Fiera Emaia

fieraemaia.com — a register of exhibition design

Every entry is a build problem with a clock on it: method, tolerance, and what goes wrong when the schedule slips.

Standing entry — Frame

Two days up, one day down

The whole discipline follows from the schedule. A structure that takes a week to build cannot exist here, so everything is modular, bolted, numbered and designed to come apart in the reverse order it went together — and the drawing has to say so.

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1 — Deck over the cable run 2 — Panel, one bay wide 3 — Spot on a spigot 4 — Adjustable foot
Measured 992 mm — standard bay 25 kg — one-person lift 20 min — bay slot 48 h — build to open 1 day — strike
A crew bolting a modular frame together under work lights
Fig. 01

Thirty hours before the doors open. Every stand in this frame is being built by a different company to the same deadline.

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Three entries
Worker in hard hat and safety vest checks a handheld device on a factory floor02

Reading at ten metres

A stand competes with a lit hall. Contrast, not brightness, is what makes a product read from the aisle.

Light Rows of white trailers backed into loading dock bays at a warehouse03

Bay scheduling

Forty contractors share one loading bay across a fixed window. The schedule is the real design constraint.

Load-in Visitors sit at high tables near the Cosy & Trendy booth inside a busy trade fair hall04

Dismantle order

Strike is the build in reverse under worse conditions: everybody leaving at once, power going off, and a hard deadline on the empty hall.

Strike

A stand is judged for four days and built for two. Everything difficult about it happens while the hall is still a warehouse.

Six sections

Twenty-two entries in all
01 Frame

Modular systems, trussing and custom joinery.

Start with “Two days up, one day down”
02 Deck

Subfloors, cable runs, ramps and edges.

Start with “Why raise the floor”
03 Light

Rigging, colour, grade and power.

Start with “Reading at ten metres”
04 Surface

Print, vinyl, paint and laminate.

Start with “Print at size”
05 Load-in

Bays, plant, cases and the schedule.

Start with “Bay scheduling”
06 Strike

Dismantle order, reuse, storage and waste.

Start with “Dismantle order”

The register of systems

Six of forty-one entries
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What each frame system asks of a crew. Sort the register, or narrow it to what one pair of hands can put up.
No.System / typeBay spanFree heightAssemblyCrewUp / down
01 Extruded upright, eight-arm nodeAluminium profile, bolted connector 992 mm 4.0 m Allen key 2 9 h / 4 h
02 Tool-free clip frameSprung latch, fabric skin 1000 mm 3.0 m None 2 5 h / 2 h
03 Box truss, 300 mmSpigot and pin, ground support 2000 mm 6.5 m Hammer 3 11 h / 5 h
04 Timber carcass, facedWorkshop built, site assembled Made 4.5 m Driver, saw 4 18 h / 9 h
05 Raised deck, 100 mm voidCassette floor, ramped edge 1200 mm — Driver 3 7 h / 3 h
06 Shell scheme, suppliedOrganiser standard, walls only 1000 mm 2.5 m None 2 2 h / 1 h

Free height is the height a system reaches before it needs a brace, a wall tie or a second person. It is the number that decides whether a stand can be built by the crew that arrives.

Forty-eight hours, in order

The sequence is fixed by what can be walked on
H 00 — 06

Mark out and rig

Plot chalked to the survey, rigging points dropped, hanging sign flown before anything below it exists.

H 06 — 20

Frame and deck

Uprights levelled on their feet, services run in the void, floor closed and taped so it can be walked.

H 20 — 36

Surface and graphics

Panels faced, film applied wet, seams checked at eye height from the aisle rather than from the front.

H 36 — 48

Focus and dress

Lamps aimed with the hall lights down, product placed, cases cleared to store and the floor swept.

Who keeps the register open

Supporters
Standing support
And with

Fabricators, riggers, and suppliers we work alongside on the show floor.