hen Fuego North America LLC wanted to fire up media attention at the 2007 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show and Conference (K/BIS) in Las Vegas, the San Francisco-based maker of upscale outdoor grills created a booth with lots of atmosphere - literally.

Working with San Francisco design firm Pentagram Inc., Fuego built a simulated sky over its 30-by-40-foot exhibit. Eight 9-by-12-foot rear-projection screens hung from wires attached to a truss 23 feet above the show floor. Meanwhile, computerized projectors hidden below in a wall made of Eco-Cem - a Green concrete mixed with up to 40-percent recycled content - beamed high-resolution animated images of cotton-white clouds and a hawk floating against a cornflower-blue sky.

Attendees could walk through any of four entry points into the booth, which resembled a backyard deck designed by the Museum of Modern Art. Inside, they were surrounded by the concrete wall and three 10-foot-high walls constructed of unfinished 1-by-6-inch pine slats. They strolled comfortably in the minimalist refuge on a floor of recycled rubber panels, which absorbed the show's constant clatter.

Fuego placed only five grills inside, so visitors could mill freely within the space. While five staffers walked visitors through the grills' features, spotlights with orange filters positioned on the projection screens above painted the interior walls the color of a late-afternoon sun on a lazy summer day.

If Fuego's booth was atmospheric, the results were stratospheric: Of the 350 editors and publishers invited to the booth, 102 showed - about 40 percent more than expected - with resulting articles published in The New York Times and Interior Design Magazine, among others. By capping its exhibit with a surreal ceiling, Fuego proved the sky's the limit. e

Client: Fuego North America LLC, San Francisco
Design: Pentagram Inc., San Francisco
Fabrication: Hood Exhibits Inc., Richmond, CA
Size: 30-by-40 (1,200 square feet)
Estimated Cost: $250,000
Estimated Cost/Square Foot: $208