Housing.Yu Team on a Study Trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina

Members of the research team of the ERC project Housing.Yu – “Right to Housing: The Production of Everyday Living Space in Yugoslavia (1945–1991)” stayed in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 9 to 14 April 2026. As part of the study trip, they visited Sarajevo, Zenica, Mostar, and Banja Luka. The programme included guided site visits, meetings with contemporaries—architects, urban planners, and civil engineers—as well as a public lecture.

In Sarajevo, the team took part in a ceremony marking the handover of the private archive of architect Hasan Ćemalović to the Archive of Modern Architecture of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the History Museum. On this occasion, Tamara Bjažić Klarin delivered a public lecture entitled “A Laboratory of Housing Construction between East and West: Yugoslav Architecture and the UIA in the 1950s”, followed by a public discussion with architects Hasan Ćemalović and Mladen Gvozden, moderated by Mejrema Zatrić Šahović, president of Docomomo BH and project team member.

The field visits in Sarajevo covered the housing estates of Grbavica I and II, Džidžikovac, Đuro Đaković – Ciglane, Koševsko brdo, Hrasno, Otoka, Alipašino Polje, Olympic Village Mojmilo, Dobrinja, Aerodromsko Naselje, Breka, and the Sunca estate, as well as individual projects by architects Juraj Neidhardt, Ivan Štraus, and Andrija Čičin-Šain. The visits were conducted under the expert guidance of Mejrema Zatrić Šahović (International University of Sarajevo), Aida Murtić, and Harun Sabljaković and Elša Turkušić Jurić (Faculty of Architecture, University of Sarajevo). The stay in Sarajevo also included a meeting with architect Mladen Gvozden and visits to residential buildings in Marijin Dvor and the “Papagajka” building.

The visit to Zenica was organised with expert support by Vedad Islambegović (Faculty of Architecture, University of Sarajevo) and Mirza Džananović (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zenica). The team visited examples of residential architecture, as well as the recreational zone of Kamberovića Polje, and met the civil engineer Vladimir Franjić.

In Mostar, the programme included a meeting with architect Hido Hasanbegović, followed by a guided tour led by Antun Vrljić (Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy, University of Mostar), presenting examples of residential construction by architects Hido Hasanbegović, Romeo Tiberio, Andrija Čičin-Šain, Vuko Bombardelli, Đorđe Pivarski, Libuša Maršak Kabala, Vinko Galić, Ante Paljaga, Dušan Miljak, and Sead Zahirović. The programme also included a visit to the historic urban core of Mostar and the Partisan Memorial Cemetery designed by Bogdan Bogdanović.

The final part of the trip took place in Banja Luka, where the team met with Nevena Novaković and Igor Kuvač (Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, University of Banja Luka). The trip concluded with a guided tour of the Borik housing estate led by Nevena Novaković, as well as a visit to the city centre and discussion on the selected examples of residential architecture (architect Pavle Paštar et al.).

Participants in the study trip included Tamara Bjažić Klarin, project leader, and project team members Lidija Butković Mićin, Irena Šimić, Mejrema Zatrić Šahović, Aida Murtić, Emil Jurcan, Saša Vejzagić, Hana Bečeić, Antun Dulibić, and Frano Petar Zovko.