Future Facilities: Architects Ponder Possibilities

By Gary Tufel -- Tradeshow Week, 10/18/2004

Neither Jules Verne nor H.G. Wells ever contemplated the convention center of the future. But facility managers and architects do it all the time, and sometimes let their imaginations go wild. They need to, in light of advancing technology and an evolving exhibition industry.

Architects and tradeshow people are floating some startling ideas about the future, and raising questions that never occurred to them before. What if, for example, exhibits were holographic and could be turned on and off, eliminating shipping and dumping drayage charges? Or what about making exhibit shipping crates part of the exhibit? No more moving crates on and off the showfloor, meaning the weight of shipments would be reduced.

Or perhaps shows will someday be set up in staging areas adjacent to a show in progress, and one gigantic tradeshow floor could simply be slid out and another one slid in. Maybe facilities will feature "learning pods," so attenders can go to seminars without leaving the exhibition. Entire facility walls could become TV screens, offering more advertising revenue possibilities.

All these are fun to think about, but sustainability is liable to be the big issue over the next few decades. Facilities are increasingly environmentally friendly, and new technology will continue to make them so, said Todd Voth, senior principal with Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, one architectural firm with plenty of experience in the area of large public facilities. Possibilities include recycling of trash and water, sunshade control and waterless urinals.

The industry needs to provide value, he said. "Many exhibitors are questioning if the value delivered at convention centers is worth the cost."

Facilities are already becoming more highly integrated into their communities, Voth said. The new Sinergy Convention Center in Cincinnati, designed by LMN Architects, is one example. Pre-function areas are being used for retail opportunities and cultural and entertainment activities — all with revenue-producing potential.

Mark Reddington, a partner with LMN, agreed, adding that convention centers are moving past the big-and-ugly-but-easy-to-use stage to becoming icons like sports stadiums and other public buildings have been. Appearances that complement their surroundings are starting to matter too.

Instead of the concrete-box look, convention centers in such cities as Phoenix, with its new facility's desert-inspired slopes and angles, reflect and let in their surroundings. Local materials and styling elements take the buildings out of the could-be-anywhere class and make them representative of their areas, said Voth.

More windows are being planned for new facilities, to let the light and the city skyline in, Reddington said. That's because many believe natural light makes people more comfortable and productive, but the issue of competing with booth lighting continues to be problematic. Still, at LMN's new facility in Wildwood, N.J., an entire ocean-facing wall is made of glass.

Reddington also predicted more banquet, entertainment and theatrical events in facilities. As more facilities reflect local surroundings and use curves and other nontraditional shapes, users' experience is improved and the facilities become more a part of their cities, he said.

It's all about delivering an experience to customers, which begins when they land at the airport and continues on their way to the convention center, Voth said. Facilities need to take on the character of their communities.

It's also important that convention centers maintain the city grid around them, melding into their surroundings and not disrupting the streets and flow of people and traffic around them. For example, Voth noted, the new Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., not only did that, it also placed its loading docks in full view, rather than hiding them in the rear.

The Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre is certainly open to its community — it never closes. Voth said it's open 24 hours a day to retail shoppers and restaurant-goers. Most tradeshow customers also want that opportunity, he said. "They want to meet customers, but they also need to get away to relax. That's the last thing convention centers of today provide."

Some of these ideas about the future were hatched at the annual Imagine That conference that HOK held in Kansas City last month, where 35 facility managers, tradeshow contractors, meeting planners, CVBs and architects explored the future of the convention center. There was plenty of discussion among attenders, but all agreed that the objective was to design and build sustainable facilities offering good value that keep customers coming back. Voth said the conference presented the opportunity to address the issue of whether customers feel the value they get is worth the cost.

Discussions were based on a mandate presented by the inaugural 2003 conference, in which young designers were asked to "go crazy" and let their imaginations run wild in designing prototypes, said John Christison, general manager of the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, past president of the Intl. Assn. of Assembly Managers and a founder of the World Council for Venue Management.

Reddington, Christison and Voth all predicted that because of the trend toward smaller shows, many new facilities would have a higher ratio of ballrooms and meeting space to exhibition space, or at least a higher degree of flexibility in space usage. "There will be less emphasis on exhibit space and more on meetings and ballrooms," Reddington said. More new facilities will be part of multi-use complexes, where you can't tell where the convention center ends and retail and other use areas begin.

Christison said the "mega-building" has evolved as far as it is going to. The downsizing of public facilities parallels that of the downsizing of many former huge shows.

In the future, facilities will be more "theatrical," Christison predicted. "Clients want a sense of ownership, so we want to theme the entire building to the client," he said; someday, even the exterior of the facility will reflect what's inside. No more hanging banners and wrapping columns. New methods will emerge, such as window glass sandwiching light-emitting diodes so entire walls can become TV screens.

It's not enough to just sell space anymore, Christison said. "Humans have a need to press the flesh and that need will get stronger, but the way we come together will change," Christison said.