Gamestate Ghent: an eye-catcher of an arcade!

Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, Gamestate Ghent was festively opened. Gamestate is a It is located on the Korenmarkt in Ghent, in the middle of the entertainment district. The entrance is on the Ground Floor with the arcade in the basement.

Gamestate gaming halls are part of the Dutch Veltmeijer Group. The family business began seventy years ago in Sittard operating jukeboxes and pinball machines. Later gaming halls were added, including in Center Parcs vacation parks. With the concept of Gamestate, the Veltmeijer Group is targeting the adult consumer who still knows the arcade from his youth and the younger target group who sees gaming as a social experience.

Eye-catcher leads to arcade

To adequately draw attention to the basement with the limited visibility of the entrance, the entrance features a large screen and LED light lines that give the suggestion of depth with a false perspective, leading consumers’ gaze downward.

Elaboration concept Gamestate

In the elaboration, the particular challenge was to design the illuminated ceiling islands around the existing climate control system. If the air conditioning plant were to be modified, another separate environmental permit would be required to degas it, so it was decided to leave the entire plant intact.

NewArmstrong did the surveying (3d scan), architectural recording, design (based on a concept from Jora Vision), permit and Technical Design here. The design and elaboration into Technical Design has already been done 2nd half 2022, however, the permit process in Belgium took more than three-quarters of a year.

Permit

In particular, this had to do with the classification “lunapark,” which imposed special requirements for the environmental permit. Among other things, the water consumption, electricity consumption and cooling and heat loads had to be detailed.

The Municipality of Ghent did not want to risk any objections during the hanging of the permit. For this reason, an environmental survey was conducted beforehand, during which local residents/neighbors were informed of the plans and were able to submit their views. This is because the surrounding buildings on the higher floors also have apartments and they might otherwise object to the wide opening hours.