In 2020 KCC celebrated its 20^th birthday!

An ideal moment to reflect with our CEO Mr. Yannick Maes, founder and owner of KCC Entertainment Design, on the past, the present and the future!

How was the entertainment market when KCC started?

Around the year 2000 the entertainment industry was mainly Theme Parks and large indoor entertainment centres build by visionary people.
Indoor Entertainment and Family Entertainment Centres were still at their early stages.
Developers in the MENA region were among the first to integrate entertainment in shopping malls to differentiate and to offer new types of entertainment for their visitors.

KCC was one of the pioneers at integrating fully themed high-level entertainment parcs in retail environments or as standalone destinations. It was an exciting time with a lot of opportunities but also pitfalls (we learned several things the hard way).
Through hands on learning and visionary approach we gained knowledge on the mechanisms and factors which turn an entertainment centre into a success story.

With that knowledge on indoor entertainment (and its organic integration with retail) we have gathered over all the years, we are now one of the most specialized companies for indoor entertainment centres and indoor theme parks.

And we have extended this knowledge to other entertainment types like water parks, outdoor theme parks etc.

What are some special projects of KCC during all those years?

Every project for every client was (and is) special! Each project must have its uniqueness. We consider our clients as our partners in creating memories for the visitors. This means we always go the extra (s)mile.
Off course there are some milestone projects which have a special place in KCC’s portfolio.

• • KARTING MALL in Hong Kong

    KCC’s very first project. We turned a 10.000sqm old airport terminal into a full Karting entertainment center!

  • TBC INDOOR RACING in Dallas, USA

    Our first Karting Entertainment Center in USA

  • MOON TOON FEC in Serafi Mall, Jeddah

    Our first indoor theme park/FEC which was an immediate success and is still open today!

  • HAPPYLON FEC’s in CIS

    First ‘chain’ of entertainment centers designed (and build) by KCC. We developed with the owner the complete brand identity and designed multiple locations in Kazachstan, Russia and other CIS countries.

  • GO PLANET in Riga, Latvia

    KCC’s first entertainment center in a purpose-built building and our first project in mainland Europe.
    Measuring 10.000sqm over 3 floors, the project was a huge success and was attracting visitors from neighbouring countries.

  • TEKZONE in Avenues Mall, Kuwait

    A recent project showcasing how KCC pioneers in creating unique and renewing entertainment concepts and projects. The project utilizes gamification (as a world’s first) and infuses traditional attractions with AR/VR/MR. We are very proud to see the project being used in many seminars and presentations as one of the directions entertainment is heading.

  • ANGRY BIRDS in Doha Festival City, Qatar

    Our first branded entertainment park and immediately with the fun birds of Angry Birds. Although understanding the true DNA of a brand is always a challenge our design team matched perfectly with the creative minds at Rovio and the clients’ desires. The project opened doors to cooperation with other brands.

  • WANDA NANJING THEME PARK, Wanda Plaza, Nanjing, China
    

    One of the most amazing projects of our company in China and one of the most successful projects of the Wanda group. Measuring 34.000sqm it is KCC’s biggest indoor project till date and with a unique integration of the local culture with attractions it’s an anchor in the mall and Nanjing itself.

  • SMURFS THEME PARK in Shanghai, China
    

    A great honour to design a park with one of Belgium’s national treasures: the Smurfs! Designing this park was a very nostalgic experience enjoyed by everyone in the team (we all watched this shows when we were ‘younger’) The park opened 3 weeks ago and we could not attend (travel restrictions) the grand opening but the pictures and movies look amazing and we are very proud on the result!

  • CHOCOLATE KINGDOM THEME PARK in Guangzhou, China
    

    Belgium = chocolate. So, when we were requested to design a chocolate kingdom we were more than ready. The project of 18 hectares near Guangzhou in China will open later this year and will be one of the sweetest designs we have done till now. In this project KCC’s approach of ‘design for realization’ is very clear: you can put the renders of the project and a picture of the result next to each other and hardly see the difference.

What makes KCC unique as an entertainment design company?

• Experience:

  In 20 years of design and realization our passionate team of professionals amassed knowledge of do’s and don’ts in entertainment.

• Turnkey (Design & Build):

  We want to assist our clients from the first steps till the grand opening ensuring that what we design is realized as such. This results in projects where you can hardly distinguish design vs realization.

  An example of this can be seen here.

• Feasible creativity:

  What we design can be built within the set budget and timing. We always pay a lot of attention that each project must be unique but also profitable. The designs that we make are not just a nice picture with a “wow” effect, but result in fully realizable and financially successful project. The proof of this is our many repeat customers which start with one project and end up building more.

• Adaptability:

  Our clients are in different markets requiring different approaches each time. We understand what the clients wants, what the market wants and that time to market can be an important factor. This means adapting. Years of experience and continuous fine-tuning our organizational structure has also enabled us to address changes during the project in a better and faster way without compromising on the result.

What are the upcoming entertainment trends and how does KCC address those?

New technologies like AR/VR/MR are now fully available for use in the entertainment market. They open a lot of new possibilities.
We embrace these new technologies and our designers love to integrate them in our design.

However, we believe in a specific approach:

We do not replace everything with new technology. One of the strengths lies in fusing new technologies with existing and strong attractions, concepts and experiences.
Another advantage of these new technologies is their capacity to bring experiences, concepts and attractions together in one big unique experience. Creating a completely new level of entertainment on top of the individual attractions.

For us, merging new trends into existing proven concepts and analysing how every m² of the park can benefit of these new trends is key to success.

What do you look forward to in the next years/What are the goals of KCC in the next years?

While everyone’s world is becoming more and more digitalized and we spend a great amount of time online, we clearly see that people still love creating real memories and continuously look for new place to gather, socialize and have fun.

I look forward seeing KCC address this continuous search for unique social entertainment locations and to see KCC remain a driver and pioneer in the development of these new entertainment locations in the next years.