When a trade fair booth becomes the exhibition

“It has to pack a punch!” This is what is demanded from booth constructors. And they certainly delivered with this booth – both with and for PLEXIGLAS®. The material is ideally suited for trade fair booths which catch the eye.

A six-meter-high, high-gloss panel harbors an enormous display, flanked by light panels reminiscent of taillights. Display cases contain designer light objects that turn out to be taillights of well-known automotive manufacturers. The booth of the Molding Compounds business unit of Röhm GmbH really grabbed the attention of visitors among the hustle and bustle of the K 2019 trade fair in Düsseldorf, the leading exhibition for plastics.

Combining functionality and presentation

“We opted for this type of design in order to demonstrate that PLEXIGLAS® is not simply a product,” comments Siamak Djafarian, Head of the Molding Compounds business unit at Röhm GmbH. “In fact, it can be used in a variety of applications in automobiles, construction and lighting. Moreover, PLEXIGLAS® is a material that transports a great deal of emotion through light effects and surfaces. We want to convey this to our customers.” To meet these requirements, the booth construction company Public Address Exhibition & Design GmbH used the properties of PLEXIGLAS® to illustrate applications for the automotive and lighting industries. “The whole booth is an exhibit in itself,” stress booth designer Kirsten Laermann and project manager Rainer Wagner. With this approach, the impressive trade fair booth really stood out from its counterparts at K 2019.

“The challenge for us in building the booth was to present the broad range of PLEXIGLAS® solutions in a comparatively small space and seize the attention of visitors.” Therefore, the booth has two levels and boasts a seamless appearance with its wall cladding made of black, high-gloss PLEXIGLAS®. The booth constructor was careful to ensure that the material itself took the limelight at the PLEXIGLAS® Molding Compounds booth, with the design taking a back seat.

Black panel effect makes hidden messages visible

The black panel effect, which the business unit impressively presented to the expert audience at K 2019, works according to the same principle: Information and videos suddenly appear on the previously black wall at the center of the booth, seemingly out of nowhere. “The message remains hidden until the display is switched on,” explains Djafarian, describing the effect also known as the “secret until lit” effect. This application is increasingly in demand for the interiors of modern cars for displaying cockpit and infotainment systems. “Our trade fair booth demonstrates the black panel effect for the first time on this scale, on a display measuring 3 meters by 1.5 meters,” emphasizes Djafarian.

Material changes color when backlit

A display can also be a cover and vice versa thanks to the black panel effect. This can only be achieved with covers in neutral gray colors, for instance with the special colorings from the PLEXIGLAS® Molding Compounds portfolio. The black panel effect demonstrated at the trade fair booth was realized through PLEXIGLAS® LED panels measuring three by two meters for backlighting Black & White 7H25 GT, which are manufactured by Röhm’s Acrylic Products business unit. The special feature of PLEXIGLAS® Black & White is that it appears dark gray – almost black – when unlit. Once illuminated, the display shines brightly in the color of the LEDs installed behind it. In this case it is a large display fitted with LED tiles. This makes the tall, black and glossy panel a real eye-catcher for visitors – and an unusual project even for the experienced booth construction specialists due to its dimensions.

Outstanding visual properties

Booth designer Kirsten Laermann has also incorporated other visual applications of PLEXIGLAS® in order to appeal to the respective expert audience. One of these is PLEXIGLAS® Satinice, a material with a velvety surface that impresses with its homogeneous light scattering and is therefore perfectly suited for use in lamps, lighting applications in the automotive industry, trade fair booth construction, furniture design and shopfitting.

At the sides of the booth, panels illuminated in signal red covered by sheets of PLEXIGLAS® Satinice WH10 DC are reminiscent of car reminiscent of car taillights – which are instantly recognizable for customers from the automotive sector even from far away in the exhibition hall. In this industry, light-scattering PLEXIGLAS® Satinice molding compounds are used for the production of taillights among other applications. Accordingly, the booth also presents original and illuminated taillights with particularly striking light features in display cases made of transparent PLEXIGLAS® – demonstrating the combination of booth design, material and application to the trade fair visitors with an added “wow” effect.