Transforming the Lelija Factory into TechZity

The former Lelija garment factory is set to become Europe’s largest campus for technology and creative industries. At Tech Zity Vilnius, architecture continues the story of a place. What makes the project unique is the architects’ core brief to preserve and reuse as much of the factory as possible, adapting it to contemporary needs while keeping its history, character and connection to the city.

To support reuse across the project, a Materials Library was established. Materials and objects from the factory were collected and catalogued for architects to incorporate into new spaces.

Before the official opening, join RethinkersClub for a special tour with three architecture studios behind the project: IXL Studio, DO Architects and A2SM. We’ll walk through the buildings and courtyards to see how this approach works at the scale of an entire quarter. How has a previously closed factory site been connected to the surrounding neighbourhood? How does its history shape its new spaces? What has been kept and creatively reused? Hear directly from the architects about the decisions, compromises and imagination involved.

Aurimas Sasnauskas from A2SM will share the challenges and unexpected finds behind adapting the factory’s oldest, heritage-protected building for new uses.

Gilma Teodora Gylytė and Marija Steponavičiūtė from DO Architects will explain how Soviet-era factory buildings are being transformed and a once-closed site is becoming part of the neighbourhood.

Ona Lozuraitytė from IXL Studio will share how symbolism and conceptual thinking shape the courtyards, turning construction remnants and ruble into unexpected objects with practical uses and stories to tell.

DO ARCHITECTS

DO ARCHITECTS is an architecture, urban design and interior architecture studio that designs for people. Working on complex projects at different scales, the studio brings positive change to cities and people’s immediate surroundings. Its work draws inspiration from everyday life and imperfect or unfinished spaces, seeking lasting, sustainable improvements to the built environment. For the past four years, the studio has been based at Betono fabrikas, a former concrete factory in Vilkpėdė—an industrial site the team found and helped bring back to life.

Isora x Lozuraityte Studio (IXL)

Isora x Lozuraityte Studio (IXL) is a Vilnius-based architectural practice working locally and internationally at the intersection of architecture, public space, infrastructure, landscape, design, art, interiors and exhibition environments. The studio works across a wide range of scales, from critical objects and spatial situations of encounter to acupunctural interventions, landscape and architectural projects.

Working with cultural institutions, the public sector, private clients and practitioners from various fields, the studio crosses disciplinary boundaries and approaches the hybrid design process as a field for material experimentation, layered interventions, contextual analysis, and the exploration of an expanded notion of norms.

📷 Photography by Lukas Jusas

About RethinkersClub
Rethinkers Club is a gathering for creators, designers, curators, collectors and the simply curious. Interesting things are born by exploring what already exists — uncovering history, rethinking, reusing, and building something new. We meet in person and online, visit spaces, host dinners and workshops.

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