As the largest integrated petrochemicals company in Russia, Sibur Holding PJSC (dba Sibur) knows a thing or two about striking oil. But regarding its 49-by-56-foot double deck at the 2019 Interplastica expo, Sibur struck Exhibit Design Awards gold with a stand judges deemed "sexy," "head and shoulders above its competitors," and "filled with energy" – no pun intended. The Sibur team knew they needed a double deck with a number of private and semiprivate conference rooms in which to host sensitive discussions, but the last thing they wanted was a boring, business-as-usual cube. Enter exhibit house ExpoGlobal Group, which found inspiration in the parametricism (i.e., the use of computer algorithms to generate designs characterized by the repetition of flowing, organic lines and forms) of starchitects Santiago Calatrava, Zaha Hadid, and Greg Lynn. "By adopting one of the most modern and progressive styles of architecture, we aimed to show Sibur's vision of the future," said ExpoGlobal designer Kirill Styagov.

And what a vision. Nearly the entire exterior of the 20-foot-tall, enclosed booth was clad in undulating "fins" of white medium-density fiberboard (MDF) that resulted in an effect falling somewhere between a ripple and a wave, a solid and a liquid, the familiar and the alien. A series of curvaceous cutouts accommodated a mix of print and digital graphics, and the base of the structure cast an otherworldly green glow courtesy of embedded LEDs. Once attendees crossed the threshold, illuminated stripes in the floor directed them to such points of interest as presentation and demo stations, hospitality areas, and, of course, the meeting spaces where Sibur reps, clients, and prospects gathered to plan business deals as future focused as the exhibit itself. E