Zaha Hadid Architects designs Liberland Metaverse, a virtual city for a micronation

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) is designing Liberland Metaverse, a virtual city that serves as a digital extension of the real-world Republic of Liberland, a micronation founded in 2015 by Czech right-wing activist Vít Jedlička on a three-square-mile swampy plot called Siga, between Zagreb and Belgrade. The project is a collaboration between ZHA, Mytaverse, and ArchAgenda. Patrik Schumacher, ZHA's lead architect, stated that the metaverse will function both as a driver for Liberland's development and as an independent virtual reality realm. The virtual city will feature hybrid, curvilinear architectural forms, including a town hall, a plaza, and an exhibition center. Visitors access it via Mytaverse's cloud-based 3D platform, where they can purchase land plots and start businesses, later participating in the real micronation's political and social life. Schumacher criticized video game designers as entertainment industry workers lacking design discipline, arguing that architects are better suited for metaverse design. He emphasized that virtual spaces are functionally continuous with physical ones, part of a single social interaction process. The platform uses cryptocurrency transactions and DAO-based governance. Schumacher believes immersive internet technology will foster spontaneous social interactions and global economic collaboration. Liberland claims 700,000 citizenship applications but remains unrecognized by any state; Serbia and Croatia rejected Jedlička's plans.