The LOCO Alliance architectural competition in Tbilisi, Georgia, was organized to transform a 73,600 m² brownfield site, the former Soviet-era Tbilisi Electric Locomotive Manufacturing Plant in the "Temka" residential area, into a new green neighborhood and cultural destination called Loco Park. On October 18, 2026, LOCO Alliance officially announced Stefano Boeri Architetti's design as the selected project for the site's transformation, with the official masterplan images unveiled on October 23. The selected masterplan is designed to integrate the industrial heritage of the factory with contemporary architecture, dense green public spaces and community recreation hubs. The site is already hosting large-scale cultural events, organized in parallel with the formal masterplan competition.
Stefano Boeri Architetti's Loco Park masterplan transforms the 73,600 m² site in the Georgian capital, the grounds of a large Soviet-era locomotive factory, into an integrated network of homes, green spaces, services and community facilities, open to the city. The gross floor area is 120,000 m² across nine buildings, with different home typologies on the upper floors and services such as local shops, cafés and workshops at ground level. The buildings are surrounded by a sequence of open spaces, including a sports forest, parks, shared gardens and a linear boulevard. Shared spaces are continuous and walkable, and extend pedestrian connections to the surrounding neighborhoods.
To incorporate the site's industrial heritage into the new neighborhood's identity, the project uses brick to establish material continuity. Brick is also rooted in local building traditions and can take on the characteristic colors of Tbilisi's architectural legacy. Through photographic color mapping of the urban landscape, Stefano Boeri Architetti identified the dominant color families (blue-gray, terracotta, green, taupe and mineral white) and translated these shades into a brick palette for the facades. The buildings' roofs are shaped after the silhouettes of the factories and workshops historically located in the area. In a more contemporary approach, the roofs also accommodate greenhouses, terraces, photovoltaic systems, loft apartments and communal spaces for residents.
The new Loco Park neighbourhood will combine the memory of the large Soviet-era locomotive factory with a vision of a contemporary, vibrant space that is green and open to everyone. The buildings of Loco Park will be islands in an urban archipelago, distinct yet connected by a network of tree-lined pedestrian public spaces for the whole city to enjoy ― Architect Stefano Boeri
Other projects announced this year by Stefano Boeri Architetti include a new affordable housing development in Ibiza, which proposes approximately 190 affordable rental apartments distributed across four timber volumes. Earlier this year, the Rome City Council approved a memorandum for the urban regeneration of the Depositi delle Vittorie in Piazza Bainsizza, a former ATAC depot in Rome dating back to the early 1900s. The firm will be in charge of envisioning the adaptive reuse of the former transportation infrastructure by introducing cultural, educational, commercial, co-working and leisure functions. Also in Italy, the office revealed a design for the new Ambrosian Monastery in Milan's MIND district, a project conceived as a space integrating worship, interreligious dialogue and educational activities.
