Röder wins two International Achievement Awards

By Dionne Cordell

The Smart ForTwo car can be seen all over Europe, and it was finally brought to the United States in early 2008. Smart cars are smaller than a MINI Cooper and are known for their gas efficiency. To celebrate the newly designed Smart ForTwo, nearly 2,000 dealers and journalists were entertained under a 35-by-40-meter (115-by-131-foot) tent equipped with a 4-meter-high (13 feet) glass façade. The transparent roof and end gables allowed guests to view a brilliantfireworks display.

Success didn’t come easy for Röder Zelt-und Veranstaltungsservice GmbH, Büdingen, Germany, during the Smart ForTwo setup. The logistical expense was enormous; all parts of the tents (a whopping 250 tons) had to be lifted by a special crane onto the 23-meter-high (75 feet) parking lot. The parking lot sat atop a department store, making it impossible to use stacker lift trucks or stakes. Röder’s team had to use special structural and ballasting calculations, but the expense was worth the effort.

Since the Smart ForTwo event, Röder has earned a great deal of publicity, thanks in part to winning the IAA award of excellence for commercial tent rental. “It’s important for us to see how the quality of our work is appreciated by a jury,” says Röder’s Karsten Kaiser. “Through advertisement, press coverage and our company’s Web site, we make these awards public.”

Rö also won an outstanding achievement award for another commercial tent rental (see photo).

Dionne Cordell is an editorial intern at IFAI.