WE ARE TOYKYO.
WE COME IN PEACE

De Stroom

2018

Illustration

Graphic Design

Identity

Created for the City of Ghent’s services building De Stroom, this mural transforms a narrow vertical facade into a bold visual beacon. The site carries a legacy of energy. The building once housed Belgium’s main electricity provider, making it a fitting canvas for charged work that pulses with movement.

Energy flows through the city

A charged location

Overlooking South Square, one of Ghent’s busiest spaces, the mural stretches over 18 meters high and asserts itself within a dense architectural context of glass and historic stone. Its verticality amplifies the building’s presence and turns what could have been a residual surface into a striking landmark that draws attention from multiple vantage points across the square.

Two rivers.
One current.

The composition channels Ghent’s identity as a city shaped by water and flow. Abstract streams weave through the mural, referencing the Leie and Schelde rivers. These currents are reinterpreted as graphic waves and rhythmic patterns that guide the eye upward and reinforce a sense of continuous movement.

Power to the public

Bold contrasts and a vivid colour palette create dynamic tension across the surface. Sharp jagged forms evoke surges of electricity, while softer cloud-like shapes introduce moments of pause. Pixelated lines reference both digital and analog energy, echoing the building’s shift from industrial power to civic use. At its centre, a playful, almost cartoon-like face emerges from the composition, welcoming the public to the city’s public affairs department.

More than a mural, De Stroom operates as a visual connector that links history, location and identity through a language of flow and energy, elevating the building into a recognisable point within the cityscape and embedding itself in the daily experience of passersby.