Courtesy of ASB GlassFloor
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https://www.archdaily.com/1034856/immersive-spaces-when-architecture-turns-into-experience
In the Water Lilies rooms at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, Claude Monet conceived a 360-degree gallery where visitors are enveloped by continuous landscapes, dissolving the boundaries between painting and environment. There, he sought not merely to represent nature through his distinctive style, but to construct an atmosphere, a perceptual state that the visitor literally inhabits. Architecture, traditionally associated with materiality and permanence, thus gains a new dimension of time, movement, and sensory experience.
Similarly, when contemporary architecture transforms its planes into active surfaces, it extends this pursuit of immersion and presence, now amplified by technology. At the entrance of SOPREMA’s new Mammut Tower in Oberroßbach, Germany, architecture and digital narrative converge. Designed and executed by ASB GlassFloor, the newly completed lobby is an immersive environment combining glass, light, and sound into a complete spatial and sensorial experience, demonstrating how interactive technologies can become architectural materials in their own right.
The space is defined by three main elements: the ASB DigitalWallpaper, the interactive ASB LumiFlex floor, and a mirrored ceiling that amplifies the visual impact of both. Together, they create a continuous digital continuum that envelops visitors from floor to ceiling. Measuring 10.5 meters high and 3 meters wide, the DigitalWallpaper serves as the visual focal point of the project. The surface provides a crisp, high-resolution image through a pixel pitch of just 3.9 mm, integrating seamlessly with the building’s architecture, appearing less like a screen and more like a living façade.
Courtesy of ASB GlassFloor
Courtesy of ASB GlassFloor
Complementing the animated vertical plane, the LumiFlex floor extends over more than 30 square meters. With the same pixel density, it transforms the ground plane into an interactive surface that reacts to people’s movement and presence. The result is a fully walkable display where media and material merge, dissolving the boundaries between structure and content. Above, a mirrored ceiling enhances the effect. It reflects the dynamic images projected on the wall and floor, creating an illusion of infinite height and depth. This interplay of light, reflection, and motion immerses visitors in a constantly transforming digital landscape.
A Reactive and Multisensory Space
A custom tracking system, also developed by ASB, brings the environment to life through motion detection, allowing different “scenes” to unfold as people move through the space. Each surface acts as a living screen that responds to presence and transforms the perception of place.
The Mammoth Scene, referencing SOPREMA’s iconic logo, animates the figure of a mammoth that appears as visitors approach, leaving luminous footprints across the floor accompanied by ambient and natural sounds. The PVC Membranes Scene evokes the company’s roofing materials, with virtual membranes unrolling toward the wall in response to movement. Finally, the Disco Scene transforms the space into a vibrant, playful dance floor — a homage to pop culture and the joy of interaction. Each scene demonstrates how architecture can cease to be a static backdrop and become an active participant, dynamically responding to human behavior.
Courtesy of ASB GlassFloor
Courtesy of ASB GlassFloor
Sound completes the installation through a network of speakers synchronized with the visual content, creating a fully immersive atmosphere. Every movement, light transition, and sound effect contributes to a unified experience that connects architecture, media, and emotion.
This fusion of design, light, and movement points toward a future where buildings cease to be mere containers for experiences and become experiences themselves. Architecture no longer simply frames events, but it mediates them. Space ceases to be a stage and becomes a sensitive organism where technology and perception merge to create atmosphere.