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Themed Environment Design

Themed environment design is a method of creating props, sets, and sculptures. The elements work together to develop a specific theme for a single space. It takes a multidisciplinary approach, which means incorporating different materials, skills, and techniques into the design. Once complete, the themed environment should tell a cohesive story that entertains and immerses an audience.

Themed environment design can be expensive. Cost is why you want to use the most affordable materials possible while keeping durability in mind. An effective method fabricators have turned to is carving EPS foam and coating it. A polyurethane hard coat is recommended for long-lasting protection. This process is followed by sanding and painting the hard coat for enhanced theming.

Urethane hard coats create a rigid finish on EPS structures of all shapes and sizes. Due to their Shore hardness, they are capable of frequent handling from guests. They will also endure daily wear in both indoor and outdoor environments. If you are using hard coat indoors, it should be ASTM E84 Class A fire tested to adhere to safety requirements.

Hard-coated EPS brings dimension to various environments, including theme parks, museums, retail spaces, parks and recreation, restaurants, etc. And because both materials are so versatile, they can be used for themes like horror, superhero, jungle, western, sci-fi, historical, and so much more.

What’s also nice about using these EPS theming hard coats is that other materials can be used in the space as well. A combination of flat visuals and 3-D elements creates a nice balance throughout the space.

Because every project is unique, VFI offers various coatings for different processing needs. Whether you’re working on small props or need to spray life-like structures, we have brushable, trowelable/sculpting, Qwik Spray, and high-pressure coatings. You can contact our experts to see if upgrading from a cartridge-based system to a high-pressure rig would be beneficial.