At the request of the Strelka Institute in Moscow, the Berlage Institute has been invited to organize a design workshop led by Vedran Mimica, with the assistance of Maria Giudici, Davide Saccono, and Thomas Stellmach

Over a period of nine days, participants will investigate the Red October area of Moscow's Bolotny Island, which has recently undergone a radical transformation from confectionery factory to a mixed-use building complex.

The aim of the workshop is to convert the former factory into a hotspot for creativity. Participants will try to understand how new centralities can become performing environments that enhance the existing urban conditions; they will also rethink the features which can turn an urban complex like this  into an attractor for creative practices. Spatial scenarios will be developed to explore the relations between flexibility and sense of place, living and working spaces, production and creativity, individual initiatives and general frameworks, and public policies and private investments.

What quality will make the Red October transformation successful? What should the Red October offer to Moscow, and what kind of urbanity could it propose? What is it that triggers creativity in a certain environment, and what is it that triggers urban intensity in specific places in the city? Starting from these questions, the participants will try to open up a new field of possibilites for Red October, Moscow and the post-industrial city itself. The workshop offers an opportunity to cast a critical glance on the idea of cultural production and its relationship with the city at large.