One Za'abeel.
Digital art for One&Only One Za'abeel, Dubai, for Kerzner International. Animation across The Link's screens, day and night.
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The challenge
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One Za'abeel is a Dubai landmark with a record breaking cantilever, The Link, 100 metres above the city. Inside it, a restaurant hall with six Michelin rated chefs, a Middle Eastern food hall, a live music space and the destination bar, The Sphere. The Bridge of Love runs its length, lined with a flowing chain of screens, and Tapasake, an open air restaurant and infinity pool, sits on top.
Kerzner International needed content for every screen that would complement the building and hold attention without overpowering the spaces it lives in.
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The screens
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A site visit mid-construction set the rules. Colour and light bounce off reflective surfaces, the views run 360 degrees, and the sky changes everything, so every piece needed a day and a night version. Test content played on the real screens until the balance was right between impressive and liveable.
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The craft
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Arrazuna's ten screens below the bridge use forced perspective that reads from the walkway. Tapasake's sails loop gently in day and night versions, taking their cue from the yacht styled deck. The Sphere's triangular dome is mapped with abstract colour that shifts through the day.
The Bridge of Love reimagines the Paris love lock bridge, couples customise a digital lock on their phone, cast it to the screens and watch it travel the bridge, every lock recalled forever. It runs as a Notch block on a Disguise media server alongside pre rendered loops built in Cinema 4D.
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The Arrazuna screens
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Client Kerzner International. Direction and production Mainframe. TD Jim Hunt. Notch and mapping Gate 1.