Double-Curved LED Store Facade, Winding LED Ribbons Light Up Duty-Free At Abu Dhabi’s Expanded Airport

January 4, 2024 by Dave Haynes

This is a nice project involving the duty-free operator at Abu Dhabi’s main airport – with the main highlights a clever “double-curved” digital facade and big curving LED ribbon inside the store.

The entry to the store has a half-circle tight-pitch LED that is curved both vertically and horizontally – like part of a sphere, and then the lower part over the entrance uses a set of thin LED strips that run sync’d up ambient, experiential content. The strips are an interesting feature and would reduce the capital cost for that part of the project, though using maybe 20% of the LED needed for a fully clad feature probably doesn’t mean 20% of the cost, because of the custom mounting needed to pull that off.

Then there is a 4mm pitch LED ribbon that runs runs all through the store, with the display enclosed in metalwork that hides the back-end of the LED modules/cabinets and any cabling.

A quick Google for the new Terminal A, opened a couple of months ago, suggests the architects went hard with the curving theme, including these arches over the entries to the main reyail tenants.

The other nice thing about this job is the preview video produced about the job by systems integrator/solutions provider Blue Rhine Industries, which is based down the desert highway in Dubai. Less than two minutes. Succinct. A real person on screen instead of an annoying AI-generated voice narration. And no loud electronic dance track in the background.

A good lesson for marketers on how to showcase completed work.