Projection Mapping
The Grand Mosque
In honor of the United Arab Emirates’ 40th anniversary, Obscura created a series of elaborate projections that illuminated two culturally significant landmarks: the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, and the historic Al Jahili Fort in the oasis city of Al Ain.
Inspired by Sheikh Zayed, the first president of the UAE and a driving force behind the country’s independence. His passion for the country, its heritage, and the environment were brought to life through Obscura’s visual narrative.
Drawing from the mosque’s visual geometry, the projections highlighted symmetrical patterns with optical illusions that transformed the mosque into a shimmering mosaic.
Native botanicals and growing vines illuminated architectural details that covered the façade and reached up to the top of it’s four minarets.
24 projectors positioned 600 feet away created a seamless (600’ x 300’) image on the front facade. The four minarets required an additional 20 projectors. All 44 video projectors were synchronized and controlled by Obscura’s custom software and media servers
Finally, a series of images depicting cycles of the moon—the foundation of the Islamic calendar—and stars twinkling at night formally concluded the show. As the illuminations came to an end, a solitary moon rose over the mosque, and the earth rotated over the building’s entrance, representing Sheikh Zayed’s eternal vision for a country and its people.
With no creative brief, criteria restricting any images of people, animals, man made objects, our creative teams worked extensively with the National Day Celebration Committee to create compelling stories for the shows.
Twenty-two years later, the Grand Mosque still retains all its marvel and glory, and easily tops our list as one of the greatest architectural projections ever.
We would go on to do projects that were vastly more complex, requiring triple the amount of projectors, utilizing lumen calculations that were unimaginable at that time.
The world of architectural projection was still largely unexplored at this time. Our achievements at the Grand Mosque still represent the pinnacle of this craft.