INFiLED brings touch-interactive LED experience to the world’s tallest hotel

Overview

Set at the heart of Dubai Marina, the Ciel Dubai Marina is the kind of luxury hotel that sets up high expectations, and then exceeds them. It’s currently the world’s tallest hotel, with interior architecture that’s just as unique as that of its exterior.

To enhance the beautifully designed lobby, the Ciel team wanted a large-scale immersive LED wall that would interact with visitors as they approached, and allow them to play with patterns through touch. INFiLED  worked with AV expert Huda Lighting to create a large-scale  3.6m x  6.75m interactive LED wall built from flat and curved panels from our WP Wrap and WP Series.

About Huda Lighting

The team at Huda Lighting has never stood still. With more than 26 years of creating lighting masterpieces for clients on three continents and for every sector, the team continues to grow, to innovate and to evolve its range of products and services so that it carries on fulfilling its vision of being the lighting solution provider of choice.

The Vision: A Lobby To Linger In

In a city of superlatives, how do you stand out? By going taller, that’s how, and now the stunning 377-meter Ciel Dubai Marina is currently making its mark as the world’s tallest hotel, giving guests a possibly-vertigo-inducing panorama of the glittering Dubai skyline and broad sweep of the Arabian Gulf beyond.

In keeping with the double-wow-factor external architecture – including vertically stacked enclosed gardens all the way up the tower –  the Ciel team was looking for a lobby design that would create an almost visceral (in a good way) experience for guests from the moment they entered, and one that would respond directly to them.

They envisaged a haptic, interactive and fluid experience for every visitor as they journeyed through a gallery-like lobby resplendent with marble, glass and metal. One important element to bring the vision to life would be a larger-than-lifesize LED screen that integrated seamlessly with the curvature of the lobby wall, with movement-based content that dynamically responded as guests approached, and supported touch interaction for an engaging, immersive experience.

The Challenge: Weird Walls, Constrained Space. And All The Touching.

To live up to the expectations and aesthetics of such a high grade hotel, the visual had to be perfect, but that wasn’t the only challenge. The team also had to consider:

• The complexity of installation: The lobby design was defined by flowing curves, shifting reflections and shapes picked out in bands of layered light. At the foundation of this were bespoke wall surfaces – some curved, some flat, some in-between.
• Constant prodding: The LED wall would be a focal point of a high-traffic area so it would need to be robust enough to cope with prodding, stroking, finger and handprints as well as daily sanitizing.
• Close-up viewing: In keeping with the hotel standards, images needed to be crisp close up, and able to adapt to the lobby brightness levels.
• Staying cool and quiet: Buzzing from traditional fan-based cooling systems would distract from the luxurious ambience of the lobby, so it was important to think differently about thermal management.
• Maintenance: With the lobby open 24 hours, the setup needed LED screens that were easy and fast to maintain.

The Solution: Robust, Lightweight LEDs

The INFiLED team worked closely in collaboration with Huda Lighting and the Ciel team in the design process to select and install LED screens that would effectively meet the project requirements. We were off to a fast start as the Ciel team were quick to fully understand the capabilities of the screen, and hats off to Huda Lighting for developing an extremely well-structured project plan.

The setup was built from a combination of LED panels from INFiLED’s WP Wrap Series, together with WP1.2 LITE panels from the WP Series. These series are designed to be compatible with each other for the ultimate in flexibility, perfect for very individual and creative setups.

For this very complex installation in a constrained space, the team engineered a giant 3.6m x  6.75m bespoke LED wall from a blend of flat and curved cabinets. The WP Wrap Series’ 120 degree curve gave a wide viewing angle, and its flatness tolerance of less than 0.1mm ensured those curves were oh-so-smooth, making each visitor’s experience even more immersive.

Other technical highlights included:

• Super sharp images, even at close range: The LED wall had a screen resolution of w2880 x h5400, and was made up of panels with a fine pixel pitch and black screen with high contrast ratio, giving each visitor an optimum visual experience from every distance.
• Silent operation: INFiLED’s LED technology improves thermal management by reducing thermal output as well as eliminating operational noise. This means no sound distractions for visitors, consistent color temperatures and a longer panel lifecycle.
• Strength without weight: LED panels in the WP Wrap and WP Series are designed to be lightweight and non-bulky, even with installation fixings.Panel edges measure just 5 mm, fattening up to only 37mm with the slimline mounting brackets.
• Easy maintenance: No scrabbling around the back for this installation! The LED modules are front-access and come with a click-and-go magnetic tool that prevents damage to LEDs as they are cared for.

The Result: High-Impact Immersion for Hotel Guests

We’re proud to have played a part in bringing the client’s vision to life with a shapeshifting screen that performs beautifully for the visitors and behaves just as beautifully behind the scenes. The play-as-you-go interactive installation has proven popular, becoming a focal point for group shots and selfies, and contributing to the gallery-like feel of the lobby.

For more examples of our WP and WP Wrap Series in real life, head on over to Germany for curvy work with SIGMA AV, or to Spain for a massive auditorium backdrop at MGS Seguros. Staying in Dubai? Check out our large scale external LED screens for the Fairmont Dubai Skyline Hotel and for the A Tower at Sheik Zayed Rd.

Have questions? Get in touch. We’re here to help.