The future of pedestrian life in Abu Dhabi seems far from pedestrian.
Four NYU Abu Dhabi students have developed an electronic touchscreen system to transform ordinary underpasses along the Corniche waterfront into bright canvases of LED public art. VersaTiles would allow passers-by to express themselves on the walls of the underpass by pressure painting color patterns on a matrix of LED lights.
The project, a combination of engineering ingenuity and artistic vision, won the Art & Design Category at the 2016 Innovator Show, an annual event and competition in Abu Dhabi to showcase innovations from the UAE community.
Visitors can leave their unique imprint on the wall without vandalizing the underpass ... they can choose to create their own masterpiece or embellish an existing one.
VersaTiles team members Hamdan Alhosani, Titas Geryba, Saad Sultan, and Pranav Mehta, all from the Class of 2019, received AED 10,000 from the Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee to further develop their prototype.