the brief
a 100,000 square foot immersive entertainment
venue in one of Dubai's largest malls - 25+ individually themed worlds,
each one a completely different environment. content-creation focused,
heavy on interactive lighting, neon, mirror rooms and sound-reactive
installations. lighting wasn't just part of the experience - it was
the experience. we were brought in by a member of the project management team who
had worked with us on a previous major international event. the
concept went through several evolutions, including a version in another
country, before landing on the final Dubai venue - each iteration
bringing lessons that fed into the design.
our role
we were the sole lighting consultant and designer across the entire site for over two and a half years - and we're still involved today. every room was a unique design challenge. fluorescent tubes doing a dodgy flicker to emulate a sketchy old laundromat. traffic lights using morse code signals. signage that breathes with the room on DALI and DMX rather than sitting on an isolated circuit. an ocean of chinese lanterns in the ceiling with wave and chase effects rippling through them. the variety is what makes it special. every single space is different to the last, and every one of them had to feel completely authentic to its own world.one system
the control architecture was a challenge in itself. the client had
split the lighting package between two contractors - one doing DALI,
one doing DMX and pixel-based work. every room had both types of
fixture in it, and the contractors were pushing for separate controllers.
we insisted on a single headend - one
brain running the whole venue. we specified nodes with both DALI and DMX outputs, one or more per
room, all feeding back to a single controller talking out to media
servers and show control playback. construction threw its own problems
at us - overseas contractors, delays, budget cuts that killed the
pre-visualisation workflow. we ended up rethinking and redesigning
sections on the fly during commissioning, working closely with a
trusted programmer to get it right under pressure.
project details
location: Dubai, UAE type: immersive entertainment, attraction size: ~100,000 ft² disciplines: lighting, control back to projects