Cornerstone Building Brands

For the 2023 International Builders’ Show (IBS), Lightswitch partnered with Hamilton to deliver a standout booth for Cornerstone. The immersive experience we crafted focused on flatteringly displaying the brand’s products and appealing to potential buyers. This sort of exhibit was new territory for Cornerstone – but their leap of faith paid off, as their booth’s attendance soon soared above the past years’ numbers.

It only makes sense that a building design company at a builders’ show would need to build their booth, so Hamilton, our collaborators on the project, began with the construction of the booth itself. Lightswitch advised on the insertion of lighting into the design, which was unique among most IBS exhibits, as its immersive approach encouraged engagement from attendees. This transportive experience allowed guests to feel like they had entered a showroom, even while remaining on the trade floor. Hamilton designed substantial pieces that imitated a different ceiling, masking the soaring industrial heights of the venue. This required careful lighting by our team, as well as rigging by local company Rig Tech, to coordinate the insertion of trusses through narrow gaps, with very little room for error. This tricky maneuver required us to collaborate closely with Hamilton, Rig Tech, the lighting vendors, and the client to engineer the tight clearance of one inch on every side. We were thrilled when it worked on the first try!

Not only was this year’s design more complex than previous iterations, it was also Cornerstone’s first time implementing a professional lighting design package for their booth. Lightswitch wanted to deliver a final product that would demonstrate the merit of effective lighting design. Luckily, Cornerstone didn’t have to wait long to see positive results – their booth’s attendance quickly increased by over 50% from the previous year.

Cornerstone put a lot of faith in Hamilton and Lightswitch for this year’s booth. We were excited to create one of the largest booths on the IBS show floor, as well as one of the most unique. The immersive design drew in impressive numbers of attendees, exposing many potential customers to Cornerstone’s products. By integrating the company’s actual building materials into the booth, visitors were treated to an immersive demonstration of their offerings. And the technical specificity of our design meant that guests were not only intrigued by product demonstrations when they entered the booth – they were transported off the trade floor entirely.