At The Top, Burj Khailfa gets a digital facelift

A woman touches an interactive replica of the Burj Khalifa, titled Elements of the Burj, before going to the expanded At The Top, Burj Khalifa on Thursday. - Photo by Leslie Pableo

The regions's most visited star-attraction At The Top, Burj Khailfa, has gotten bigger and better with its new digital makeover. In addition to expanding its reception area four times its original size, At The Top, Burj Khalifa reception in the lower ground floor of The Dubai Mall has undergone an aesthetic facelift. Visitors now step into the spacious lobby with several ticketing counters as well as digital self-ticketing kiosks.
In a bid to enhance the visitor experience, the new At The Top, Burj Khalifa has been digitised using state-of-the art technology and visitors are able to become part of the installations by just their presence and body movement.
'The Movement Art wall', is a giant video wall that creates art work using body movement as you walk close to it. The movement art wall comprises 24 smaller screens that fuse together and become one big screen 8m X 4m.
"There are ceiling connects and sensors that are triggered by motion and get interactive. As you walk closer to the screen at a certain diameter the ceiling connects and sensors sense your presence, this then converts into a computer code or algorithm that transfers your presence to a digital form of art. With people passing back and forth you create different themes which cannot be predicted and every visitor's movement will create a unique digital art - a unique Burj Khalifa experience."
The one-of-a kind custom-made digital LED wall for Burj customers to take pictures (LED wall for digiphotos) and super-impose them on different day and night shots of the Burj Khalifa.
Visitors then pass by the 'Dubai Then & Now' digital tunnel, which provides an audio-visual narration of five key eras of Dubai's history. "It starts with eternal Dubai that celebrates the emirate's glorious heritage though the city's transition phase from 1840 to 1890; the trading era of 1890 to 1950; the modern era from 1950 to 2000, and Dubai today, providing a powerful picture of the achievements of the city.
Ahmad Al Falasi, executive director of group operations at Emaar Properties, said: "We have leveraged the latest advancements in digital technology to ensure that every visit, every time, by anyone will assure them delightful surprises. The spacious, aesthetic and digitally enhanced reception will significantly add to the convenience of our visitors from across the world."
As the guests set to start the At the Top, Burj Khalifa journey, the ambience changes; white gradient glass walls provide an illusion of clouds, highlighting the heights they will scale soon and giving a first glimpse of a four-metre illuminated model of Burj Khalifa.
The last section of the tour shows a replica of Burj Khalifa titled "Elements of the Burj". It comes to life with digital projections in four different themes - cloud, water, sand and glass - providing visitors a feel of the vastness and height of the tower. The view of the Burj Khalifa model is hidden from the central reception area by 'magic glass' - a cutting edge technological application that enables visitors on the outside to get just a glimpse of the model, as if looking through early morning clouds.
A dedicated app has also been launched, available for free download from AppStore for iPhones, and Google Play for Android devices. With the app, in addition to gaining an overview of the attraction, users can plan and book the journey, explore the various facets and even create their own shareable 'video story' with a 15-second short film from atop the global icon.
At 828 metres (2,716.5 ft), the 200-plus-storey Burj Khalifa has 160 habitable levels, the most of any building in the world.

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