-By Allison Zisko

The Ambiente trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany, has undergone a total revamp; a complete restructuring of halls and product groupings that show organizer Messe Frankfurt is confident will result in a better buying and selling environment.

The most significant changes involve Halls 9 and 10, the former home of housewares and tabletop, respectively. Both segments have been relocated to other parts of the complex, while an entirely new hall, Hall 11, has been constructed that will be home to furniture and accessories.

The reconfiguration will be evident during the 2010 edition of the fair, which takes place Feb. 12-16, 2010. A new Web site, www.ambiente.messefrankfurt.com, will debut in January to help visitors orient themselves and plan their trip.

Changes made to the Dining segment reflect the current needs of the market, specifically the declining demand for tabletop and the growth in the kitchen and household sector, says Nicolette Naumann, vice president of Ambiente and its sister show, Tendence. Plans for the revamp were first announced this past winter and detailed in a press conference in New York earlier this week.

Tabletop vendors in Hall 10 will now be located in Hall 4. Permanent tabletop stands, fixtures of 10.4 and 10.5 for the past 40 years, have been eliminated and replaced with temporary stands that average 320 to 650 square feet in size, although some, including Villeroy & Boch and Leonardo, are considerably larger.

Contemporary design-oriented companies such as Iittala, Alessi and Koziol will be found in 4.0. More formal, branded companies, what Messe Frankfurt terms "prestige table," will be located in 4.1; and more casual, everyday branded goods will be located in 4.2.

Hall 10 will now be used for Asian sourcing. Halls 6.2 and 6.3 will be dedicated to those companies who focus on private label enterprises.

The overall square footage dedicated to "the well-laid table" has decreased, according to Naumann. The kitchen and household sector, on the other hand, has increased approximately 25 percent, and there is a waiting list for companies interested in exhibiting there, Naumann says. Kitchenware will be housed in Halls 1 and 3. Cutlery, cookware and small electrics, formerly housed in Halls 9.0 and 9.1, will be found in Hall 3.1, while design-oriented manufacturers formerly located in 9.2 have moved to Halls 1.1 and 1.2.

Housewares products that used to be located in Hall 8, such as cleaning and storage items, have been moved to Halls 5 and 6.

The Ambiente halls have been rotated 180 degrees so that attendees visiting Halls 1 through 6 will be on the city-side of the exhibition center for the first time. Messe Frankfurt has also extended its via mobile, or people-mover, so that it links all of the halls and does not dead-end as it did in the past.

Over the past 10 years, Messe Frankfurt has invested roughly $1.2 billion to maintain and upgrade its facilities. In a statement, it referred to Ambiente as a "guardrail that provides both stability and orientation" in challenging economic times.