World’s Longest Outdoor LED Lights Up by Dubai Fountains

June 18, 2025 by guest author, Antonia Hamberger

Last week, what might be the most ambitious LED project of the year went live in Dubai: a 418-meter-long and 3-meter-high screen along the promenade by the Dubai Fountains. Since the famous water show is being renovated this summer, an alternative attraction was needed. The result is now the longest (semi-)permanent outdoor LED installation in the Gulf region.

Outdoor Screen at Dubai Mall (Image: Blue Rhine Industries)

Outdoor Screen at Dubai Mall (Image: Blue Rhine Industries)

The Dubai Fountains attract around 100 million visitors every year. The real estate giant Emaar – which owns the entire surrounding retail complex and the Burj Khalifa – didn’t want to disappoint them. So they hired the digital signage integrator Blue Rhine Industries, which had already completed several projects for Emaar, including the largest indoor LED display in Dubai – above the Dubai Mall Aquarium.

Blue Rhine had just 60 days to design and install the outdoor screen which is made up of 1,450 square meters of LED panels from Infiled, with a pixel pitch of 3.91 mm. The mounting system had to be custom-built: a 16U rack with 19-inch rails and specially-made electrical cables. The entire screen runs solely on generator power – a typical Dubai-style project. For content distribution, they used software from Spinetix.

Outdoor Screen at Dubai Mall (Image: Blue Rhine Industries)

Outdoor Screen at Dubai Mall (Image: Blue Rhine Industries)

Since the screen is temporary, Blue Rhine used 222 prefabricated concrete blocks instead of anchoring it to the ground. Each block had to be placed precisely using heavy-duty cranes. The setup also includes housing for four generators – two running and two backups. All cable routes for data and fiber optic lines, including switches and signal distribution, had to be newly installed. At peak times, over 30 engineers, technicians, and project staff worked in shifts on-site, with 2–3 teams running the operation 24/7.

“This is probably the most interesting project we’ve done in a long time,” said John Joseph, Director at Blue Rhine Industries. “Even when I was hesitant, it was our project team saying, ‘We can do this — we want to do this, we will find a way.’ ”

Creating an outdoor installation of this size that can withstand six straight months of Dubai’s summer heat is a major achievement for the team. And while running it on generators isn’t exactly eco-friendly, Emaar did think about reusing the LED panels. Blue Rhine shared that after the six months, the panels will be repurposed as various LED screens around the city or used for events.

  1. Nick says:

    Mistake: Spinetech>SpinetiX

    1. Antonia Hamberger says:

      Absolutely right! Thank you for noticing, mistake corrected.

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