Light Design for Al'Ula Art Residency (2024)

In January 2024, I was commissioned by The Aimes to design the lighting for their Art and Design residency exhibitions in Al'Ula, Saudi Arabia. These exhibitions were the culmination for a 3 month residency for 12 artists from across the globe, and they took place across two sites - a 12,000m² date farm, comprising of hundreds of date palm trees, and a 2,500m² yard looking out upon a row of Al'Ula's mountainous rock formations.

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Throughout the month of the project, I designed lighting for these entire spaces from the ground up, as well as responding to and lighting each individual artwork installation - all of which had a unique approach. For the art residency, this included mapping out 160 pathfinding lights, and over 80 tree uplighters, which were specifically placed to highlight each distinct artwork area, as well highlighting the verticality of the space, and creating a soft ambient fill. In addition to these environmental lights, each artwork was uniquely lit with a mixture of spotlights, wash lights and par lights, each one tuned according to the materiality, environmental context as well as the artists' intention of the artwork - all the while keeping in mind the particular aesthetic of the city of Al'Ula.

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The intention of the project was to create a balance between making a dynamic, warm space that was beautiful to spend time in, whilst leading the viewer around the space and presenting the artworks in a way that let them take centre stage.