Level Kids – The Chalhoub Group

The Chalhoub Group wanted to bring engaging and fun digital elements to their new concept retail store in Dubai, named Level Kids – a luxury retail store just for kids. The store design is split into three levels, each level with its own theme – sea, land and sky. Our brief was to introduce a family of characters across a series of LED screens, cleverly integrated into the architecture of the store.

At the main entrance of the store is a ten metre LED display that sits behind a submarine sculpture. This screen poses as a window into the sea as creatures move across it. Each animal has its own personality and behaviours, from Sebastien the Shark to Chester the Catfish. Rather than being a looping linear animation, the underwater scene has been built using the gaming platform Unity, allowing the characters to interact with each other in a multitude of unpredictable ways, appearing on screen at unscheduled intervals. In this way the ocean scene is never the same twice, with each customer viewing a unique underwater moment.

In the central atrium of the store, columns run up through the space clad in high resolution LED video panels, creating a giant canvas of moving colour and light. This is where the theme of the store (sea, land and sky) is illustrated as a whole. On the ground floor we have created another underwater world, with fish and jellyfish appearing to swim seamlessly across the columns. As we move up to the first floor, new characters are introduced onto the land. Henry the Hare hops from rock to rock as butterflies flutter around. On the second floor the pillars reach up into the sky with flocks of birds swooping through the clouds.

These digital elements are dynamic and fun, complimenting the high-end interior of the store with additional movement and colour. They also serve to introduce a family of endearing characters that are being used throughout print media and merchandise.