Oever is a new art gallery located in the East Bank harbour area of Ostend, Belgium. Popularly called ‘Bruxelles plage’, it was historically linked to the capital of Belgium. Today, you still feel the faded glory of what once was a rich city. The city is a haven for creatives and even has its own street art festival. A fitting location for a contemporary art gallery with its own in-house coffee shop and store concept.

Designed by spacial design studio 5AM, they decided recreate the typical street artist’s canvas, the concrete jungle, in a minimal, stripped down version inside the gallery. The monochrome grey palette refers to the city’s hero colour and roughness. Contrasting smooth and rough city textures are altered. Urban art often functions as cultural commentary, regularly infused with bold shapes and colours, pop-art inspiration, and recognisable cartoon characters, combined with a signature streak of sobering humour. 5AM integrated these elements in a subtle yet undeniable way.

The open plan space can be divided in different zones by using a smart freestanding system which offers full flexibility and can easily be assembled or expanded whenever and wherever without the need for tools.