AIA Conference on Architecture & Design · Pennsylvania Convention Center · May

AIA Conference on Architecture & Design Booth Rentals

12,000+ architects and designers walk this floor. They design environments for a living — your booth is now one of their client walkthroughs.

Fixed-price AIA exhibits — design, fabrication, graphics, freight, installation and dismantle in one number that doesn’t move. Pre-built, lit and photo-approved before it ships, so the booth judged by professional designers has already passed its own design review.

Booth Finder

Filters the booths below — every one shows its Philadelphia price.

May 19-22, 2027Show dates · auto-updated
Pennsylvania Convention CenterVenue
PhiladelphiaCity
Advance orders close ~Mar 24, 2027
12K+Attendees on the floor
Architecture& Design, wall to wall
24 hrConcepts and a fixed quote back
1Project manager, end to end
Know the floor before you plan the booth

AIA isn’t a trade show to this crowd. It’s a client walkthrough.

AIA’s Conference on Architecture & Design fills the Pennsylvania Convention Center with the people who design buildings, interiors and public spaces for a living — an audience that reads a booth as a piece of architecture, not a marketing prop. The most expensive AIA mistake isn’t a bad booth; it’s a booth that looks like it was assembled instead of designed.

Pennsylvania Convention Center

A historic building in the heart of Center City

The Center’s exhibit halls connect to a working, landmark building in downtown Philadelphia — loading docks, freight routes and move-in windows are managed tightly around the surrounding city streets and the building’s own layout. We plan freight and labour to the building’s actual schedule, not a generic convention-center assumption.

An audience that critiques for a living

Architects, designers and firm leaders, not casual buyers

Attendees here notice materials, proportion, lighting and sightlines before they notice a headline — they’ve spent careers evaluating exactly those things. The booths that win aren’t the loudest; they’re the ones that feel deliberately designed, from the floor plan to the finish.

The May crunch

Spring is the design and architecture industry’s own busy season

AIA lands in the same spring stretch as much of the architecture and design conference calendar, when fabrication shops serving this industry fill up early. The real constraint isn’t a single holiday — it’s a design-literate industry all booking at once.

What we handle at AIA
  • Design built to hold up under a designer’s eye — materials, proportion, lighting
  • Layout submission and show approval, filed early
  • Electrical, rigging and material handling at advance rates
  • Labour coordination and on-site supervision
  • COI, EAC and exhibitor-manual deadlines mapped to our calendar
  • Dock target times, dismantle, pack and outbound freight
Billed by the show, not by us

Booth space, electrical, drayage, rigging and cleaning are billed to every exhibitor directly by the show — no exhibit house can absorb them and none should claim to. What we do is calculate them for your exact booth before you commit, and file every order at advance rather than floor rates.

  • Booth space
  • Electrical drops and floor distribution
  • Material handling (drayage)
  • Rigging, if you’re hanging a sign
  • Daily cleaning · internet
Why a fixed price matters most here

The budget you present in January should survive May

Trade show invoices grow the same way everywhere: labour hours over estimate, revisions rebilled as change orders, graphics reprints, supervision time nobody flagged. Our model is the opposite — the number you approve is the number you pay, contractually. Design revisions are unlimited until you approve. The quote and the final invoice are the same document.

01

One number, and it holds

Design, fabrication, graphics, furniture, lighting, freight, installation, dismantle and project management in a single fixed price.

02

Proven before it ships

Your booth stands fully assembled and lit at our 65,000 sq ft facility, and you approve photographs of the actual build — not a render.

03

Show costs, known up front

Space, electrical, drayage and rigging calculated for your exact booth before you commit — so the total is a number, not a range.

04

The paperwork is ours

COI, EAC, electrical, rigging, freight windows — filed at advance rates, mapped to every exhibitor-manual deadline. Nothing lands on your desk three days before it’s due.

We quote higher and cost less. That’s the whole argument, and it’s why every booth below is published with its price rather than hidden behind a “request a quote” form.

Available for AIA

AIA-ready booths, with real prices

Every booth below is priced for Philadelphia and available as a custom build for your brand — rented, not bought. Use the finder at the top of the page to narrow by size and budget.

Or jump straight to your footprint

One click — the catalog opens already filtered to your size.

Working backwards from May

Your real deadline is in late winter

The advance-order cutoff lands roughly eight weeks before the show — the exact date is in the facts strip at the top of this page, and it updates automatically each edition. For a May show that cutoff sits in late March, right as the design and architecture industry’s own busy spring conference season starts filling fabrication calendars.

NOV–JANBrief, concepts and the fixed price locked. Full design freedom.
FEBRUARYLayout submitted for show approval — placement confirmed.
EARLY MARGraphics finalised and sent to production.
LATE MARDesign locked. Advance electrical and rigging filed. After this, spring capacity is what’s left, not what’s best.
APRILFreight window and dock target time booked at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
EARLY MAYBooth built, lit and photographed for your approval — before the truck leaves.
SHOW WEEKCrew installs in your move-in slot. You walk in at handover.
Take this to every vendor

Five questions to ask anyone quoting your AIA booth

Put these to every exhibit house you’re comparing — including us. They separate the vendors that stand behind a number from the ones whose estimate is an opening position. Our answers are printed here so you can hold us to them.

1 Will you put the total price in writing before I sign — and hold it? Ours: yes. Every booth on this page is published with its price. The quote and the final invoice are the same number, contractually. Printed above · hold us to it
2 Do design revisions become change orders? Ours: never. Revisions are unlimited until you approve, and the price is locked before design starts — a better idea in February costs nothing.
3 Will I see my actual booth before it ships — or a render? Ours: the actual booth, fully assembled and lit at our facility, photographed for your sign-off before it ships. Renders are promises; photographs are evidence — the same standard this audience holds every other detail of a space to.
4 Who files my advance show orders, and at which rate? Ours: we do, at advance rates, mapped to every exhibitor-manual deadline. In a historic downtown building like the Pennsylvania Convention Center, missing a filing deadline can mean losing your freight window entirely — if a vendor can’t answer this immediately, that’s your answer.
5 What happens to my timeline if I call late in the spring season? Ours: less than you’d think, but less choice — because your design is locked and orders filed before spring’s crowded architecture and design conference season peaks. Any vendor still quoting build slots in April is telling you they’re already stretched thin. Ask them directly.
In their words

What event managers say after the show

★★★★★
“They never just build the booth and disappear — I always know I have someone on call and ready to jump in when the unexpected inevitably happens. That level of responsiveness makes a huge difference in high-pressure event environments.”
Amanda Horner · Three years of booth programmes · Google Review
★★★★★
“I’ve worked with Pure Exhibits for almost a year now, and have had such a great experience! They are our go-to for trade shows, and create memorable booths that represent our brand well. The team is incredibly responsive and reliable.”
Lexi von Schottenstein · Google Review
★★★★★
“It’s always a pleasure to work with Utsav. The process is simple, straightforward, and high quality. I have worked with them for 3 years now and will continue!”
Carlos Bautista · Three-year client · Google Review
★★★★★
“Their team is incredibly flexible throughout the design process and truly collaborative in bringing ideas to life. I highly recommend Pure Exhibits to anyone looking for a reliable, thoughtful, and experienced exhibit partner.”
Amanda Horner · Google Review
Questions AIA exhibitors actually ask

AIA booth rental FAQs

How much does an AIA booth rental cost?
Every booth on this page is published with its Philadelphia price — fixed and all-inclusive: design, fabrication, graphics, furniture, freight, labour coordination and project management. Separately, the show bills you directly for booth space, electrical, drayage, rigging and cleaning; we calculate those for your exact booth before you commit, so the total is known before you sign anything.
When should I book a booth for AIA?
Lock your design in late winter. The advance-order cutoff lands roughly eight weeks out, right as the architecture and design industry’s own busy spring conference season starts filling fabrication calendars. Start the conversation in late fall for full design freedom; the exact advance-order deadline for the next edition is in the facts strip at the top of this page and updates automatically.
What’s move-in like at the Pennsylvania Convention Center?
A working landmark building in downtown Philadelphia — freight and labour move on the building’s own schedule, coordinated around city streets rather than a suburban campus. We confirm your dock window and freight route before anything is designed or booked, and your project manager and install supervisor are on site through move-in.
Will my booth actually look designed, not just built?
That’s the standard we hold every AIA booth to. Materials, proportion, lighting and sightlines are treated as design decisions from the first concept, not finishing touches added after the structure is decided — because this audience notices the difference before they read a single word of copy.
Will a rental look custom, or will it look reused?
Every booth is fabricated for your brand — custom graphics, layout, lighting and finishes on a modular structure underneath. The builds shown above are rentals. Before yours ships, it stands fully assembled and lit at our facility and you approve photographs of the actual booth, not a render.
Can I install the booth myself to save on labour?
Philadelphia floors run on contracted union labour, and the show’s general contractor governs who may build what. Either way it isn’t your problem to arrange: labour coordination and on-site supervision are inside our fixed price, filed at advance rather than floor rates.
What happens if something goes wrong during move-in?
Your project manager and our install supervisor are on site through move-in and reachable across show days. Because everything was assembled and checked before shipping, the problems that usually surface at this stage — missing hardware, graphics that don’t fit, panels that won’t seat — have already been found and fixed on our floor, weeks earlier.
A vendor just fell through. How fast can you deliver an AIA booth?
Four to six weeks from approval to show floor for complete pre-built, photo-verified booths from 10×10 through 20×40 — at the same fixed price as a six-month lead time, with no rush surcharge. During AIA’s crowded spring season, the earlier you call, the more build capacity is still available.
I don’t see a Philadelphia-specific price on the size links below — why?
The catalog’s location filter for Philadelphia isn’t set up yet, so the size links above open unfiltered by city rather than showing a price for the wrong market. Your actual quote is always calculated for Philadelphia specifically — the size links are just a faster way to browse footprints while that catalog term is added.
Fixed pricing · Pre-built & photo-approved · Full-service support

Exhibit at AIA with zero surprises.

Tell us your footprint and what the booth needs to say about your firm. You’ll have design concepts and one fixed price back within 24 hours — including what the show will bill you directly.

Or call us directly — (800) 379-8451