A respectful and technologically advanced lighting installation for one of the world's most revered Islamic landmarks. LicLLab designed a lighting scheme that honors the mosque's spiritual significance while highlighting its stunning architecture with precision and sensitivity.
Neon Flex
Michael Grubb Studio, UK
Arc Magazine, Issue 147
Beneath Abu Dhabi’s iconic Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a 1,050 sqm permanent exhibition invites visitors into an immersive journey through Islamic history, art, and philosophy — where light itself becomes the primary narrative tool.
Designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates and illuminated by Michael Grubb Studio, the exhibition titled Light & Peace spans five galleries — each with its own core message: Tolerance, Faith, Expressions, the Grand Mosque, and Universal Coexistence.
The underground “black box” environment presented a rare creative opportunity: complete darkness as a design element. Light levels were meticulously controlled to protect sensitive artefacts, with many displays not exceeding 50 lux, while simultaneously creating a deeply atmospheric visitor experience.
LICLLAB was among the manufacturers specified by Michael Grubb Studio for this landmark commission, contributing custom Neon Flex product to the lighting palette of one of the region’s most significant cultural institutions.
The lighting design takes inspiration from the concept that light is a unifying force connecting the celestial and terrestrial realms — every glow within the museum had to feel sacred, warm, and deeply intentional.
The Light and Peace Museum sits within the grounds of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a site of profound spiritual significance visited by millions each year. The exhibition, conceived by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, explores themes of faith, coexistence, and shared humanity through immersive displays that blend art, artefacts, and multimedia storytelling. Lighting this space demanded absolute sensitivity — every luminaire had to honour the mosque's architectural grandeur while supporting the museum's contemplative atmosphere. The design team at Michael Grubb Studio specified an exceptionally low colour temperature of 2000K to evoke the soft golden tones associated with candlelight, dawn, and the phases of the moon — a motif central to Islamic tradition. Finding a manufacturer capable of delivering flexible neon at such an unusual colour temperature, with museum-grade colour consistency and the reliability demanded by a landmark civic institution, proved to be the defining challenge of the project's lighting specification.
LICLLAB rose to the challenge by engineering a custom version of its Limitless Neon product line, precisely calibrated to a 2000K colour temperature — significantly warmer than standard architectural lighting. This ultra-warm output produces soft, golden tones that reinforce the museum's message of peace, reflection, and inner illumination, creating an atmosphere that feels less like artificial lighting and more like a natural, enveloping glow. Manufactured entirely in Italy, each length of Limitless Neon was produced to exacting tolerances, achieving colour uniformity within SDCM ≤ 3 across the entire installation — a critical requirement for a space where even subtle inconsistencies would be immediately perceptible. The flexible form factor of the Neon allowed seamless integration into the museum's curved display environments, flowing organically through exhibition spaces designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates. The result is a lighting installation that carries the mosque's renowned interplay of light and spirituality directly into the museum experience, connecting visitors to the thematic thread of light as a universal symbol of knowledge, peace, and divine presence.
The Light and Peace Museum was featured as a lead case study in Arc Magazine, one of the world's foremost publications for architectural lighting design. The feature highlights the exhibition's innovative approach to immersive museum lighting and the role of carefully specified products — including LICLLAB's custom 2000K Limitless Neon — in achieving the design team's vision. The project was also awarded Gold in Interior Design – Museum/Gallery at the 2025 MUSE Design Awards, recognising the exceptional quality of the spatial and lighting design.