There's something inherently intimate about inviting a guest into your home. It conveys trust, closeness, and vulnerability. Compare that with the way most exhibitors invite attendees into their booths, and it's clear why Copenhagen-based retail- and exhibition-design firm Arting A/S wanted to bring a little "home sweet home" to the show floor at EuroShop 2014.

Attendees were greeted by walls towering nearly 20 feet high and clad with vertical slats. In contrast with other exhibitors' fabric panels and aluminum extrusions, Arting's white, wooden cube gave off a sense of permanence more befitting a contemporary castle than a transient trade show booth. The 33-by-28-foot structure (dubbed the House of Arting) was a welcome retreat for weary EuroShop attendees. Wooden flooring and chic fixtures combined with upholstered furnishings and on-trend wallpaper to complete the scene.

When curious show goers ventured across the exhibit's threshold, they discovered three separate seating areas designed to resemble a dining room, living room, and home office. Replete with Danish design details and Scandinavian style, the exhibit enveloped visitors inside a cozy white abode that muted ambient noise and neighboring exhibits. "Enclosed exhibits typically feel claustrophobic," said one Exhibit Design Awards judge. "But this space managed to create privacy without the usual pitfalls."

Unobtrusive wall-mounted monitors displayed images of Arting's past projects, like digital frames housing family photos. And when attendees were ready to take their relationship with Arting to the next level, they merely had to ascend a flight of stairs to the booth's second-story design studio. There, overlooking the exhibit's main floor, members of Arting's design team qualified attendees and collaborated with clients on their visions for future projects in an intimate setting amid all the comforts of home. E