Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)

Client: DIFC and RMJM
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Despite the current global economic crunch, Dubai remains the center of finance in the Middle East. The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) – housed in a stone and glass building reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe – is helping to solidify Dubai’s stature in financial markets by serving as the “gateway of unlimited opportunities” for financiers in Western Europe and Eastern Asia.

Situated in the heart of Dubai, the DIFC strikes an impressive pose – an element the center wanted to enhance when it hired Lorenc+Yoo Design to develop concepts for exterior media boards that would convey the center’s dynamism and modernity in a glance. To showcase the DIFC’s commitment to transparency and forward thinking, Lorenc+Yoo designed glass and LED signage systems for the building’s exterior facades, as well as signage options for its massive courtyard. Eight media boards communicate the latest financial news, notices of DIFC events and images from a variety of pedestrian and highway vantage points.

The centerpiece of the concept is the LED-based sculptural series and visitors’ pavilion that sits in the plaza at the building’s entrance. With the energy of Times Square, London and Tokyo, the pavilion marks the beginning of the sprawling one kilometer campus. Pillars of light several stories tall illuminate the shape of a globe while projecting imagery that symbolizes hands reaching for new possibilities. Dubai has positioned itself to be a center of wealth in an economically uncertain world, and the DIFC is poised to continue creating wealth long after the economy recovers.