American business magazine Forbes ranked Serbia’s Mokrin House among the world’s Top 10 co-living spaces, while Allwork included it on its list of the World’s Best Co-working and Co-living Destinations
Thanks to the courageous and original project of a group of young architects gathered together at the “Autori” [Authors] Studio, this estate in the Banat village of Mokrin, which had been abandoned and neglected for decades, was transformed into an urban oasis in rural surroundings. And thus emerged Mokrin House, which was conceived from its inception as a place that merges the seemingly unmergeable.

Mokrin House has traversed an interesting development path from the initial idea of it as a place for friends to gather privately and socialise, only for circumstance to turn it into a place intended for artist residencies. The estate subsequently opened its doors to digital nomads from all over the world, who found in its urban-rural setting one of their chosen global destinations for work, rest and socialisation. This unique environment today also provides inspiration for teams from different companies to work on joint projects.

The estate itself contains five buildings, intended for accommodation and work, encircling a large courtyard covering an area of 2,000 square metres. All spaces within the work facilities have a very flexible design and can thus be quickly and easily adapted to clients’ various needs – from installing desks for individual work to arranging certain spaces for group work. Some spaces can be converted into meeting or lecture halls easily, with the use of the latest technology.
PROUD OF THE FIRST DIGITAL VILLAGE
When it comes to creating the unique experience of Mokrin House, the central courtyard also plays an important role. It is there that guests gather to take a short break on the beanbags or relax by playing football or volleyball. The courtyard is spacious enough to host concerts and plays, but also picnics that, in addition to guests, are also attended by Mokrin residents and their guests.
Food – a mix of local and international dishes – also forms an essential part of the experience, while a decent share of the ingredients are produced in Mokrin House’s own organic garden. Here care is taken to ensure a wide selection of dishes and to maximally adapt meals to suit different tastes.
All Spaces Within the Work Facilities Have a Very Flexible Design and Can Thus Be Quickly and Easily Adapted to Clients’ Various Needs
Cooperation with the local community represents an important element of the success of Mokrin House. Initial scepticism has turned into active support. Numerous events intended for the local community have been organised in Mokrin and Kikinda over the last ten years, including plays, literary evenings, lectures, exhibitions and concerts.

One particularly noteworthy highlight of Mokrin House’s cooperation with the local community is the Digital Village project, which was launched in cooperation with company Delta Holding and the Novi Sad-based Bio- Sense Institute, and was recently also joined by OTP Bank. The project aims to digitalise agricultural production. The project is completely free for all Mokrin farmers and has already been ongoing for more than two years. A series of workshops and lectures have so far been organised, weather stations have been installed around Mokrin, and land plots have been recorded by drone to enable the processing of data using the latest digital tools.
The Mokrin Sense app is currently under development. It will enable the simple utilisation of all information and knowledge collected and will be available to all farmers based in Mokrin.
SKILLED MERGING OF THE RURAL AND THE URBAN
Another programme directed towards the local community is the Rurban Days project, which has been organised for several years and also aims to merge the rural and the urban. Last November, Rurban Days 2023 was organised in cooperation with the Island School of Autonomy (ISSA) from the Croatian island of Vis, which was launched by Croatian philosopher Srećko Horvat. Within the scope of the three-day programme was a lecture by Srećko Horvat and a retrospective screening of the films of Želimir Žilnik, which included discussions with the filmmaker himself. A literary evening was held in Kikinda and saw actor Goran Bogdan conversing with writers Rumena Bužarovska and Saša Savanović, and film director Srđan Dragojević. The programme concluded with a concert of Slovenian group Laibach in the Mokrin House courtyard.
The concept of co-working spaces was in its very infancy in Serbia when Mokrin House was first conceived. The notion that such spaces could exist beyond a couple of larger cities was simply unimaginable back then, while the term “co-living” was completely unknown. And to assume that such a co-living and co-working space would emerge in a village in Serbia was at the level of sci-fi fantasy. But here it is; a fairy tale has become a reality that’s recognised far beyond Serbia’s borders.

Every success can be deceptive, which is why – regardless of achievements to date – the current focus is on ways to further improve the experience of working and staying overnight at Mokrin House. And different guests have different needs. The expectations of a company team coming to spend a few days working on a specific project differ entirely from the expectations at a workshop held to educate new people. And that’s without mentioning digital nomads, some of whom stay for more than a month and require a great deal of peace and privacy. Under such conditions, adapting to different needs and specific situations is the crucial factor.
WORKSTYLE DEFINES LIFESTYLE
The future of work is a very important topic. Contemporary trends are increasingly influencing shifts in the way we work and demanding ever-swifter adaptation. We are all aware that digitalisation has led to us no longer needing to be in the same room, city or even time zone to form a team that works on projects together. But where digitalisation creates difficulties is in the forming and reinforcing of trust between people who comprise a team that isn’t physically present. And that’s why we’re seeing global growth in the number of co-working spots in cities, but also in the number of hybrid co-working/co-living destinations.
The way we work defines the way we live. The industrial revolution bound man to the workplace, and that’s why we’ve had to live close to where we work to this day. That is now changing, with digitalisation increasingly distancing us from that way of working and living, because in the digital world you can live anywhere and work anywhere and at any time.
The future of work lies in some evolved hybrid model that has yet to develop further and certainly won’t remain at the current level. This entire process will also speed up increasingly thanks to the development of artificial intelligence. AI tools will help us do more things faster and more efficiently, leading to the creation of new needs related to human work and life that we can’t yet even predict. All in all, we are awaited by interesting times in which Mokrin House sees the reason for its continued future existence.