Aviva Studios, home of Factory International

The long-anticipated performing arts campus on the grounds of the former Granada Studios had star power behind it long before its first show premiered last October. Aviva Studios, home of Factory International is the first cultural institution in the United Kingdom designed by the powerhouse architecture firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), co-founded by Rem Koolhaas. This latest development, revitalizing an industrial tract along the River Irwell, serves as the new permanent home of the Manchester International Festival. Since 2007, this biennial arts fest has premiered new works from acclaimed creators like David Lynch and Yoko Ono in the unlikeliest places all across the city, including staging a theatrical adaptation of the Italo Calvino novel Invisible Cities deep within a derelict train station. Now Manchester is emerging as a cultural capital: new shows will debut under this one roof all year round. The opening season kicked off last fall with Free Your Mind, a modern dance interpretation of The Matrix, by native son and Oscar-winner Danny Boyle.

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