Tbilisi’s Fabrika hub receives Global Architecture & Design Awards prize

Downtown Tbilisi’s trendy venue Fabrika has been unveiled among the prize-winners of this year’s Global Architecture & Design Awards, with judges appreciating the transformation of the formerly dysfunctional building into a creative hub.

A team from Multiverse Architecture — involving Nikoloz Gurabanidze, Boka Kilasonia, Devi Kituashvili and George Sakvarelidze — collected the Second Award for the Urban Design category for their work on the venue.

The former Soviet sewing factory was refurbished and renovated in 2016 into a multi-functional space hosting artistic and educational events.

It also hosts visitors looking for a cosy place to stay while spending time in the Georgian capital, with its “biggest hostel in the region”.

“Fabrika has become unique experience for Tbilisi in the conceptual, architectural, urban and social perspective”.

“It’s the first attempt to create the similar development locally, which had an immediate effect on the neighborhood transforming it into popular artistic and hipster district”, said a profile of the venue from the Rethinking the Future platform, which runs the award.

The Fabrika profile for the contest calls it “the most popular urban hotspot”:

Located on Ninoshvili Street in Tbilisi’s Old Town district, the renovated building houses 22 permanent residents and hosts weekly events in a variety of spaces.

Hosts say their venue receives “at least 1,000 visitors every day”, with its architecture “based on authenticity and cultural diversity”.

Cafes, bars, artist studios and co-working areas are some of the spaces brought together at Fabrika, with its open courtyard set for socialising events.

The Tbilisi venue finished alongside dozens of other runner-ups of the 2018 GADA Awards.