Future Decoded – Industrial Exhibition Stand

Future Decoded 10th and 11th November 2015 – Exhibition Stand For Risual Ltd

Brief

Having worked with Risual Ltd on a few events in the past, they approached us in September to design and install a bespoke exhibition stand for the Microsoft Future Decoded exhibition at ExCel, London. As one of the headline sponsors for the event, we were asked to create a huge 8m x 8m stand with the real wow factor!

The brief was to create an unusual, industrial themed stand with suspended screens which depicted different images. There was already going to be a 20ft shipping container in the space, so we had the challenge of incorporating this into the design.

Design

To ensure that our Production Designer had enough inspiration to begin creating a 3D model, one of our projects assistants put together a mood board with various images with the industrial theme. From here, our contact at Risual informed us of which elements fit their brief.  Together we then decided to include components around a scaffolding and vintage lighting theme. The design process started with rough sketches which were then passed through to our designer.

A 3D render was then put together using our 3D modelling software. The images were then put together within a detailed proposal, including descriptions of the items and a breakdown of costs.

The finalised equipment included the following key features, including bespoke furniture which we fabricated in house:

• 3m x 1m Scaff Tables
• Scaff Board Structure Attached To The Container
• Corrugated Metal and Mesh Walls
• Vintage Lighting
• Oil Drums

We also worked with Risual to ensure that there were enough ‘black spaces’ on site, i.e. on the container, oil drums, wooden panels. This was to create work spaces for the Graffiti Kings to create on-going artwork during the exhibition itself.

Fabrication

As soon as the final design was confirmed, we immediately started to fabricate the stand in house. A detailed plan was put together, ensuring that no part of the build was missed.

We spent a long time searching for the perfect lighting, metal effect flooring, sofa pads and materials to start the build. The tables were built to a bespoke size, using scaffolding tubes and scaffolding boards to fit in with the industrial theme. We created a truss sofa with our truss structures, ensuring that it matched the outside box of the stand itself.

Finishing touches like the vintage oil drums were created with the perfect rust paint.

In terms of the video content, Risual emailed through a lot of content for us to be able to create the perfect slideshow to be played on loop throughout the exhibition. We pieced together two and three second video clips, static images and even 90’s Windows screensavers to produce a 5 minute long video. The idea was to imitate the idea of a television changing channels really quickly.

Build

At 8am on the Sunday, our projects team headed down to ExCel, London to start the build. Our team started by installing the truss box around the already placed container. This was installed at different heights to add to the industrial theme.

When this was secure, we installed the sub-floor and floor sheets around the truss and the container, creating a stable base for the stand. The metal effect vinyl flooring was then cut to size, fixed to the sub-floor and held with aluminium trim.

Scaffolding boards were then drilled into the top of the container, with the power and cabling being distributed at the same time. The various lighting fixtures, scaffolding tables and oil drums were then amended to fit the stand and installed.

Additional used scaffolding structures were built on site and fastened to the truss using half couplers then we built the truss sofa and finished with the bean bags.

To finish the stand, twelve screens in four different sizes were then hung from the truss from scaff bars at different heights and the Risual video was played on the videos starting from different times.

Feedback

Rob from Risual said: ‘The directors loved it and it kept drawing people in to tell us one of the screens had a blue screen of death on it!‘

Grace from Risual Said: “Future Decoded was amazing. You are a lovely company to work with and everyone was really helpful when it came to the creative and logistics of working with Microsoft and their events partner. We love your can do attitude, nothing was too crazy or not achievable.”

Seriously cracking job from you guys all round you should be really proud!’