Becentral is a new digital campus located in Brussels Central Station. Co-founded and backed by more than 60 entrepreneurs including Tech schools and NGO’s, its mission is to make everyone an actor of the digital revolution. It’s a place to learn technologies, grow a startup and impact society. The Studio transformed the 3500 m2 of the former administrative offices of the Belgian railway company into a vibrant and inspiring campus where people could thrive and share experiences. The design focusses on the creation of several atmospheres in order to help people finding their way in the vast and labyrinth-like building by visual cues and to provide a variety of places that suits everyone’s activity and mood. As a socially oriented project where spaces are for rent at a very competitive price, in order to attract a wide variety of entrepreneurs, the design had to respect a tight budget. First Maxime De Campenaere and his team focused on the layout in order to get rid of the unnecessary. New partitions were reduced to the minimum according to a strong analysis of the program. False ceilings were removed and concrete slabs were kept visible everywhere as well as bricks and plaster imperfections. In addition to reduce the costs, this direction allowed the project to have a better environmental footprint and a visual guideline along the different spaces. The designers made then the choice to focus on some iconic rooms. Since the use of expensive materials or custom-made elements had to be limited, a strong research was made on color schemes as a way to give the project a strong personality in the given budget. Some construction materials were turned away from their original purpose such as bricks that were here installed in timber framed partitions integrating light stripes. ‘The Galaxy’ room is focusing on spatial exploration with its deep blue background color and coppered panels. Tables are suspended and the floor represents a field of asteroids. ‘The Garden’ is designed as a lush garden where people can have a meeting or work together in a collaborative space. ‘The Innovation Room’ can be reserved by the residents to brainstorm – glass panels were specially designed for this purpose. Yoga mats and swings surrounded by bucolic flowers were designed for residents to relax in between the sessions. All those different ambiances come together as a playful maze that is expanding constantly.