Any professional sporting venue hoping to stay profitable is designed to accomodate a varying sports so it’s always in use. In an attempt to reduce the wasted hours often needed to convert a field, a pair of Dutch companies have developed the 4D Sportsground, which uses rotating three-sided segments to almost instantly transform it for different activities.
One side of the mechanical prisms could be covered in artificial turf, and when they were all rotated into place would form a playable soccer field. But at the push of a button, a side with a harder, smoother surface could be rotated in, facilitating a game of basketball instead. And it doesn’t just have to be limited to sports-friendly surfaces. The third side could be covered in a giant billboard allowing a venue to make money through advertising, or even solar cells so it could help offset its power usage.
For trial purposes, the first venue to install the 4D Sportsground will be a testing venue in Eindhoven, Netherlands, operated by ProFit, which is an organisation that promotes and supports innovation in sports. If successful, the system has the potential to make some facilities usable and profitable 24/7 and all year round. [ProFit via Gizmag]