use our glass LED walls (DigitalWallpaper) and interactive technologies to make rooms flexible to use and immersive. This shows that our technology can be used beyond sport without compromising the high standards of quality, safety and interactivity.
How is the glass floor integrated for branding or sponsorship?
ASB Glass Floor in use in Madrid at the FIBA U19, Image: FIBA Media
Thanks to the interactivity and full LED technology, our glass floor can showcase brands and sponsors in a completely different way. In this way, we as ASB make an essential contribution to the expanded commercialisation and development of new sponsorship and event revenues. Brand integration not only becomes more visible through animations, pin-sharp images and interaction with what is happening on the floor, but also becomes an entertainment factor for spectators and fans. At the same time, we are creating completely new advertising inventory with the floor – and without traditional stickers on the playing surface, which previously also meant an additional risk of injury for athletes.
A good example of this was the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup in Madrid, where Tissot made a watch model appear to break through the floor during half-time – an animation that particularly impressed spectators due to its three-dimensionality and immediately became a social media moment. At the Beats N Buckets event, the floor also made it possible to approach sponsors in a completely different way and attract them to the event, which was being organised for the first time. Samsung used the floor for a staging in which a smartwatch first appeared in the video cube, then “fell out” and visually shattered our ASB GlassFloor before it reassembled itself. Such animations and storylines charge brands emotionally and ensure that they are remembered.
Which creative show or live concepts have particularly impressed you so far?
Of course, we observe the market and look at how other companies realise events globally and use LED technology creatively. Not every trend is interesting for us. At the moment, the world seems to be focussing on kinetic LED walls, but we tend to ask why?
For us, everything that has very good content is interesting, such as the one or other show in the Vegas Sphere or good and intelligent integrations of other systems or other hardware, which our CEO likes to find privately at some exhibitions in London.
How time-consuming is the set-up and dismantling on site – e.g. in multifunctional arenas or temporary set-ups?
Animation on the ASB Glass Floor at the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup in Madrid, Image: FIBA Media
The cost depends on the size and requirements of the area. For a permanent installation such as at BMW Park, our installation teams need around two to four weeks. For temporary set-ups, the new generation LumiFlex S can be set up and dismantled in just one day, thus creating the decisive prerequisite for regular use of the floor in highly frequented arenas and venues.
Can you tell us about a current highlight project or a special application from the event sector?
A real highlight was our use at the NBA All-Star Weekend 2024 in Indianapolis. Thanks to our floor, the side events in front of over 35,000 live viewers and millions of TV viewers became an interactive spectacle in which game content, animations and effects merged together. Especially in the USA, where sport and entertainment are traditionally closely linked, the potential of the GlassFloor for show productions, interactive experiences and a completely new spectator experience became clear.
What further developments are you planning for the coming years?
On the technical side, we are working intensively on ever more mobile and modular versions of the hardware. The further development and interlinking of the media server infrastructure, as well as integrations such as tracking, timekeeping and other third-party systems, also play a major role.
Another focus is software. We now have a team of 15 developers who are constantly developing new use cases and applications. The areas of education, entertainment, hospitality and gaming play a major role in this.
What role do you see for LED floors in the overall context of immersive event technologies?
In an increasingly digital world, LED floors open up new possibilities: They extend the stage into the room and transform arenas, venues or event spaces into multifunctional experience spaces. Players, musicians, e-athletes or other performers can use the surface live, content reacts dynamically to actions and enables immersive experiences. This allows events to be flexibly organised between sport, entertainment or education – without compromising the high standards of safety and performance. Interactive surfaces like these will be an integral part of sports and entertainment areas in the future – and ASB GlassFloor has set itself the goal of shaping this development in the long term and positively changing the world of professional indoor sports and the sustainable operation of arenas in particular.
Featured image: Christina Pahnke, sampics
