At the heart of a city is an essential quality that plays an important role for its citizens and is present in world-class centers: the intersection of social and creative elements. When designing Hypatia, we have taken this idea and placed it at our core; it is our heart, and it takes center stage.

In the context of virtual reality, “social” has a whole new meaning. While being able to directly communicate with friends and family is important and already a part of our world, a great city relies on the idea of the “commons” to engage its population. The commons are those social places where people gather, such as parks, museums, clubs, trails, coffee shops, river walks, galleries, and places of higher learning. We are building a new commons open and accessible to all of humanity, all the time, and without leaving home.

Considering that over 1 Billion people a year travel to other destinations to take part in the special places our Earth has to offer, such as London, Manhattan, Paris, Venice, Kyoto, Machu Picchu, the Grand Canyon, the Great Pyramids, and countless spots between, Hypatia is to be the destination for when we cannot get away physically. Hypatia is a curated virtual city where, at any given time, we can visit a world-class museum, take in a show, go painting, dance the night away, solve a puzzle, or explore the sublime.

This is where creativity comes into play and allows us to build something new with Hypatia. Our global stage is a dynamic environment where the creative works of our citizens will find a platform. Just as we will supply the map, buildings, transportation, and landscape, we will be recruiting “Friends of Hypatia” to help us build much of the content. We can create the tools, but it will be our visitors who fill the streets with graffiti, musical performances, poetry, photographs, installations, and stage plays.

We recognize that not everyone is a creator, and not everyone wants to help build the metropolis of the future. We are laying the foundation and creating a large part of our virtual world to inspire our visitors to celebrate the work of others by simply participating in an active form of consumption made possible with the advent of virtual reality. Exactly the form and function of how Hypatia will work will be rolled out in the coming months.