PLATE IV.
Art fair booth + stand design
Specialist art fair booth and stand design for galleries exhibiting internationally.Untitled Office designs bespoke art fair booths and stands for galleries participating in leading international art fairs.
Each booth is approached as a temporary gallery environment: a concentrated architectural proposition that shapes how artworks are experienced, positioned, and valued, and how the gallery is perceived within the wider context of the fair.
The practice works across all phases of the art fair booth design process, including concept design, development, material selection, technical coordination, and design direction during fabrication, construction and installation.
Figure 5. Soliloquies of Solitude: Seven Indian Abstractionists in the West, The Armory Show, New York. MMXXV. Courtesy DAG / Michael Adair.
ARCHITECTURE WITHIN AN ART FAIR
An art fair booth operates within compressed spatial, commercial, and logistical conditions. It must support the presentation of individual works while establishing a coherent identity for the gallery and creating the conditions for conversation, attention and considered viewing.
Untitled Office approaches art fair design through close attention to composition, proportion, circulation, lighting, materiality, viewing distance, and relationships between artworks. Each design responds to the gallery’s programme, the character of the presented work, the allocated stand, and the wider architectural conditions of the fair.
The aim is to create a clear and distinctive environment that expresses the gallery’s identity while supporting considered engagement with the artworks.
BOOTH DESIGN AS GALLERY POSITIONING
Art fairs are significant points of encounter between galleries, artists, collectors, curators, and institutions. The architecture of a booth influences how these audiences enter, move through, and understand the presentation.
A considered fair environment can support the cultural and commercial positioning of the gallery by giving spatial coherence to its programme. Untitled Office develops each booth through the relationship between the gallery, the artworks, its audiences and the specific fair context.
For galleries exhibiting regularly, this approach can develop into a recognisable architectural identity across multiple fairs while remaining responsive to different booths, collections and locations.
ART FAIR DESIGN SERVICES
Untitled Office offers two principal forms of engagement:
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A new architectural concept developed in response to the gallery’s programme, the presented artworks, the allocated stand, and the conditions of the fair. This may establish an architectural framework that is refined across subsequent fairs, or lead to a new concept for each exhibition or presentation in response to different artworks, locations, and ambitions.
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The adaptation of an established booth concept design for a new fair, location, stand, or selection of artworks. The design is refined to respond to different dimensions, circulation conditions, material requirements, exhibition narratives, and installation constraints while maintaining continuity with the gallery’s broader architectural identity.
Both forms of engagement may include:
Artwork layouts and exhibition elevations, spatial planning, material and colour selection, lighting design, bespoke display elements, exhibition graphics, contractor coordination, review of construction drawings and quotations, and on-site design direction.
CONFIDENCE BEFORE ARRIVAL, SUPPORT THROUGH INSTALLATION
The process gives the gallery a clear understanding of how the booth and artworks will come together before arriving on site. Artwork layouts and exhibition elevations establish where works will be positioned, how they relate to one another, and how visitors will encounter the presentation. Untitled Office coordinates directly with the appointed contractor, resolves design decisions, and reviews construction drawings and quotations against the agreed scope and design intent. This reduces demands on the gallery team and allows potential issues to be addressed before fabrication or installation begins.
With the principal decisions already resolved, installation can proceed with greater clarity and efficiency. Where required, Untitled Office provides on-site design direction, supporting the gallery and contractor through final placement, lighting, and completion. The gallery arrives at the fair with a coherent presentation designed to support its programme and ambitions, enabling it to present confidently to peers, collectors, curators, and institutions.
A COLLABORATIVE AND TECHNICALLY INFORMED PROCESS
Projects typically begin with an understanding of the gallery’s programme, objectives, artworks, previous fair presentations, and the practical requirements of the allocated stand.
Untitled Office works collaboratively with gallery teams, artists, curators, fair organisers, lighting consultants, fabricators, and local stand contractors. Construction documentation and statutory responsibilities remain with the appropriately qualified local project team, while Untitled office maintains oversight of the architectural concept and design intent.
This structure allows the practice to work internationally and to collaborate with contractors appointed by either the gallery or the fair.
INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR EXPERIENCE
Untitled Office draws on extensive experience across international art fairs, exhibitions, galleries, and museums, including work associated with Art Basel, TEFAF, Frieze Masters and The Armory Show.
The practice is founded by Dani Mileo, whose dual training in fine art and architecture enables direct translation between curatorial intent, spatial composition, and technical execution. This background supports an approach to fair design that is grounded in both the practical demands of temporary construction and the cultural conditions through which art is presented and evaluated.
Based between Melbourne and Rotterdam, Untitled Office works with clients internationally. Read more about Untitled Office or review our frequently asked questions.
DISCUSS AN UPCOMING ART FAIR
Untitled Office works with galleries seeking a new art fair booth or stand design, the considered development of an existing concept, or longer-term architectural continuity across a programme of international fairs.