Design Team: 51N4E
Textile Design: Atelier Chevalier Masson
Carpentry: Anton Parys
Client: 51N4E
Made Possible By: The initiative and support of 51N4E, Up4North, and the 'Community Infrastructure as a Breeding Ground in Brussels' program of the Flemish Brussels Fund; the project is part of the NMBS program 'Living in the Station.'

The former Train Museum at Noordstation has been renovated and redesigned by the 51N4E design team – who are also the clients for this conversion into a hybrid public space aptly named 'TRACK.' This cultural incubator and event location serves as an experimental crossroads connecting creation, education, and economic integration. The urban lab commits to research into shared and mixed space usage, new forms of collaboration, and a creative economy that is socially, circularly, and financially sustainable. Through this model, TRACK aims to play a role in the transformation of the Noordwijk.

TRACK is a collaboration between many organisations: LabNorth, UrbanFoxes, Academie Sint Lukas Schaarbeek, Sew4Life, Rebelle, GC Ten Noey, #BXNord en La Fourna are the fixed residents. 51N4E, Up4North, het Vlaams Brusselfonds and the NMBS are supporting partners of the space.

The building underwent an extensive redesign to meet the new usage requirements. From a technical perspective, this was realized through an infrastructural network layer as the core intervention of the renovation: a technical installation under the ceiling, with ventilation, electricity, internet data, and heating designed to adapt over time to multiple applications. The ambition around circularity, for instance, has translated into viewing nearby buildings as a source of materials. The materials defining such infrastructure come from existing buildings, defined in this context as 'mines': buildings that were demolished or renovated served as sources for this assembly. Their value was derived from rescuing items on the brink of being discarded, as recovering technical elements is generally impractical or simply not financially worthwhile. These were sourced from various office buildings in Brussels: the heating systems were cut from Espace Bealieu in Oudergem, the cable trays from Centre Monnaie in central Brussels, and the ventilation ducts from CCN in Schaerbeek.

The project also involved the reuse of a diverse range of furniture and materials, such as kitchens, chairs, tables, lamps, tiles, wood, glass panels, and doors. The dismantling and collection of these items were overseen by the 51N4E team, and collaborations were formed with specialized material reuse partners, including Batiterre, Cornemat, and Rotor. The project dynamically adapted based on available resources and materials – and vice versa – defining a dual meaning for reuse and contextualization.