EPICURA – A New Home

How do you celebrate those who care for others while paying tribute to a city’s identity?

For the inauguration of its new building in Ath, Belgium, EPICURA wanted to bring its teams together for an event that would be spectacular, deeply human and firmly rooted in the local community.

Our partner Nouvelle Dimension, responsible for organising the event, invited us to contribute to its artistic conception and create a film to be projected onto the façade of the new hospital.

The idea? Draw inspiration from Ath’s folklore and its famous giants to tell an original story in which hospital professionals become the true heroes of the show.

Doctors, nurses, technicians, IT specialists and other hospital staff come to life through characters inspired by local legends.

An unexpected encounter between popular tradition, fantasy and a heartfelt tribute to hospital teams.

Transforming local folklore into an epic adventure without ever losing the human dimension of the message.

To bring this story to life, we developed an original artistic direction, combining a spectacular illustrated world with accessible and emotionally engaging storytelling.

At the heart of the project was extensive character design work, creating characters inspired by the giants of Ath and reimagined to represent the different professions within the hospital.

Each character needed its own identity while belonging to a cohesive visual universe.

Our goal was to strike the right balance between the imagination of local legends, the dedication of healthcare professionals and the emotion of a collective tribute.

These characters were then brought to life in an illustrated film designed for large-scale projection onto the façade of the new building.

A production combining 2D illustration, animation and visual storytelling, with particular attention paid to image clarity and visual impact on a monumental architectural surface.

At the same time, we contributed to the design of the event’s visual identity, particularly for the speeches area and the projection onto the building.

The film formed part of a larger show coordinated by Nouvelle Dimension, which also featured acrobatic performances, a light show and a final fireworks display created by Fétin’celles.

A genuine challenge in artistic consistency, where every discipline had to contribute to the same shared emotion.

A monumental façade, legendary giants and real-life heroes.

For one evening, EPICURA’s new building became an enormous storytelling canvas, bringing to life a visual tribute to the women and men who keep the hospital running every day.

Through the characters imagined by waaaw.studio, Ath’s folklore became a universal language for celebrating dedication, care and solidarity.

The illustrated film became part of a live show combining video mapping, acrobatics, lighting and pyrotechnics, creating an experience that was both spectacular and deeply human.

A project demonstrating how artistic direction and illustration can transform an institutional event into a meaningful collective story.

And above all, a wonderful opportunity to remind everyone that the real giants aren’t always the ones you might expect!