Lviv Pub

balbek bureau‘s main task was to create an unconventional space that would be associated more with Oktoberfest, rather than a restaurant as Lviv Pub wanted an open atmosphere, where one would happily spend all day, without feeling confined in the walls of a typical pub in Lviv, Ukraine.

  • area / size 15,096 sqft
  • Year 2018
  • Location Lviv, Ukraine,
  • There is a catchy wordplay in the Pub’s name in Ukrainian, but when translated word-by-word, rather than as an idiomatic expression, it is invariably associated with youth, fun and healthy leafy greens.

    The Pub is located in Lviv city center, in a three-storey converted industrial building. Two large rooms on the ground floor and enclosed cobblestone courtyard have been integrated into the Pub’s design.

    Our idea was to open up the space to the outside world, visually uniting the courtyard with the main room of the Pub – by letting in as much sunlight as possible, by scattering a plentiful of green leafy plants around the premises, and by incorporating in the interior some elements that are normally used outdoors, and associated with gardens.

    To achieve this, we first of all removed the windowsills of the main façade, thus enlarging the windows; incorporated wicker chairs and mosaic tabletops in the interior; used decorative outdoor tiles as the facing of the bar counter. As a result, we created an airy space with the room seemingly extending into the courtyard terrace, more prominently so in the summertime, when the doors are open and the air is floating freely, bringing the outside world indoors.

    The two rooms share a centrally located bar counter and a large light box, the focal points of the Pub. Besides serving its main purpose, the counter is designed to join the two main rooms, to conceal bar equipment.

    The second room is designed to accommodate larger groups of guests. The distinctive feature of this room is a set of massive, solid oak dining tables that we thought would evoke an association with a beer festival. The seating arrangement, together with the placement of the bar counter allow to maintain the openness of the space, and at the same time to provide for a partition-free zoning arrangement.

    When designing the Pub, we preserved those original architectural elements that would help to visualize the concept of the place. We integrated them in contemporary design by mixing and matching ‘natural’ textures and colors. For instance, we left the original cobbled pavement in the courtyard as a character feature and a solid foundation for the terrace; we kept the original red brickwork in the interior, thus emphasizing rooms’ connection to the outdoors, and at the same time providing a beautiful warm background to furniture and fixtures.

    And of course, we added splashes of green – a color of the new grass, of youth, of life – to promote the name and essence of this warm and welcoming place.

    Design: balbek bureau
    Design TeamSlava Balbek, Anna Kruglova, Elena Kruglova, Daryna Shpuryk, Sasha Kozynets
    Photography: Yevhenii Avramenko