Varady’s City of Tiles

Australia’s inaugural Full Frontal Tile + Stone Expo is set to hit Sydney in April, with the stands themselves reason enough for a visit.

Legendary architect, Stephen Varady has designed the showcase exhibition stands- set to be exemplars of the industry, showing off the latest tile and stone products available on the Australian market.

“Our goal was to embody the spirit of the Full Frontal Expo – a spirit of uniqueness, creativity and excellence, but to do this with designs that had multiple meanings and could be read and understood on a number of different levels by the many different people that would see them," says Stephen.

The architecture that Stephen Varady Architecture creates, taps into the unlimited possibilities of the imagination to create buildings and projects that engage with the desires and emotions of those that come to use them.

“The plan of a product expo resembles the grid plan of a city. With the location of these Showcase Stands at the head of the plan, the idea was to treat them as if they were the important public buildings of the Full Frontal city.

"With this in mind each stand has been designed to project its own separate and unique identity while remaining part of a cohesive group.

When approached to the design the tile and stone showcase, Stephen admits he was challenged.

“This has been an exciting, challenging and stimulating project. The original brief was very open in terms of design direction, size and height, and the design process began with a multitude of sketches.

"The design is now finalised, the tiles have been ordered and the stone is being cut. We have devised a way to construct, and even pre-tile, some of the elements, but the two days of construction before the exhibition in April is going to be an intense 48 hours."

The Full Frontal Tile and Stone Expo at ’The Dome’, Sydney Showground, will be held at Homebush Bay on 17-19 April 2008.

www.fullfrontalexpo.com

www.stephenvarady.com

Architects drawing of the showcase