EXHIBIT DESIGN AWARD 2015
SILVER AWARD Category: Self Promotion Show: EuroShop, 2014
TO INFINITY AND BEYOND By Travis Stanton
System exhibits have a bad rap for being boxy and boring. But at EuroShop 2014, Studio Dega hoped to obliterate those stereotypes by showcasing its InfinityConst modular system via an organic design that stretched nearly 21 feet toward the convention center's ceiling. Comprising steel connectors and anodized aluminum extrusion arranged in a curvilinear form, the 30-by-53-foot exhibit seemed to glow and pulse like a bioluminescent organism, thanks to LED strip lighting that magnetically attached to the extrusion and shifted from greens and blues to purples and reds. White tensioned-fabric panels punctuated with irregular openings ebbed and flowed over the structure's skeleton, and additional LEDs embedded in the edges of the flooring color shifted to match the overhead glow.
"The structure's organic shapes are mesmerizing in and of themselves," said one Exhibit Design Awards judge. "Add the soothing hues and then make them shift, and you've got a visual symphony that almost cocoons visitors in color and light." According to head designer Boris Demin, Studio Dega hoped the unusual exhibit would lure attendees into the space. Once guests entered the color-shifting cocoon, staffers greeted them at an internally lit reception desk and guided them to one of six touchscreens. There, Studio Dega reps walked visitors through the process of designing their own modular structures using the company's 3DCreativeSystem software. After putting the finishing touches on their biomorphic designs, attendees could take a surreal tour of the exhibits they'd just created via an Oculus Rift headset. Much like Studio Dega's ethereal exhibit, the virtual-reality experience allowed current clients and prospects to explore the possibilities of InfinityConst. And as it turns out, with the system's unique design, integrated lighting, futuristic feel, and easy-to-use rendering software, those possibilities are, well, infinite.