360 Design Budapest Phygital Exhibition by Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency Receives the Bronze A' Design Award in Interior Space and Exhibition Design

The Work

Project

360 Design Budapest Phygital Exhibition

Function

Phygital Exhibition

Category

Interior Space and Exhibition Design

Discipline

Spatial Design

Industry

Architecture and Packaging & Retail

Colors

Black, Dim Gray, Dark Slate Gray, Saddle Brown and Sienna

Images

5

Client

Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency

The Recognition

Laureate

Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency

Country

Hungary

Recognition

Bronze A' Design Award

Edition

2020 - 2021

Design ID

#118843

Credits

Image Credits

-

Design Details

Unique Properties

Last October 360 Design Budapest opened its virtual and physical doors to visitors. The uniqueness of the exhibition is its phygital nature, allowing us - despite the current pandemic situation - to successfully deliver a regional-scale event and to provide our public to visit the exhibition both offline and online. On the digital platform of the exhibition, the visitors can walk through the exhibition space - just like they were visiting the built exhibiton that took place last October - and admire the work of Hungarian contemporary designers, but also to visit the regional exhibition - as a perfect mirror of the physical exhibiton.

Inspiration

360 Design Budapest was aiming to showcase the present state of the Hungarian design industry alongside the role of design in our everyday lives. The event displays designers of the Hungarian and regional design scene, who work on the highest standards, highlighting also through this high-value selection that Hungarian and Central European is indeed world class. The physical exhibition was hosted in a custom-made exhibition space where the selected designer objects were presented in three main areas.

Research

Due to the pandemic situation the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency was urged to create an event with new and unique solutions to establish the same value and standard as if there were no crisis situation at all and to keep the same accessibility of the exhibition despite the situation. The agency brought this exhibition to life with very irregular circumstances, but still wanted to keep its meaning – how we can implement these contemporary creations into the everyday lives of the general public. The uniqueness of the exhibition laid upon the fact of its both digital and physical nature to create something hybrid, something completely new.

Challenge

The main challenge was to deliver a regional-scale event even despite the current pandemic restrictions, to find a format that would be available both offline and online to reach the same amount of people. At the offline exhibition, the main challenge was to ensure the safety of our visitors and exhibitors. By the digital expansion of the physical exhibition, we were able to create an opportunity to present the works of talented designers extensively and safely, even in the midst of the virus situation. Part of the concept was to point out how physical and digital spaces can be mashed together.

Realization and Technology

For the digital platform of the event, upon choosing the digital solution, it was a key element to make sure that those who are visiting only the digital platform have the same real experience as they were walking in the physically built space. Thanks to the digital exhibition, the audience had the opportunity to get to know the showcased creations from the point of view of the designer alongside with the stories behind them: with just a click on the icon next to each product, those interested could also find out the true essence of these unique works and even had the chance to purchase them.

Operation and Interaction

Participant engagement was insured, since all three days the physical exhibition was open, it attracted visitors to maximal capacity. Additionally, the visitors of the physical exhibition could experience the digital space using the VR glasses that were placed on the spot. Thanks to the digital platform of the event, the exhibition can still be visited by everyone, regardless their geographical location. Not only it enables to reach even more design-minded people but also helps to extend the duration of the event. Also, it is a perfect tool to reach people who would have visited the physical exhibition under normal circumstances but who decided to stay away due to the pandemic.

Project Duration and Location

The preparations of 360 Design Budapest started early May, 2020 and needed constant review due to the pandemic situation. The exhibiton opened its physical and digital doors on 8 October 2020 in Budapest, in a location custom-made for the event. Although the former one only lasted for 3 whole days, the digital platform is still available to visit to this day.

Specifications

The physical exhibition took place in a custom-made space of 265 m2, that has been divided into 5 main sections: Registration and welcome area, media space to show the pre-registered roundtable discussions on giant screens, and 3 exhibition spaces dedicated to the artworks following the concept of the event. The digital exhibition space represents an extension of the physical space, and was conceived in a way that it is the exact mirror image of the physically built space.

Keywords

phygital, hfdadesign, 360DesignBudapest, 360dbp, exhibition, digital platform, hfdagency