An Inside Look at Moscow’s Vibrant Coworking Culture: SOK Kurskaya

Over the past years the capital of Russia become home to more than a one million new residents, brought there by the city’s high paying jobs, including those offered by tech startups, telecom and media companies. Moscow’s got everything a digital nomad would want, including lots of coworking spaces. This one named SOK is bound to impress you. The people behind SOK have done their research and explored the best coworking spaces in Israel, Britain and Germany. They reached out to WeWork and Mindspace, and learned from their experiences. They used government data to define ‘areas of peak business activity’ and pick the perfect location. They hired not one, but several design studios and bureaus to bring their vision of the perfect coworking experience to life. © Photo by The view from the rooftop Dmitry Kabanov In its essence, SOK’s Kurskaya location is what a traditional office space would look like if it were designed to facilitate collaboration between tenants. It combines elements of traditional and open space floor planning, with smart offices that seat up to twelve people. © Photo by A common working area on the 7th floor: outlets, desks and lots of light Dmitry Kabanov Smart offices allow for uninterrupted work when necessary, while still providing easy access to common spaces. The intuitive infrastructure management and transparent access control make team relocation a breeze. Such fluidity is an important part of the concept — you can easily assemble a team for a project and then complete it in the security of a traditional office. © Photo by Is this a lounge? Is this a meeting room? Why can’t it be both? Dmitry Kabanov Each area is purposefully decorated. Working spaces are distraction-free, lounges are designed for social interaction and relaxation. There’s a range of meeting rooms that, depending on your needs, allow for either serious negotiations, or friendly conversations with your business partners. © Photo by This event space can fill up to 100 people Dmitry Kabanov There’s a kitchen on every floor, a self-service snack shop on the rooftop, a designated ‘beverage’ area and an open space free to use for public events. Come here on Tuesday and Thursday nights for a pint of local draft beer. Or any other time for a cup of coffee The SOK Kurskaya space was supposed to be a testing ground for ideas to be implemented at a larger scale later on. This experiment proved to be successful and the organisers are soon opening their new locations. About the author: Dmitry works with brands to create content and promote corporate culture at scale. He is one of the veterans at Techstars Startup Digest. Apart from it, he is acting as an advisor for the SXSW Pitch event and SXSW Release IT event. Email: dmitry.kabanov [@] startupdigestmail.com