Kojichu

Let’s double the space of our booth by simply building a double story structure over the whole area. Good Idea - if it were that easy.

There are regulations in almost every event, which closely monitor, what’s allowed and what not. Starting from emergency escape routes, over fire prevention under closed ceilings to height regulations and set back rules. And last but not least, as prestigious as it is, to display a double story, the involved costs are accordingly.

Assuming, that all this is cleared out, and a double story construction is decided, it will have to be calculated for statically sound structures.

And here some regional differences start to become obvious.

For example, an engineer in the US knows, that drayage is an important cost factor and tries to make the structure with light weight aluminum. But if this structure gets shipped to Japan, the light structure might not get approved as Japan has earthquakes and requires earthquake resistant structures.

Or another example: A structure, where visitors are supposed to be able to walk through freely, is calculated in Europe with no doubts, but in Japan the officials need additional cross bracings for earth quake resistance and thus block off the intended visitor flow.

We have seen examples similar to those described in the neighborhood, where we work. And are all the more interested to circumnavigate such issues right at the start, before they become a problem on site, where basic structural changes are more often than not quite difficult to make.