In my Fuel for Thought column in the February/March issue of Event Solutions magazine which is out this week, I talk about how, as children, coloring outside the lines allows us to grow by testing boundaries. Even as adults we do well with some parameters when creating something from nothing. But what happens when there are no lines in that coloring book as is the case with an empty area in need of total infrastructure to support an event?

This was an example of full-blown event architecture created by Professional Event Solutions (no relation to the magazine) in San Diego and I’m happy to have more space, stepping outside the “lines,” or parameters, of a magazine page, to explore it here. Angela Verdenacci, event manager and one of the company’s partners, was in charge of a major undertaking for a 100-person fundraiser for the San Diego Symphony.

To create an entrance to the event that looked like the home, Verdenacci and her team began a month out framing a hallway attached to the event site. To this, drywall, recessed lighting, paint and furnishings were added. Then, instead of a tent, they created a 20-foot-high roof system so chandeliers could raise and lower on cue. Instead of a floor they installed Plexiglas over the pool and lighted it. Instead of sidewalls, they built a tree of 3,500 18-inch white paper flowers made by the New Children’s Museum, one of the host’s favorite charities. The look was so breathtaking the client kept it up another week and used it for his birthday celebration.

Note the photo at the top of the post …this is what the event site looked like before…

Build-out began one month before. Instead of a tent, a 20-foot-high frame was erected to support the chandeliers that would raise and lower via remote control.

Across the pool, Professional Event Solutions installed steel beams (above) and in it a series of 7-inch aluminum beams that were then lighted by LEDs so when viewed through the Plexiglas, the beams looked like stripes (below).

To make it appear as if guests were entering the completed event site through the home, a hallway was built.

The hallway after…complete with recessed lighting, chandelier, artwork and furnishings.

THE FLOWERS

More than 3,500 white, paper flowers were created by volunteers at the New Children’s Museum. Rheana Coon of White Lotus Productions was brought in to assist with the installation at the event. Later the flowers were installed again within the museum.

THE END RESULT

Dramatic lighting for both events was designed by Kevin Lambert from Viejas Entertainment and Production and kept the look changing. Clear acrylic chairs and illuminated tables were from kool. Party Rentals. “We bought the tables,” Verdenacci says. “Then changed out the lights in them so we could control them with dimmers. We had a subfloor and ran the power under that. There were also fans under the subfloor to keep the Plexiglas from fogging up, which it can do when put over a pool.”

According to Verdenacci, the client loved the look so much that he kept everything up for his birthday celebration two weeks later, adding only a few extra tables to the environment. Tabula rasa – two words that sound beautiful until you have to face what they really mean — a blank slate — as Verdenacci and her team did with this event.

Photos by Justin Hulse, Hulse Photography.