UNBROKEN Villa
Location
Lviv region, Bryukhovychi
Status
concept
Total area
390,60 м2
Start of design
2024
End of design
2025
Start of construction
2026
Services:
- concept
- pre-design works
- general design
- author's supervision
The UNBROKEN Rehabilitation Center in Bryukhovychi is more than just a response to the challenges of today. It is a complex, multi-layered system where architecture works with the individual during the most vulnerable moments of their life. Here, space does not showcase itself; it provides support. It does not impose scenarios but allows the person to recover at their own pace—physically, psychologically, and emotionally.
The final project of this ecosystem in Bryukhovychi combines two components, each with its own character and depth: the reconstruction of the historic “Quo vadis” villa and the creation of a recreational landscape with a pavilion, water, and spaces of silence. Together, they form the complete spatial narrative of UNBROKEN—one of memory, transformation, and care.
Villa “Quo vadis” appeared at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, during a time when Bryukhovychi was just forming as a resort area on the outskirts of Lviv. At that time, it was a place of forest silence, fresh air, and private residences built for a leisurely life outside the city. The villa’s architecture combined modernism with features of the manor style—restrained elegance, proportionality, and attention to detail.The name “Quo vadis”—”Where are you going?”—was borrowed from the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz and served more as an intellectual allusion than a random gesture. Even then, the building carried a question within it rather than an answer. It was private, intimate, and almost detached from the grand narrative of history, yet it held the potential for change.During the interwar period, the villa became the property of Polish engineer Boleslaw Pajkart, a man with a scientific background connected to the intellectual circles of Lviv. His name is associated with a high-profile court case that briefly turned the building into an object of press attention. Despite his acquittal, this episode marked the end of the villa’s private history: in 1929, Pajkart sold it to Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.This moment was a turning point. The villa ceased to be a personal space and acquired a social meaning. At Sheptytsky’s initiative, an orphanage was established here, cared for by the Studite Sisters. The building became part of a large-scale charitable system for helping orphans in Galicia—a space of care, protection, and upbringing. It was then that its architecture finally stopped being about status and began to be about responsibility.
Location of the administrative building within the rehabilitation center complex
This layer of history is important not as a retrospective, but as a key to understanding today’s project. Villa “Quo vadis” has always changed alongside the needs of society—and it is this capacity for transformation that has become the foundation for its new life within the UNBROKEN system.
3D section
Today, the villa will combine the functions of administration, recreation, and therapy, realized through interaction with art, live communication, and even food culture. This decision is not about the separation or isolation of processes, but about the thoughtful optimization of the complex’s entire structure. Moving specific functions into a separate building simultaneously freed up space in the main building for working with patients and allowed for the creation of environments with different emotional moods—without expanding borders, without pressure on the environment, and without disturbing the overall balance.
1st floor before
1st floor demolition
1st floor after
2nd floor before
2nd floor demolition
2nd floor after
The architectural logic of the reconstruction is based on the principle of maximum delicacy. The project does not attempt to “modernize” the villa through contrast or demonstrative interventions. On the contrary—preserving authentic elements, restoring historical details, and reusing materials become a way of engaging in a dialogue with the past. The new function does not mask history; it continues it.
There are places for group activities, meetings, workshops, and informal socialization. All routes are designed with accessibility and universal design in mind—without exceptions or compromises. Here, accessibility is not a separate option but a core principle. The interior spaces are organized so that even administrative work remains a part of the center’s life rather than a detached process.
The second component of the project—the recreational zone with a pavilion and a water area—establishes the emotional and therapeutic balance of the entire complex. It is not an “add-on” to the medical function, but its full-scale continuation through other means.
The multifunctional pavilion is designed as a space for group activities, psychotherapy sessions, and creative practices. The pavilion’s architecture is as open to the environment as possible: large stained-glass surfaces can be fully opened, transforming the interior into a part of the garden. Bright spaces, natural materials, and a green roof—everything works to create a sense of peace and security.
The landscape around is not decorative. The restored body of water creates a natural environment, becoming a focal point of silence. Surrounding it are zones formed for individual relaxation, socialization, and quiet practices such as yoga, meditation, and group sessions. Walking paths with various types of surfaces and obstacles are integrated into rehabilitation scenarios, turning movement into gentle therapy.
The project in Bryukhovychi does not strive to impress with form. Its strength lies in consistency and honesty—in the ability to work with history without simplification, with nature without decorativeness, and with the individual without pathos.
UNBROKEN is an example of how architecture can be part of a care system. Not as a symbol or a gesture, but as an environment where recovery becomes possible. In this sense, the “Quo vadis” villa asks its question once again—no longer to the building, but to the individual. And this time, architecture helps to find the answer.
The main investors for this project were the Central Project Management Agency (CPVA).
The abmk team is pleased to be involved in the development of the UNBROKEN ecosystem as a vital and much-needed social project, ensuring that Ukrainians can access world-class medical care within Ukraine as soon as possible.
