PEAK Builds Custom Frame Tents to Create Open-Air European-Style Winter Market at Boston Seaport
Summary of Project
When the Boston Seaport sought to bring an outdoor winter shopping experience to its community, the client consulted with PEAK Event Services to utilize long-term temporary tents to create a beautiful, European-style Winter Market that met both practical needs but was also aesthetically beautiful and would be a destination for visitors.
Client Needs
The client needed 115 individual vendor spaces built with temporary structures that could be disassembled and reassembled over a 3-year contract. The PEAK Team was tasked to design a multi-faceted space that included multiple tents with various layouts and uses, including merchant stalls, beer gardens, food vendors. The space also needed to drive foot traffic and, aesthetically, would be a draw for visitors.
Challenges
The major challenge posed to PEAK Project Managers was building tents that included myriad custom enhancements that would also be usable year after year. The major goal was to create a market space that drove foot traffic and, aesthetically, would be an appealing shopping destination for city visitors.
In addition to the project design the physical site’s location was a major concern for project managers from the start as the ground was unlevel and the site is considered one of the windiest areas of the city. The PEAK Team surveyed the site and began construction plans more than 6 months prior to the actual build, working with a construction company, to build up the ground to ensure proper water pitch and leveling for safe tenting.
Solutions
Following excavation, the team worked to make sure the spacing between tents and aisles were consistent, level and linear. The team provided drawings and renderings to the client to assist with creating a visual component prior to construction.
Despite the building infrastructure being that of frame tents, there was no actual tent fabric used in this project. Tents were built with custom rough sawn wood sidewalls, flooring and corrugated roofing that could bear the weight of potential snowfall. Additional enhancements included custom soffits, tent leg facades, and fiberglass roofing with 20% opacity that allowed sunlight and Christmas lights to shine through into each stall. One of the most important attributes was custom sliding lockable covers for each vendor booth made of Ferrari Vinyl.
The PEAK Team also built custom wooden toppers for jersey barriers to give them the appearance of being gifts and built free-standing walls throughout the site to block out restrooms. Another unique feature built by PEAK was a Christmas Wish Wall (30×8 foot wall painted with chalk paint) so kids could share their Christmas wishes.
Unique Attributes
- Modeled after European-style winter market
- Rough sawn wood plank sidewalls
- Corrugated fiberglass roof with 20% light capacity
- Custom sliding + lockable vendor stall covers made of Ferrari Vinyl
Results + Takeaways
In order for this project to be successful, the PEAK Team For this project to be successful, the client needed an out-of-the-box solution: a temporary structure that provided utilitarian functions as well as aesthetic benefits hat only PEAK Event Services could provide. PEAK’s experts were able to create an ultra-custom set of temporary structures that met those needs and created one of the most unique wintertime shopping spaces in Boston featuring local creative professionals and small businesses.
