More With Less Monday, August 31, 2009 The much-anticipated return of the Electronic Entertainment Expo this year gave gaming companies the chance to step back into the spotlight in a big way. Square Enix was among the brands that wanted to make an impact with its E3 exhibit, but the challenge for designers at Volume Inc. was to create an immersive environment in a larger footprint than in years past—but with a much smaller budget. “Square Enix had a huge fan base and a lot of expectations at E3—people come in there and they’re expecting something big. In the past, high-end theater presentations were main focal points within the space, but budget limitations made that impossible this year,” says Volume Inc. design principal and cofounder Adam Brodsley. Sustainability was a focus from the outset. The Volume Inc. team saw the project as an opportunity to see how far they could go in greening the environment. Designers used a lot of off-the-shelf componants and let those pieces express themselves. Mesh material made from recycled plastic bottles was printed with graphics and hung from a tall perimeter rail to create the exterior walls. This created a sense of depth, and made the footprint flexible, so it can be reconfigured for future shows. “It’s a pretty low-tech solution, and there’s nothing inherently beautiful about that, but the way you use it and detail it can become very unusual and beautiful,” Brodsley says. The client needed to get people excited about its new gaming titles, but the main goal of the space this year was to create private meeting spaces where Square Enix reps could have room to do business. This was achieved through 10 meeting room spaces located behind a huge central high-def video wall. Inside the conference rooms, custom wall panels were 25-percent lighter than traditional walls, thanks to leveraging recycled eucalyptus panel skins with foam in between. “We didn’t laminate it, so we avoided the extra cost of construction,” Brodsley says. The straightforward design and material choices made for an easy setup, and the results on the floor spoke for themselves. “There so much visual chaos going on at a show like E3, and it can get overwhelming,” he says. The eco-friendliness paid dividends, as well—the crew only used three trucks to load in as opposed to the nine used in previous years. “That makes me feel pretty good; it’s not a totally sustainable solution, but it’s a lot more than it used to be,” Brodsley says.
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