A flowing, jagged wall structure called “Zigzag” will greet visitors of the METRO Show and E|AB Fair, guiding them from the building entrance through the inner lobby and into the main exhibition space.  This dramatic installation offers, in the words of the designers, an “iconic arrival”, and visually unites the two entry spaces and the main floor. 

Zigzag will provide a continuous aesthetic flow from the street into the floor of the fair and will cast a "shadow" made of flooring material onto the floor, further defining the entrance area for attendees. 

	Igor Siddiqui
	Deborah Schneiderman

Designed by architect team of Igor Siddiqui (ISSSStudio) and Deborah Schneiderman (deSc), 
who joined forces especially for this project, the Zigzag wall will be covered with graphic-patterned wallpaper (also designed by Siddiqui/Schneiderman), referencing METRO’s diverse offerings – its mix of old and new, traditional and contemporary.   

Typically we think of a wall as a barrier or demarcation: to protect, enclose or obscure. Zigzag at METRO, in contrast, invites, entrances, intrigues, much like Christo's 1976 Running Fence in Sonoma and Marin counties, CA – rather than blocking of fencing off – one feels the impulse to follow it to its meandering conclusion. 

A zigzag is "one of a series of short sharp turns, angles, or alterations in a course" (Merriam Webster). But the word also implies something playful - even saying it is enjoyable (it features both rhythmic repetition and alliteration!). A zigzag line is more dynamic and interesting than an ordinary, straight one – and this physical characteristic of the wall will set the tone for visitors’ experience of the METRO Show itself. In the words of Siddiqui and Schneiderman, "Using rules of perspective, the design playfully engages visitors by offering an ever- changing visual experience based on movement and point of view. The graphic wallpaper invites the users to construct their own connections between what may be traditional and what is contemporary." 

With Zigzag, Siddiqui and Schneiderman are playing with anamorphic view of space, in which one’s perception of the wall comes into focus, and then – is lost, depending on where you are standing. 

Siddiqiui and Schneiderman will be featured speakers at the METRO Show Designer Breakfast Thursday, January 24, followed at 11 am by a public book signing of Inside Prefab: The Ready-made Interior, written by Deborah Schneiderman (Princeton Architectural Press).  
Click here for a complete schedule of events.