AYA Universe Dubai – Observations on a Permanent Immersive Installation
- Benjamin Brostian
- Dec 15, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 18, 2025
AYA Universe Dubai as an Immersive Entertainment Park
I recently spent an afternoon at AYA Universe in Dubai — a permanent immersive installation spanning roughly 3,700 square meters, positioning itself explicitly as an immersive entertainment park.Having worked in experience design for many years and closely observing the rapid global expansion of location-based immersive formats, I was particularly interested in how this concept operates within a market that is currently investing heavily in cultural and experience-driven infrastructure.
AYA Universe is not a museum — and it makes no attempt to be one. Its focus is clearly on entertainment. The installation consists of twelve independent zones, which visitors can explore at their own pace — whether for half an hour or several hours. There is no overarching narrative arc and no educational framework. Instead, the experience unfolds as a sequence of self-contained sensory spaces: some projection-based, others kinetic, others defined by light, water, reflections, and physical materials. Transitional areas connect these spaces, supporting orientation and visitor flow.
Spatial Dramaturgy and Visitor Flow
The circulation design avoids bottlenecks while never feeling like a rigid, prescribed route. Entry begins with a corridor that gradually introduces light and color before opening into the first major space. From there, movement is encouraged but not enforced. Certain zones naturally attract and distribute visitors without imposing a formal sequence.
Visually dense environments — such as LED installations, large-scale projection mapping, or interactive elements — are deliberately offset by calmer transition zones. These pauses reduce sensory fatigue and overstimulation, offering moments of orientation and relief. In formats where visitors are exposed to continuous stimuli for 60 to 120 minutes, these quieter intermissions are both necessary and effective.
The rooms themselves vary significantly in scale and design. Some rely on full-room projections featuring abstract forms, cosmic imagery, or organic motion. Others emphasize physical installations: kinetic light objects, mirrored environments creating depth illusions, or illuminated floor surfaces. Importantly, none of the spaces feel like placeholders or unfinished ideas. Each room stands on its own, coherently designed — even though some resonated more strongly with me than others.
Content as Atmosphere
AYA Universe deliberately avoids narrative storytelling or thematic interpretation. Its content is intentionally abstract and atmospheric, designed for immediate impact, visual presence, and social shareability — rather than reflection or long-term conceptual engagement. This approach is consistent throughout the installation and aligns clearly with its positioning as accessible, low-threshold entertainment.
Several installations are particularly effective spatially. One room creates an almost infinite sense of depth through synchronized LED surfaces and a reflective floor. Another features illuminated, touch-sensitive columns that respond to movement, enabling spontaneous interaction between visitors and space. A different zone uses water as a central element, placing visitors at the heart of a cascading waterfall environment.
The experience is clearly tailored to a broad audience — families, tourists, and social-media-oriented visitors — and fully delivers on those expectations.
Sound Design and Integration
Each zone features its own acoustic environment, typically composed of ambient layers, synthetic textures, or rhythmic elements. The integration of sound with light and space feels functional rather than distinctive. In some rooms, audio enhances the visual impact; in others, it remains a subtle background layer rather than a defining feature.
Context Within the Experience Economy
AYA Universe represents a clearly defined category: permanent, ticketed, entertainment-first immersive venues. It is neither a traveling exhibition nor a brand-specific activation. The system is designed for throughput, repeatability, and social distribution. The apparent success of this model is underscored by the recent opening of another immersive venue in Dubai — House of Hype, which takes an almost opposite approach.
This model offers clear advantages. After the initial capital investment, revenue streams are relatively predictable, with manageable operational complexity. The concept is inherently replicable, and similar formats already exist across numerous countries, with new ones emerging regularly. For operators and investors, this represents a controlled entry point into the immersive entertainment market.
Despite its entertainment focus, AYA Universe still provides valuable insights for brands and cultural institutions. It demonstrates how spatial sequencing, accessibility, and operational clarity can combine to form a commercially viable immersive experience.
Relevance for Practitioners
For those designing immersive experiences — whether for brands, museums, or entertainment formats — AYA Universe is less interesting for innovation than for execution. It shows how large-scale visitor flow can be managed effectively and how stimulation and calm can be meaningfully balanced.
The format fulfills its own promise. It does not aim to set new standards or provoke discourse — and in an increasingly saturated immersive exhibition market, standing out through spectacle alone has become difficult. What it offers instead is visually accessible entertainment within a well-organized framework.
The key question, therefore, is not whether AYA Universe represents the future of immersive experiences. Rather, it serves as a reference for a specific model: permanent, entertainment-driven, production-focused, and designed for broad accessibility.
