Therapy garden

How can a park contribute to the physical and emotional well-being of city dwellers? In Kyiv, we have started building a pilot project - a therapeutic garden for injured military personnel and their families.

The number of people in Ukraine who need to recover from war injuries is increasing every day. A therapeutic garden can become an important part of both physical and emotional rehabilitation. The main idea of ​​a therapeutic garden is that nature restores human health by helping to reduce stress, improve mood, and accelerate recovery from illness or surgery. This effect of nature was identified by scientist Roger S. Ulrich back in 1984. This is being studied more widely by neurourbanism, biophilic design, and attention restoration theories.

The therapeutic garden is being built in the VDNG exposition center - the most popular park in Kyiv. It is a 280-hectare territory, for which PUPA prepared an urban development vision in 2016. The territory designated for the therapeutic garden is surrounded by a forest. The garden includes spaces for group and individual therapy, gardening and art therapy classes, occupational therapy spaces, a pavilion, a play area, paths, and gazebos. All five senses are stimulated in the park:

• Plants can be seen (various colors, shapes, and plants blooming at different times);
• Touch (barefoot path, various surfaces, textures, materials);
• Hear (water, insects, acoustic sculptures, wind-blown sculptures);
• Smell (fragrant, flowering, or medicinal plants);
• Taste (vegetables, fruits, and cooking activities in the pavilion).

We are developing the project with our partners, the Ukrainian office Big City Lab. Together with them, we conducted surveys, interviews and discussions of project solutions, and involved psychologists and psychotherapists, art therapy specialists, hospital workers, and individuals who help rehabilitate military personnel. We fine-tuned the spaces in the garden and pavilion according to the programs they created.

The therapeutic garden at VDNH is planned to open in August 2025. The successfully implemented pilot project will be replicated in other cities of Ukraine. Therapeutic gardens could appear near hospitals and rehabilitation centers, as well as in public spaces of the city. The project is patronized by the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenskaya, and is supported by various businesses and foundations.

Client: VDNG kartu su Ukrainos Veteranų reikalų ministerija
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Size of the territory: 4600 kv.m.
Project type: parko idėja ir techninis projektas
Project status: Construction is underway, the park is scheduled to open in 2025.
Year: 2025
Team: Tadas Jonauskis, Ramunė Baniulienė, Justina Muliuolytė, Gytis Aglinskas, Artūras Čertovas, Evelina Bartusevičiūtė
In collaboration with: Big City Lab