Total Linear Lights : 28 Km of V Stick
Total Pixel : 1,139,144 LED  RGB Pixel
Total Cables: 250 KM Cables

Total Installation Duration: 7 Months Total after client given Greenline
Local Partner : 3S Lighting
Lights Manufacturer : SACO
Rope Access : Gecko – Exterior Installation
Technical Company: Johnson Technical Services LLC – Electrical & Data Work
Total Rope Acess Team : 50 Roof Access Team Member

Linear Lights : V Stick Linear
Control Box: V-Brain Control System ( Power & Data )

The Burj Khalifa media façade is a stunning sight to behold, both day and night. It is a landmark project that has helped to make the Burj Khalifa one of the most iconic buildings in the world.

The media façade is made up of over 28KM linear lights, which used to display a variety of content, including images, videos, and animations. The lights are also used to create stunning lighting effects, which make the Burj Khalifa even more beautiful at night.

The Burj Khalifa media façade is not only a popular tourist attraction, but it is also a money-making machine. Emaar, the owners of the Burj Khalifa, charge a premium for advertising on the media façade. The high demand for advertising space means that the media façade is a major source of revenue for Emaar.

Overall, the Burj Khalifa media façade is a stunning landmark and a money-maker for Emaar. It is a testament to the ingenuity and creativity of the people who built it.

According to Arabian Business, the Advertisement cost of Burj Khalifa starts from USD 70,000 for the 3-minute video during the weekday and increases to USD 100,000 on weekends.

 It’s not just about the money, an attractive Media façade lighting makes a building spectacular at night. Also makes it popular around the city. People can identify the building easily.

Do you know how many companies were involved and how this was done?

So let’s get into deep and see how the media façade is done and how it works.

The Burj Khalifa media façade was originally installed in 2015 as a temporary measure for special events. However, the system was not designed to be permanent, and maintenance became challenging.

The first media façade was made up of pixel dot lights, which were installed without any screws on the façade using a special custom-made clip.

In early 2017, EMAAR approached CD+M Lighting Design Consultant in Dubai to analyze technologies for replacing the existing system, develop specifications and provide procurement management for this significant upgrade to the tower.

Once the design has been finalized, Emaar invited several companies to propose the media façade as per the CD+M design concept.
3S Lighting & SACO Proposed their Slim Pixel linear Lights V Stick. And 3S Lighting & Saco has been awarded to light up the Burj Khalifa with a new Media façade.

V stick is a Pixel Control Linear Light, It means each pixel can control individually. Each pixel has three colors RGB ( RED, GREEN & Blue). Each meter of linear light contains 40 Pixels.  

They started the production of a Customized length V stick also the V-Brain ( Power & Data) Box as per the requirements.
But they find out that electrical and data cable connections are complicated. The wiring layout is one of the complicated parts.

Saco approached a Spanish company to prepare the electrical layout, They use Dynamo Software with parametric modeling tools for the drawing to make it easy to understand at the site for the installation team and also for future maintenance.

One of the main requirements of Emaar is that they can’t make any drill or screw to install the linear lights. Which is a tough job for such a high-rise building. Saco made a customize stainless steel bracket to hold the lights with a vertical fin.

They shipped the V-Stick linear and bracket separately, Local Partner 3S Lighting arrange complete logistic support. And appoint JTS ( Jhonson Technical Services) for the electrical work.

JTS start electrical work at the site and assembling the lights in the 3S lighting warehouse and testing the lights before being sent out to the Burj Khalifa.

In the meantime, Spider access company gecko has been awarded to install the lights on the façade. They are taking lights from the warehouse and site daily basis.
Emaar has given a timeline to finish the project. The deadline is the last week of December 2017. And All the team pushed level best to complete the installation.
Almost 50 spider team members worked day and night. And they are able to install 500 meters a day almost.

A total of 28KM of V Stick Linear Lights has been installed which is around 1,139,144 LED  RGB Pixel. Per meter 40 PIXEL dot.
250 km of cable was used to install the lights.

IT took a total of 7 months to complete after the client gave the green signal.

The whole media façade controller from a Central control room through software. At first, they create media design as per facade size, then the program controller carefully set the timing for each media.

Do you wonder how they do maintenance? How do they find out which light is damaged?
Saco used RDM/DMX Protocol to control the lights.
By RDM protocol, they can see the status of each V-Stick Linear. If any pixel not working they can find out which fixtures are not working and where is the location. So they can send the roof access team to the exact location to rectify the fittings.
If you want more details about DMX and RDM, I made a video to explain those details, you can watch it.

What you see in Burj khalifa is just a pixel control linear lights, Which provide high-quality video output when working altogether. 

At last thing I would to say is that if you want to learn more about façade lighting, You can get our courses, It is a live class course, and I am going to show each detail of façade lighting. Even if you’re just a beginner in the lighting sector, You can be a pro façade lighting expert after the course. So don’t be late, get the course now!

I hope you liked the video, In case if you have any questions feel free to comment, and don’t forget to subscribe to the channel.