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, UAEtype: immersive entertainment, attractionsize: ~100,000 ft²disciplines: lighting, control back to projects