The phallic neon object you see above is not an extraterrestrial research lab run by former Vegas casino owners, but a new hotel in Abu Dhabi (what economic crisis?). The curvilinear shell of The Yas Hotel — designed by Asymptote Architecture — is covered in a grid of 5,300+ diamond-shaped steel panels that contain nearly 5,000 LED fixtures, making the structure the world’s largest LED project to date. Book your New Year’s stay now, for only 1000AED (a mere $280!). More neon goodness after the jump.
The Contemporist reports that “New York based lighting designers Arup Lighting worked with Germany based e:cue lighting control to create lighting effects such as color-changing light sequences, and to play customized three dimensional low-resolution video content, on the grid-shell.”
Photos by Bjorn Moerman.