Dubai, UAE, 2021
In the heart of the city’s traditional centre, the Al Shindagha neighbourhood is known as one of Dubai’s most important historical districts. Originally a hub for local and international trade, the area has now been part of an ongoing restoration project aiming to highlight the city’s history and culture. Carried out by Dubai Municipality’s Architectural Heritage, this development expands across 1.5 square kilometres and will feature the reconstruction of multiple historic buildings, museums, theatres as well as fascinating new cultural attractions.
The opening of the Al Shindagha Museum marked the beginning of this ambitious development for the city of Dubai. Today, over 150 buildings have already been renovated, making Dubai Creek the venue of one of the largest open-air museums in the world.
This one-of-a-kind project includes the development of 25 pavilions through various phases over several years. From the travels at sea to the nomadic life, from the unique flora and fauna to the trade exchanges, each exhibition house will cover 11 themes to commemorate all specific historical and cultural elements of Dubai’s Emirati heritage. Since the launch of the first phase in 2018, XYZ Technologies was specifically mandated by the Dubai Municipality and Dubai Culture to assist in the scenography and audio-visual integration of several of these pavilions.
The Al Shindagha Museum project is of remarkable magnitude, both for its sheer ambition and its technical requirements and complexity. Under the creative direction of our partners GSM Project, Acciona and Empty, our team of designers and technicians was able to deliver custom technical designs and innovative solutions for every phase of the project. To bring these concepts to life, XYZ Technologies designed a wide palette of digital interaction and immersive solutions to engage, excite and educate guests. Each pavilion now offers a carefully curated demonstration of tradition and heritage through the lens of contemporary technical scenography.
The technological integration work for houses such as the Al Maktoum public museum, one of the oldest buildings in the region, brought its own set of challenges for our team. Each installation required site-sensitive interventions to protect the commemorative integrity of the sites. Thanks to XYZ Technologies’ expertise, our seamless installations are now impeccably dispersed across the various museums and provide visitors with an exceptionally rich multi-sensory experience.
Our high-quality projectors were used to ensure an optimal definition of immersive films and video mapping on a variety of frames, mounted panels, and stretched fabrics. XYZ also provided a room-filling, high-performance audio system that ensures an immersive and optimal soundscape. Several LCD touchscreens and interactive functionalities such as RFID readers and joysticks have been added in certain museums to maximize their entertainment dimension. In addition to the technical design, installation, and calibration, the team oversaw the network configuration in all pavilions.
To ensure the high performance of the installations, they were also given the maintenance and operation contract. XYZ has also provided GSM Project, Acciona and Empty with interior and exterior lighting equipment.
Lighting design Technical Design Scenography Research and development (development of interactives) Equipment supply Installation Programming and calibration
GSM Project Acciona Empty