Dubai Opera – Studio House Lighting Upgrade

Advanced LED Lighting & Control System Retrofit for a Flagship Cultural Venue.

Dubai Opera is a flagship cultural venue within the Opera District, designed as a 2,000-seat, multi-format performing arts center capable of transforming between theatre, concert hall, and flat-floor configurations. The Studio, a critical component of the venue, is used for rehearsals, smaller-scale performances, and experimental productions.

Oasis Enterprises was engaged to design, supply, install, and commission a complete replacement of the Studio’s end-of-life house lighting system, enhancing lighting levels, operational flexibility, and integration with the venue’s theatrical production lighting console. Delivered scope included:

• High-efficiency, color-changing LED luminaires engineered to exceed 300 lux at finished floor level, validated through detailed DIALux photometric simulation and calculation
• A flexible control system architecture using DMX and sACN (Streaming ACN) protocols, fully compatible with the venue’s existing theatrical lighting console for seamless integration between house and stage lighting
• Scene-based control programming, enabling pre-set lighting states for rehearsals and everyday work light, with independent zoning for audience and stage areas
• Safe removal and disposal of the legacy fixed-intensity lighting system, followed by installation, addressing, patching, and full commissioning of the new fixtures and control hardware

The retrofit was executed within an active performance venue, requiring a phased installation strategy, close coordination with venue management around non-operational hours, and careful protection of existing finishes throughout the works. The upgraded system exceeded the specified 300 lux requirement with improved uniformity, delivered full color and intensity control for rapid adaptation across event types, and gave Dubai Opera’s in-house technical team an intuitive system to program and adjust lighting independently.

The project was completed ahead of schedule, with Dubai Opera’s Head of Lighting praising the clarity of the Oasis team’s proposal and the efficiency and professionalism of the installation.