Arkema at the Asia Pacific Coatings Show — 36 sqm Island Stand
The Brief
Arkema — a French specialty chemicals company with coatings, adhesives and performance materials product lines — needed a 36 sqm island stand at the Asia Pacific Coatings Show in Bangkok. The stand served two functions: brand presence for a technical chemical company in a professional trade show environment, and a private meeting space for Arkema's sales team to conduct product discussions with coatings formulation buyers. Both the brand statement and the meeting function needed to work within a compact island footprint.
The Constraint
Two specific difficulties defined this project. A hanging fascia — the Arkema suspended brand sign above the island footprint — required rigging approval, hang point allocation and a fabricated element with documented load and weight distribution. At 36 sqm the budget for a hanging system is limited, so the fascia needed to deliver brand height without engineering complexity that the stand's scale didn't justify. The second difficulty was the meeting room: the brief called for a toughened glass-sided meeting room within the same 36 sqm. Toughened safety glass panels to Bangkok venue specifications — specific thickness, maximum panel dimensions, safety edge treatment — have to be cut, transported and installed without damage. Fitting a glass-sided room within 36 sqm while retaining enough open aisle-facing display to attract visitors required careful space planning.
The Approach
The hanging fascia was designed as a lightweight aluminium-framed sign with a fabric face — visual weight from below without the structural load of a fabricated heavy element. The meeting room occupied one corner of the island with toughened glass panels on two faces visible from the aisle and solid walls on the other two. Glass-facing the meeting room signalled its presence to approaching buyers — a semi-transparent enclosure reads as available rather than closed — while allowing the product display area on the two open aisle faces to remain unobstructed. The overall palette was white and light grey, consistent with Arkema's technical brand positioning.
The Build
The hanging fascia was fabricated and shipped with a weight compliance certificate for venue submission. Toughened glass panels were ordered to the confirmed stand dimensions, transported to site as finished cut pieces and installed in their frame tracks after the structural elements were in position and confirmed level. The meeting room was completed before the product display elements were installed, so the glass panels were protected during the rest of the build. The stand was complete at the end of the move-in window.
Project Specification
- Event
- Asia Pacific Coatings Show, Bangkok
- Venue
- BITEC, Bang Na
- Stand size
- 36 sqm
- Build type
- Custom island
- Materials
- Painted MDF, toughened safety glass meeting room panels, aluminium-framed hanging fascia with fabric face
- Build duration
- Not recorded
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