The Dubai Frame

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

A lighting solution so good, it had to be framed!

Dubai is renowned for being a go-to-destination, a city built out of the sand which manages to beautifully combine the Arabic history with modern culture and architecture, and which has become the undisputed corridor between the East and the West. In recent years, the city has established an international reputation for luxury, adventure and its towering ultra-modern cityscape.

Now one of the most recent, and by far one of the most recognisable additions to the Dubai skyline, The Dubai Frame, puts everything into perspective.
Described by The Guardian newspaper as “the biggest picture frame on the planet.”, The Dubai Frame stands at a height of 150 metres and girth of 93 metres. The Frame has two towers connected by a 100-square-metre bridge, with a 25-square-metre glass panel in the middle.

Much like Dubai itself, the landmark unites traditions with modernity in a stunning fashion.
Visitors can see the spectacular skyline of Dubai from two perspectives – on one side of the structure, Old Dubai, the more traditional and historical side of the city, transposed with New Dubai, a vibrant, bustling international metropolis, which seems to embrace the future at every turn. The Dubai Frame was designed by the award-winning architect Fernando Donis of Porsche Design Towers, is considered a top tourist destination, along with the umissable Burj Khalifa and The Burj al Arab.

For a structure as recognisable as this, lighting was an essential and fundamental component in the overall design. The lighting scheme had to respond to the ambition of the project to become a major visitor attraction, and to boldly express its sculptural quality and significance in the night sky. A lighting scheme of this scale required a complex, integrated, state-of-the-art system capable of illuminating the Frame to express both its status and a variety of fluid, ever changing colourful combinations for holiday and event celebrations. This criteria made the Helvar Router solution the perfect choice, as the solution is scalable, flexible, and perfectly designed to integrate seamlessly with other building management systems.

Helvar was chosen to control all internal spaces in the Frame – the external controls were integrated via TCP/IP, which ensures that all lighting in the Frame is linked, and managed automatically by timers. The lighting system combines Helvar routers, relay controls, sensors and mini input units, as well as a computer with the Designer Software Suite, which is the intuitive programming and configuration software which controls the Helvar Router System.

The structure’s lighting system controls the lights on the ground floor, the nezzanine floors, the north and south staircases, and the top viewing deck, and provides BMS integration, GUI, and full integration with the façade lighting – meaning the entire Frame is lit beatifully, both day and night.

“The Dubai Frame is one of the most iconic design and construction projects in the world today. With Helvar’s expertise, an integrated system has put the UAE’s most exciting new attraction in the best possible light.” Vijaya Shankar – Key Account Engineer, Business Technology Solutions, UAE

Dubai, United Arab Emirates