If you want to stand out at your next trade show, you’ll need to find an architectural structure that fits your company’s style. Instead of blending in with the many bland exhibits at your trade show, you’ll be sure to impress by putting time and effort into choosing an eye-catching architectural structure.
The first step in crafting an engaging and informative trade show display is to have the right architectural structures in place. Our network of visual communication studios knows how vital these visually appealing structures can be. We can assist your company by preparing a booth that displays your business’ personality and purpose.
What Is an Architectural Structure?
Architectural structures come in many formats, which all aim to make your trade show booth stand out. They come in the form of visually engaging funnels and towers, practical but stylish conference and video walls, inviting arches and standalone fabric rooms. Think of these structures as the base upon which you will build your booth’s display.
Though structures can be made with a variety of materials, fabric will likely be your go-to display material. For instance, fabric Formulate® Architectural Structures provide both practicality and visual appeal. These designs tend to be light, flexible and long-lasting — qualities that make the set-up and break-down portions of the display a quick and intuitive process. Instead of wasting time trying to set up a clunky, awkward structure, you can spend your time focused on making your booth look as inviting as possible.
On top of being practical, trade show fabric structures are aesthetically pleasing, providing opportunities for creative lighting and design. Unlike plastics, fabric’s lighting gives off a softer, atmospheric glow. Its flexibility also allows for adjustable designs that will stand out from the competition.
Each type of trade show tower display will give your company plenty of space for branding and messaging, while also grabbing an audience’s attention at your next trade show.
Why Are Architectural Structures Important?
At any given trade show, an entire show floor of companies competes to win over the limited attention of their audience. Rather than blending in with the competition, you want your booth to stand out. That’s where architectural displays — designed specifically for your trade show needs — come in.
Tension fabric architectural displays can act in many capacities for your booth. With them, you can:
- Create a meeting space where customers can talk to a member of your sales team in private
- Add a monitor to your display for multimedia messaging
- Catch the eye of a potential customer from the other side of the trade room floor
Beyond these uses, architectural structures are essential to any trade show because of the many benefits they offer, including:
- Individuality: Architectural structures will make your booth visually distinct from the rest of the trade show’s displays. You can mix and match them to find a layout that will wow your audience, direct traffic to your booth and create an environment people are drawn to — all while staying true to your company’s unique personality. Additionally, these structures can be branded with any graphic you choose, allowing you to showcase how your company is ahead of the competition.
- Privacy: The number of employees and competitors can sometimes be overwhelming to sales staff and customers. Architectural structures can help you construct private spaces in a highly public area. These spaces make it possible to have more authentic and useful conversations with potential customers.
- Ease of use: If you use the right product, architectural structures can be straightforward to set up. For example, Formulate® specially design their line of fabric structures with portability and easy set-up in mind.
Types of Structures
A vast variety of architectural structures are available for your booth, including the following well-loved constructions for trade show displays:
1. Tension Fabric Arches
Arches provide architectural complexity to your structure and are incredibly diverse in their application. Tension fabric display arches at trade shows can be used to:
- Craft stunning entryways
- Act as a focal point
- Complete a stage set
Because of its wide-ranging use, this design is a favorite among trade show participants. If you have a larger booth, you could use a tall arch as the entrance, giving audience members the feeling of entering into a more intimate space that has some distance from the rest of the trade show. And — since booths often run the risk of looking too much like a boring, square cubicle — adding an arch will vary the architectural design and catch consumers’ eyes.
Formulate® fabric arches are easy to transport, collapsing to a fraction of their size to make them easy to ship and store. Also, they are made with quality material featuring pillowcase fabric graphics, which have printing on both sides and can easily slip over the curved aluminum tube frame. With a variety of shapes, styles and sizes available, you’ll have no trouble finding your ideal trade show arch.
2. Conference Walls
When designing your booth, you might want to create some privacy for yourself and your potential customers. Trade show walls are the perfect way to keep prying eyes from your display and make customers feel more comfortable. With multiple companies surrounding your booth, you might also want to create clear boundaries between yourself and the competition to make it easier for customers or leads to find you.
Rather than relying on old-school square walls that resemble a giant cubicle, spice up your conference walls with styles such as:
- C-shaped
- Chip-shaped
- Serpentine-shaped
Each will give a more natural, curved look to your booth. They also complement one another well if you’d like to make your exhibit multilayered.
One of the most convenient uses of these walls is the ability to create a private conference area within your booth to help close the deal with potential customers. For example, a customer or lead may be uncomfortable going over personal or business details in a public area like a trade show floor, or they might be easily distracted by all that’s going on. Instead, you could set up a smaller conference room within the booth where interested customers or leads could go to privately discuss your product or service with a member of your sale’s staff.
Like the arch, trade show conference walls use a pillowcase fabric that can have the same or different graphics on each side. This flexibility can come in handy as you use the design on your walls to create a powerful marketing tool. While a wall that faces the trade show floor might have a more flashy, eye-catching look, you could design the interior wall to be more inviting and warm.
Formulate®conference walls deliver stunning fabric graphics along with a lightweight design. They are made out of 50-millimeter/2-inch aluminum tube frames and are easy to assemble. If you’re looking for conference walls for your trade show booth, you’re sure to find a design that meets your needs and provides you with privacy.
3. Fabric Funnel Displays
Fabric funnels are an excellent option for drawing attention to your booth at your next trade show. Through their form, fabric and lighting, they transform their environment as they stand high above other exhibits. They can be aided by accent LED display lighting to make the funnel glow.
Light is particularly important to these light-friendly structures. Placing lights within the funnel will bring the graphics that surround it to life and make an already enticing structure irresistible. While lighting can be forgotten on a brightly lit trade show floor, using the right kind of LED trade show displays to complement your structures is a must.
You have the option to choose the height of your funnel out of 12-foot, 16-foot or 20-foot-tall options. Additionally, you can choose to add multimedia devices, such as a monitor that continuously displays a video playing at eye level. The height will attract potential customers and leads, while the video will give them more information.
Each Formulate® fabric funnel display has an 8-foot top diameter, with a smaller 3.5-foot diameter base. And, by employing a sturdy wooden base and interior trusses, this design ensures the structure’s safety and stability.
A funnel will provide your booth with a unique architectural structure that will generate curiosity at a trade show. All you have to do is pick out the best height for the overall look and atmosphere of your booth.
4. Trade Show Display Exhibit Towers
Like fabric funnels, exhibit towers act as attention-grabbing architectural displays of power. These towers add drama to your presentation as they rise above the competition’s exhibits and demand the attention of trade show audience members. They are essential for any business that wants dimension, décor and sculpture to be a part of their booth’s overall aesthetic.
Formulate®fabric towers come in a wide array of shapes for you to choose from when deciding on your tower’s design, including:
- Square
- Cylinder
- Shield
These structures can range from 8 feet to 12 feet tall and employ tension fabric. Many accommodate LED lighting and multimedia functionality, allowing you to take them to the next level.
At a trade show, you might prefer the Formulate® Shield tower for its thin, sleek design that calls attention to your brand. If you wanted a more interactive exhibit, you might utilize a four-sided square tower that can house multimedia devices like interactive tablets on each side.
Towers offer a wide range of customizability, which should be taken into consideration when designing your booth. Whichever design you choose, their aluminum tube frames and pillowcase graphics will make assembly and disassembly a breeze.
5. Video Walls and Rooms for Trade Show Exhibits
A video wall differs from conference walls in that it uses distinctive curves to highlight multimedia presentations. Likewise, a video room will allow your company to set up spaces dedicated to multimedia — a powerful tool for any exhibit. Two of the most popular models include:
- Formulate™ Surf Wall: The Surf Fabric Wall is a premier video display wall. Shaped like a crashing wave, this wall draws attention to your monitor, where you can play your company’s video or a multimedia presentation. While even one wall will be an eye-catcher, multiple walls will be visually stunning. Walking through a row of the curving walls gives the feeling of walking through the center of a frozen wave. Along with being a stunning design choice, the multiple multimedia displays attached to the center can be coordinated to walk viewers through a presentation or to highlight different aspects of your product or service.
- Formulate™ Tree House: The tree house design can be used in numerous ways, such as transforming your booth into an impressive mini-theater. With the screen inside the “house,” you can set up chairs or stools to give potential customers a multimedia experience. Perhaps your product or service needs something more than just a static display to emphasize its value. Set up the mini-theater to show off your product in the correct setting and reduce audience distraction.
Formulate® Video Walls & Rooms utilize tough 50-millimeter/2-inch aluminum tube frames along with stretch fabric graphics. In addition, the Surf Fabric Wall comes with a large monitor mount, which is convenient for setting up your multimedia display. Not only are they easy to set up, but they also offer the opportunity to wow your prospects with visually engaging multimedia presentations. Also, you can easily mix and match these designs with other structures or display kits.
Are You in the Market for Architectural Structures for Your Trade Show?
If you’re ready to purchase an architectural structure with eye-catching graphics unique to your brand, SpeedPro can help. As the only nationwide network of visual communication studios that focus on large-format graphics, we know the ins and outs of what makes a good design. From funnels, arches, towers and conference walls to video walls and fabric rooms, SpeedPro can help you make the right choice and print the best-looking graphic onto your structure.
All of our franchises have proven their ability to deliver exceptional service, on-time products and memorable graphics to our customers. Find and contact your local studio today to request a quote and discuss your options.
