Precision control powers Arena Milano’s 3,785-universe Olympic media façade: the largest in Europe
Located in Milan’s redeveloped Santa Giulia district, Arena Milano (also known as Arena di Santa Giulia and recently renamed the UNIPOL Dome) has rapidly emerged as one of Europe’s most distinctive new venues. Commissioned by CTS EVENTIM and designed by David Chipperfield Architects in collaboration with Arup, the elliptical arena blends the classical language of the Roman amphitheatre with contemporary architectural precision.
In February 2026, Arena Milano took centre stage as it hosted ice hockey during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. In addition, it is the only one among the three Milan venues of Milano Cortina 2026 that will also be used for the Paralympic Games. Across the Games’ closing weekend and beyond, the venue’s monumental media façade became a dynamic public canvas for messaging, animated graphics and event moments, visible to spectators onsite and audiences worldwide.
Delivering that façade is Italian architectural lighting specialist Griven, whose bespoke LED system transforms the arena’s outer rings into one of the largest media façades ever realised in Europe.
The installation comprises 54,560 bespoke linear LED bars extending nearly 50 km in total length and incorporating around 400,000 individually controllable pixels. The system operates across 3,785 DMX universes, distributed via Art-Net (unicast) and supported by an extensive site-wide cabling and power infrastructure.
To support reliable data distribution at this scale, ENTTEC supplied 397 x Storm 10 Ethernet-to-DMX gateways (custom built with no PSU) and provided technical support during commissioning. Storm 10 formed the Art-Net-to-DMX distribution layer across the façade’s segmented architecture, helping maintain synchronised playback across the venue’s three continuous rings.
ENTTEC’s ELM (ENTTEC LED Mapper) software was used for pixel mapping and configuration, enabling Griven to manage the façade as a unified, addressable media surface while preserving architectural coherence.
Project details:
Location: Milan, Italy
Venue: Arena Milano / UNIPOL Dome (Arena di Santa Giulia)
Events: Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games (February 2026) / Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games (March 2026)
Client: CTS EVENTIM AG & Co. KGaA
Architect: David Chipperfield Architects
Lighting design: Arup
Media façade system: Griven GRAPH-I-PIX RGBW CUSTOM
Pixel count: ~400,000 individually controllable pixels
Control: 3,785 DMX universes via Art-Net (unicast)
ENTTEC infrastructure: 397 × custom Storm 10 Ethernet-to-DMX gateways
Pixel mapping: ENTTEC ELM software
Across the Games (6–22 February 2026), Arena Milano’s façade delivered high-impact communications and event branding at true architectural scale. With Griven’s custom opaline diffusers and precision-engineered LED modules, the surface achieved smooth gradients, strong daytime legibility and a refined visual presence at night.
Now that the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics have concluded, Arena Milano stands ready to transition into its long-term role as a major European destination for concerts, live performances and international events, with the media façade continuing to operate as a programmable communication surface for years to come.
Distributed control for architectural mega-scale
Olympic-scale façades demand more than brightness – they require predictable, synchronised data distribution across thousands of universes.
Storm 10 converts Art-Net/sACN to DMX with precision buffering and sync logic for smooth, jitter-free playback across complex LED matrices. In large projects, distributed Ethernet-to-DMX nodes allow vast structures to be segmented while keeping control behaviour consistent across the full system.
Complementing the network layer, ELM (ENTTEC LED Mapper) provides intuitive pixel mapping and configuration tools, helping organise large pixel arrays into clean addressing models so content can be deployed with speed and confidence, even at this scale.
A new European benchmark in media façade design
Arena Milano’s multimedia façade sets a new benchmark for architectural lighting integration in Europe.
By combining Griven’s bespoke LED engineering with Arup’s lighting design and a resilient distributed control backbone, the project demonstrates how large-format pixel architecture can remain both expressive and technically reliable.
ENTTEC is proud to have supported Griven on this landmark installation – supplying the Storm 10 distribution layer, ELM pixel mapping tools and technical support to help keep one of the most visible venues of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games running in sync.
