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Tent structures that look like Barbie’s™ Malibu home invite fans inside.
Since May 2013 it seems Barbie™ has been living in a life-sized Malibu Dreamhouse® near Alexanderplatz Square in Berlin, Germany (similar to the exhibit that opened previously in Sawgrass Mills, Sunrise, Fla.).
RöDER Zelt- und Veranstaltungsservice GmbH provided the tenting design, manufacture and installation for the Berlin exhibit, which began its tour around Europe after completing its Berlin engagement in September. Röder provided three high-end structures from its Solution line for the exhibit—one 30 by 45 meters with a 5-meter side height, one 20 by 55 meters with a 5-meter side height and one 8 by 5 meters with an 8-meter side height. The front facades are covered with the company’s “alea 2.0” facade cladding in Barbie’s signature color—pink.
Requirements for the 2,500-square-meter structures—which took four months to design and two weeks to install—included ensuring that it look like Barbie’s home, not a tent. To achieve the Barbie branding, the company used the alea 2.0 facade cladding system—1,200 square meters of finished gauze material, tightened to a height of 5 to 8 meters. “The visual effect of the taut, fold-free, large-scale communication surface guarantees a perfect message for the brand,” says Röder’s Karsten Kaiser. “One huge advantage of the system is the cost-benefit ratio. Whereas in the past, a labor-intensive and costly frame construction had to be used for this type of facade cover, this budget breaker has been completely done away with thanks to the alea facade system.”
The completed exhibit gives Barbie fans an insight into her private pink world, including the living and sleeping areas and a walk-in closet that houses hundreds of Barbie outfits. In the entertainment area, with the help of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology bracelets and LED touch screens, fans can individualize their tour of the house and virtually try on some of Barbie’s famous fashions. In addition, visitors can interactively bake virtual cupcakes in Barbie’s kitchen.
The exhibit is tentatively scheduled to tour Europe after its Berlin engagement, so the client required stable, transportable, intelligent packaging, and the structure needed to be able to withstand a variety of wind and weather. Röder used its mobile heavy-duty flooring elements, designed with short dismantling times and flexibility for use in temporary buildings and tents.