RED SPACE project wins double honors at CREATIVE HACK AWARD 2025 for reimagining endangered infrastructure

The RED SPACE project has won the Special Prize and Finalist Club Prize at the CREATIVE HACK AWARD 2025 organized by WIRED. The self-initiated project, led by Ryosei Takenaka and Kei Hiraguri, focuses on collecting and evaluating spatial infrastructure at risk of disappearing. Takenaka and Hiraguri both serve as directors on the Layout team at Loftwork.

The Layout team specializes in community and placemaking, offering services from conceptual planning and spatial design to construction supervision and operational support.

Since 2013, the CREATIVE HACK AWARD has spotlighted creators who challenge conventional wisdom to shape the future. The award identifies early, experimental signals of potential in society. This focus is particularly significant as generative AI reshapes the creative landscape, prompting the award to highlight these emerging cultural signals.

RED SPACE began as a social experiment by Takenaka and Hiraguri. The project is currently developing into an open, participatory initiative on the AWRD platform operated by Loftwork.

The project examines spatial infrastructure mass-produced during the economic boom of the 20th century, beginning with examples in Japan. These include phone booths, gas stations, shopping malls, and local railways. These structures losing their function due to technological and demographic shifts are designated as RED SPACE. This concept is inspired by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. To date, the project has cataloged and evaluated more than 100 types of spaces.

The vision of RED SPACE extends beyond documentation. It proposes mutations to adapt these structures into new urban assets. Ideas include reimagining phone booths as tourist hubs, disaster relief stations, or battery-swapping kiosks. The project serves as a platform to rediscover the potential of existing urban infrastructure.

RED SPACE will launch the “MUTATIONS” Idea Competition on the AWRD platform starting in spring 2026.

AWRD is a global co-creation platform that connects corporations and local governments with creators. By fostering open innovation, AWRD supports business development, regional revitalization and startup ecosystems through project management and strategic consulting.

>> Learn more about AWRD