Glowing Mountains: BlackYak Trade-Fair Stand by Atelier Grande

The relief-style lighting backdrop is leaning against a 5 m-tall rear wall and becomes a three-dimensional light sculpture on the two open sides of the booth. In the middle there’s a generous accessible communication area, which can be used in many ways thanks to free-standing furniture. From here the visitor gets a panoramic overview of a streamlined selection of products carefully positioned within and in front of the light installation. A bar counter with additional seating is location in front of the closed side-wall. Behind it are located four hidden meeting and negotiation rooms as well as storage and technical areas. Using multi-coloured LED light rods that can be individually controlled, the architects have implemented an exciting and detailed lighting concept. The alternating multi-hued light serves both the product presentation and the spatial design.

The pre-programmed lighting sequences are modelled on various light and weather phenomena that are found in mountain environments. For example, the entire light sculpture goes through a nuanced colour progression from red to white, and then the individual lights change one after the other into a complementing green hue in flashes that resemble lightning strikes. As a result of one-sided light emissions unpleasant glare is avoided while at the same time atmospheric glowing effects are created. The black wall surfaces in the background reinforce this visual impression.

Future ideas and thinking ahead
Two conceptual constants feature in the further development of the stand. Given that the outdoor clothing was developed especially for the extreme conditions of the Himalayas, the mountain silhouette serves as a constant source of inspiration. In addition, subtle changes can be seen in the stand’s design and technical features from year to year: some elements are adopted directly, others reused in an adapted form, as a glance at the history of the stand shows.

2014
A three-sided, rising rear wall frames the exhibition area of the first trade-fair stand. Three sharply pointed pyramids of black tubular steel stand in the foreground. The open, triangular spaces are spanned by rope netting that becomes finer towards the top. Several white lighting tubes on the floor set off the hollow pyramid from inside.

2015
A year later, another wall element was set opposite the surrounding rear wall at the easily visible corner of the stand. This consists of irregularly stacked triangular frames covered with translucent fabric. A single, hollow pyramid bedecked with rope is located at the centre of the stand. It is vertically divided into two separate elements, creating a prominent display platform.

2016
The following trade-fair stand was delimited by eight pyramids on its two open sides. Five more opaque tetrahedrons that partly block the view from outside the stand were added to the three rod-shaped hollow pyramids covered with netting. Three niches were integrated into the rear-facing stand wall; these act as display surfaces. Their polygonal shape forms a relationship with the pyramids.

2017
The fourth year was characterized primarily by an expanded lighting concept. The upper portion of the dark rear wall was constructively adapted with a polygonal lighting net. The multicoloured, changing lighting creates the impression of a mountain range.

2018
Thanks to the success of the previous year, the effective stand lighting was carried over to the entire stand design. In two places, a glowing web of light sticks arises from the rear wall and relieves the pyramids from their duty as the border of the stand. The pyramids acted as the forerunner to this year’s trade-fair stand.

Further information on how the use of an iterative algorithm enabled the conversion of the complex rod geometry into a viable design can be read in our issue DETAIL inside 2019/1.

Further information:

Parametric engineer: Simon Vorhammer, München (DE)
Lighting design: 507nanometer, Matthias Singer, München (DE)