Case Study
Marvin Windows wanted to bring their human-centered design philosophy and dedication to craft to life across a whopping 7,000 square foot immersive trade show experience at the NAHB International Builders' Show® (IBS). The booth demanded to be more of a museum installation than a typical trade display, divided into multiple areas that each showcased brand attributes from historic restoration to cutting-edge product innovation, each scenario grounded in real-world living.
Rather than asking architects and builders to imagine a product's potential, we built an immersive experience to let them truly *experience* it. A kitchen sink installation showed windows that open with one hand. A fully stylized reading nook built into a multi-room, multi-layered storytelling structure proved you wouldn't need to put your book down. A 14-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide mulled window display demonstrated the poetry of their innovative frame engineering. Everything you could see, touch, and feel—from the craft of materials and finishes, to extruded edges and breadth of hardware selections, even down to job-site delivery and assembly features.
The experience was underpinned by a core belief to resonate with our audience:
Craftsmanship is not a lost art. It's an enduring virtue that builds better homes.
We assisted Marvin with this experience design for three years in a row, and it was an absolute joy and dedication to craft ourselves, pressing the boundaries of what is possible to build and display in a tradeshow exhibit. Notably, the innovative display at the launch of Marvin's Modern line helped to receive the BIMsmith award 'Best of Show' for its innovation and design.
Summary
Marvin needed to establish themselves as a design leader in the building industry — not just a product manufacturer. The trade worry was real: in a market saturated with cost-cutting and offshore manufacturing, is craftsmanship actually valued anymore? Builders and architects felt pressured. Marvin knew their buyer didn't.
The objective was clear but ambitious: reframe Marvin as a design leader committed to advancing the craft, and prove it by translating that value proposition into a physical, immersive experience that would resonate across three consecutive years at the industry's largest event — with an audience of 100,000+ professionals.
Challenge
“Leading a project of this scale required orchestrating structural engineers, product teams, fabricators, printers, installation crews, and voices across multiple agencies and client teams. The design craft wasn't just visible in the stunning products—it was how we brought it all to life.”
Katie Himmel
Lead Experiential Designer
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Katie Himmel
Founder, Kayto Group
Rather than a booth, Marvin built a series of human-centered environments. Each zone told a story and solved for a specific audience need.
Real-world scenario environments. A fully functional kitchen sink with operable windows. A built-in reading nook with a single-hand-opening window so architects could literally see themselves reading without setting their book down. Historic restoration examples. Modern home settings. Gallery-quality component displays where visitors could examine every extruded edge, finish option, and hardware selection up close.
Architectural scale engineering displays. A 14-foot-tall by 30-foot-wide mulled window installation showcasing innovative frame technology — an ambitious structural feat requiring precision engineering to work safely in a temporary trade show environment without permanent foundations or infrastructure.
Evolving narrative across three years. Year one launched innovative mulling products. Year two unveiled the Modern collection, winning BIMsmith Best of Show. Year three highlighted breadth of options available at project inception, plus new innovations like the Skycove — a steel-reinforced exterior glass alcove that increased livable square footage (and captured the attention of This Old House's Tom Silva on-site).
Museum-quality storytelling. Copywriting, printed materials, and visual displays were designed with the same rigor as a fine art installation. Every detail communicated the message: we care about how you live, and it shows in our craft. The brand marketing integrated seamlessly with the spatial experience.
Design leadership through human-centered thinking. Every product on display was positioned around how real people use windows in their homes — the moments, the pain points, the desires. This is universal design thinking applied to every scale: from the mechanics of window operation for aging-in-place, to the aesthetics of frame visibility in modern minimalism, to the emotional impact of daylighting in a living space.
Solutions
Case Study
Marvin: IBS Trade Show
Bringing craft to a tradeshow floor.
In the end
30K
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+27%
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15M
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890
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Metrics
100,000
Industry professionals
A massive stage to make professional connections, at massive scale. The strategic booth design made it just much easier for Marvin's sales crew, with over 100,000 professionals from the IBS/KBIS Tradeshow at their disposal, all industry pros such as builders, architects, designers, sales directors, and more. Let's just say they were all very happy in the end.
7,000
Seven-thousand square feet
Seven thousand square feet of showroom floor was turned into an immersive, multi-room, multi-level museum-quality display. And we did this three years in a row, customizing each for innovative product launches and brand messaging.
Best-in-show
BIMSmith Award
With over 1,500 exhibitors and countless products on display, Marvin took home a Best-In-Show award for innovative products on display in our 'Modern Home' display, a modernist multi-room, multi-level structure designed and built for the show floor.
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