Creating an interesting way to display fiber-cement board in a trade show exhibit is no small feat. But coming up with different-but-similar – and equally clever – ways to do so again and again for the better part of a decade is, as one Exhibit Design Awards judge put it, "pretty damn amazing."

Following a radical shift in Eternit AG's exhibit program, the company decided to stop placing product displays in its trade show stands. Rather, Eternit planned to construct booths using its own fiber-cement boards, essentially turning the structures themselves into gigantic product displays.

In 2007, Eternit, its design firm, and fabricator Zeissig GmbH &Co. KG began rolling out a newâ?,fiber-cement structure annually, the first of which not only comprised the company's materials, but also debuted a design element that would come to define Eternit's exhibits for the next six years: a sparing use of color. Each of the subsequent exhibits featured the natural white color of fiber cement along with restrained pops of color, including the vibrant red tone from the company's logo, which was present in the 2007 and 2008 designs.

In 2010, however, designers used the company's verdant green and the aforementioned natural white to create an exhibit crowned by an overhead element inspired by a swirl of clouds, illustrating the building industry's environmental concerns. Meanwhile, the company's 2013 booth comprised a series of thin panels spread across the space's total length to resemble a house that had been sliced into cross sections.

"Shapes and colors dance together perfectly in all of these designs," one judge said. "Instead of displays or graphics telling Eternit's story, the company used fiber-cement board to build its booths, enabling the exhibits to speak for themselves."