Reawakening the Lost World of Atlantis
Reawakening the Lost World of Atlantis
AVI-SPL is reshaping the Lost World Aquarium at Atlantis, The Palm with an engaging new audiovisual experience
Tucked within the network of marine habitats at Atlantis, The Palm, the Lost Chambers Aquarium has long served as a marine-life counterpoint to the resort’s headline attraction, The World’s Largest Waterpark. For years it offered a calm drift past static displays and fragments of a mythological storyline, providing a welcome breather between the resort’s more dramatic visitor experiences. It remained quietly popular, yet as expectations for immersive environments continued to grow, its original set pieces and gentle narrative no longer reflected the direction Atlantis, The Palm wants its attractions to embody. With the resort leaning ever further into storyled environments, the decision was taken to reinterpret the aquarium for a new generation of guests.
Seventeen years after the original opening, the result is the Depths of Discovery at the Lost World Aquarium, a complete reinvention launched by Atlantis Dubai in partnership with AVI-SPL and AVI-SPL’s Experience Technology Group (XTG). The familiar visitor route has been overlaid with an extensive audiovisual ecosystem designed to restore movement, character and narrative intent, driven by large-format projection, interactive triggers, educational kiosks and a newly conceived spatial audio environment.
Creative technologist Juanjo Albala and design engineer Aaron Leishman led the early conceptual and technical design for the 16-chamber attraction on behalf of AVI-SPL XTG. Once the creative packages were devised, execution onsite fell to AVI-SPL’s integration team, led on the ground by project engineer James Taylor. His task was to translate the projection studies, system designs and bill of materials into a workable installation that could be delivered inside an existing architectural shell which offered limited flexibility.
Content development formed a central part of the early design phase. With a background in underwater cinematics that aligned naturally with the revised storyline, BoraBora Studios was brought onboard to develop original characters and animated sequences built around new intellectual property, giving Atlantis, The Palm material that can evolve through future updates, seasonal overlays and merchandising. According to AVI-SPL business development manager Neil Edden, the chemistry at the first joint briefing set the tone for the whole development. “The team at Atlantis got it straight away, and from that moment the ideas quickly snowballed.”
Working inside an existing space was the defining challenge. Unlike a new build, where infrastructure can be adapted around the technology, the aquarium’s architecture left little room for repositioning equipment or adjusting the envelope. “A retrofit like this always requires rapid re-engineering,” says Taylor. “And because our timeline was incredibly short, we didn’t have the luxury of rethinking concepts from scratch. We had to make it work.”
Prior to being appointed to deliver the full interior, AVI-SPL was initially tasked with outfitting the entrance zone, which now features a range of 1.9pp Philips dvLED screens constructed from 7319, 7219 and 7224 series panels and powered by Novastar VX600 and H-Series processors. Once the wider scope was awarded, the project moved into engineering and installation, all bound to a fixed October reopening date.
Unexpected engineering challenges emerged early in the process. When ceiling cut-outs were opened in the Medusa room, for example, it was seen that the proximity of the projectors was close to the edge of the open-top tank, forcing the team to resolve the issue onsite with Atlantis, The Palm and the MEP contractors to keep the programme on track. The projectors above the tank had to be housed in custom fibreglass enclosures, a first for Taylor. “Electronics and salt water don’t mix,” he notes. “Designing waterproof tubs for the projectors was the only way to guarantee long-term reliability against any water splashing from the tank.”
This on-the-ground problem solving was most evident in The Lost Chamber, the aquarium’s most complex projection environment. With 360° coverage across the walls, ceiling and floor, the room required 25 projectors to be hidden within fabricated fibreglass panels or reworked keystone structures. Several of the planned positions became unworkable once the internal construction was exposed, forcing rapid adjustments. Lenses were swapped, mounting points lowered and fibreglass elements cut, rebuilt and re-themed to preserve coverage while keeping hardware out of sight. “Finding the correct positions took an enormous number of hours,” says Albala. Taylor adds that maintaining the aesthetic was always the priority. “The result looks identical to the original architecture, but the projectors can still be serviced and operate properly as there are removable access panels and ventilation built in.”
Across the attraction, more than 60 Epson EB-PU laser 3LCD projectors are driven from 14 Pixera One and Pixera Two media servers in Dual, Quad and Octo configurations. While AVI-SPL has used Pixera extensively on past projects, Taylor highlights why it was vital in this instance. “Pixera’s support for 3D OBJ mapping was a major advantage. For The Lost Chamber, Storm and The Ocean’s Eye chambers, we were able to bring in 3D models of the spaces and have Pixera wrap the content around them, along with camera alignment systems handling the warp and edge blends. This was done with Scalable Displays for the large spaces and Epson camera alignment for the smaller spaces. That level of functionality is essential for rapid deployment of complex projection systems.”
Audio integration demanded similar ingenuity. With loudspeakers spread across twisting corridors and heavily themed structures, preserving the visual design was as pressing as meeting the acoustic requirements. Subwoofers have been hidden behind acoustic grilles, while many point-source units have been positioned high into architectural recesses.
In total, more than 140 loudspeakers are distributed along the winding chambers, ranging from Fohhn AT series point-source units and low-frequency enclosures to the LX-600 columns in The Lost Chamber. These are supported by K-array Anakonda KAN200 and Tornado KT2C elements, along with Panphonics directional panels where narrower coverage was required.
The audio and logic backbone is provided by a Q-SYS Core X20 with Dante I/O, while a Crestron CP4 manages the wider exhibit automation control layer. Staff can trigger seasonal content variations or perform system checks directly from the aquarium’s central AV office, without having to enter the server room.
Signal transport to the projectors is supported by Lightware CAT extenders, used to carry the video feeds from the racks distributed throughout the site. Additional equipment includes OAK-D depth cameras for gesture-based interactions, Enttec nodes feeding the lighting network, Simply NUC media PCs, Iiyama ProLite touchscreens, Samsung 0.8mm signage displays and a 1.5m Pufferfish sphere display. The IR receivers, provided by Light Up Toys, connect to a Raspberry Pi which then connects to the Crestron control system over Ethernet via UDP commands.
Beyond the attention-grabbing projections, the attraction introduces a new interactive layer built around a handheld “Trident”. Visitors point the Trident towards small IR receivers integrated into set pieces (Trident Pucks), triggering corresponding media, lighting or audio events. Although the underlying principle was familiar to Leishman from previous projects, it was the first time the concept had been deployed for Atlantis, The Palm. “Once the IR receiver gets the signal,” he notes, “the control system handles everything from timeline events on the media servers through to lighting and audio cues.”
“Throughout the venue we also created more than 25 interactive kiosks featuring educational content about species inside the tanks, as well as the conservation projects Atlantis Dubai is working on worldwide to protect our oceans,” explains Albala. “This system is connected to a custom-built CMS, allowing their team to update the content whenever needed.”
With AVI-SPL responsible for the project’s complete end-to-end delivery, despite the large volume of equipment, almost none of it is visible. Racks were prebuilt offsite to accelerate installation, and most cabling is concealed within scenic structures or existing voids. To support the exhibit’s long-term operation, AVI-SPL is also delivering a managed service component that builds on its existing presence at Atlantis, The Palm. The company already maintains the resort’s background audio systems and added dedicated technicians for the new Lost World Aquarium.
As the opening date approached, the final weeks became intensely collaborative. “We worked very long hours, but everyone pulled together,” says Taylor. “From our technicians to our XTG team, to Atlantis, The Palm and their MEP contractors, everyone wanted to make it happen. That determination was essential. You can design something perfectly, but in the real world you always find something you didn’t expect. For a retrofit, you have to react quickly and rely on teamwork.”
Early feedback from Atlantis, The Palm and its parent company Kerzner International has been overwhelmingly positive. “Feedback from the team was that the result is everything Atlantis wanted and more,” Edden reflects. “The experience matched the renders exactly, which is rare for a project of this scale and complexity.”
For Albala, the project stands out for its narrative ambition layered onto a challenging architectural footprint. For Leishman, the pace and technical constraints will remain a lasting memory. For Taylor, The Lost Chamber is the highlight. “It’s such a complex room,” he says. “Seeing how well everything came together in such a short period is something that I’m really proud of.”
The result undoubtedly demonstrates AVI-SPL’s capability to deliver large-scale, story-led experiential environments where technology and creativity are tightly interwoven. As Atlantis, The Palm continues expanding its portfolio of immersive attractions, the Lost World Aquarium now provides a flexible platform for future content evolution backed by an infrastructure designed to grow with the story.
