NEOM Sindalah Tower Lighting

What it is

Sindalah is the first completed island of the NEOM development on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. Across the island, dozens of architectural lighting features, glowing marble monoliths, illuminated entrance pillars, and sculpted obelisks, are lit by programmable colour-changing fixtures.

I built the software that the venue team uses to control all of that lighting. From a single tablet, an operator can select any feature on the island and change its colour, brightness, and lighting scene in real time. My role covered the full software side of the project: the operator interface, the control logic behind it, and the on-site setup and commissioning that made it run reliably for the live venue.

The result

The lighting can be driven live during events or set to run pre-programmed scenes. Colours can sweep across the island, react to a schedule, or be tuned by hand for a specific occasion. The photos below are from the commissioning phase on-site.

One of the marble obelisks during commissioning. The colour is fully adjustable; the same feature can move through any scene the operator selects.

A building entrance at night. The marble pillar and the stair treads are each lit independently and controlled from the same tablet.

On the ground

I was on-site at Sindalah for the three-week deployment, working with the lighting team and commissioning the system feature by feature. NEOM Sindalah is a closed, high-trust development, so the work also meant coordinating with multiple contractor teams and operating within tight access and security requirements.

Out of respect for the client's security requirements, I keep the technical details of the system private. I am happy to talk through the engineering in a private conversation or interview.

What this project demonstrates

• Delivering at venue scale. A live, operator-controlled lighting system covering an entire island development, running for the public phase of the venue.
• Shipping under serious constraints. Three weeks, on-site, solo, for a state-tier client. The system was operational at the end of the build window.
• Working at a high-trust venue. The access controls, the coordination with multiple contractor teams, and operating within the client's security requirements were all part of the deliverable.
• Owning the full software side. Operator interface, control logic, and on-site commissioning, end to end, as the only software engineer on the project.