On September 8, 2025, HitachiRail successfully opened its new digital factory in Hagerstown, Maryland.

The plant includes the Hitachi Customer Experience Center which showcases the technology of the group in a digital way. GiugiaroArchitettura developed the overall architecture and design, as well as the development and production of custom-made interior elements.

The pavilion housing this new innovation hub was built in front of the new hight-tech plant where metro cars for Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Baltimore will be manufactured. The building was conceived to directly showcase—via interactive digital simulators and AI-powered systems—the technology and functionality that characterize the company’s products (for example trains, metro systems, and signaling technologies).

The architecture of the building aims to embody the values of technology, innovation, and sustainability that drive Hitachi’s vision and solutions. The pavilion features an organic shape, with a cantilevered roof that develops like a wave from the entrance of the production facility, creating a direct—both visual and functional—connection between the two buildings’ entrances.

The use of natural, living materials such as wood, indoor green walls, a rooftop garden, and outdoor green areas reflects the theme of sustainability, a fundamental value for the company, as well as the rural Japanese environment where Hitachi’s history began.

The external glass envelope, the metal structures, and the extensive use of digital systems and screens of various sizes, which shape the interior surfaces, highlight the company’s highly technological vocation. In Hagerstown, Hitachi has created its new “Lighthouse Digital Factory”: a cutting-edge strategic facility, a concrete example of the rail industry’s evolution toward sustainable and digitalized models, as well as of the global reach of Hitachi products. At the heart of the building, the reinforced concrete core conceals a true “digital theater,” capable of coming to life through a play of LED screens, lights, and sounds that create an immersive experience, allowing visitors to interact with the digital systems on display: holograms, avatars operated through AI technologies.