SILVERSQUARE LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE
Silversquare is the market-leading coworking space company operating all over Belgium and in Luxembourg, with no less than 11 locations.
Each coworking space has its own unique personality, as it is the product of a collaboration between a team of architects and an artist/designer.
For its location in Louvain-La-Neuve, then-Silversquare’s architectural team member Dimitri Goloubev led the design of the project and chose to collaborate with artist Théo Demans from Touche-Touche studio (Dystopia) and designer Lilian Van Daal (Utopia), who each brought their unique vision to life from the initial moodboard.
Type: Coworking space
Surface: 4.000m²
Location: Louvain-La-Neuve
Project duration: 30 months
Link to client’s presentation: Silversquare
The Concept
The interior unfolds as a tension between two imagined realities of one and the same world—one utopian, the other dystopian.
Utopia
The Utopian side envisions a future where humanity works hand in hand with Mother Nature, blending serendipity, eco-materials, and biomimicry.
On the program: concrete-printed phone booths inspired by seashells, 3D-printed table legs made from sand, bio-laminates, cork-lined meeting rooms, geometric lounges, ceilings shimmering like the surface of water…
Dystopia
The Dystopian—yet equally hopeful—counterpart emphasizes awareness of Earth’s finite resources. It reimagines contemporary techniques to highlight reuse and creative repurposing: industrial systems like space frames (once destined for large-scale engineering) now serve as the structure for offices, alcoves, and phone booths.
Discarded plastics find new life as kitchen panels, while old office chairs are refurbished into cafeteria seating.
Dystopia also questions architectural conventions—such as the straightness of a wall—reinterpreting it as a stair-like form that doubles as shelving, seating, and storage. It reveals what’s often hidden, like showcasing server racks behind transparent cages instead of concealing them.
