FOREWORD

Our lasting fascination with the dichotomies of indoor and outdoor, interior and urban space, private and public domains, domesticity and publicity, and interiority and exteriority as psychological and spatial conditions is the source of inspiration for this book. Our joint path of professional endeavours in architectural practice, as well as in the academic domain, have emerged from an effort to perceive and interpret space on multiple levels, simultaneously correlating the urban, architectural and interior. It is no surprise that we investigated the juxtaposition of interior and urban design when tackling the topic of urban rooms. The alliance between these research realms and the theoretical perspectives of the co-authors was inevitable – Dina Šamić explores the potentials of urban voids in contemporary cities, while Nermina Zagora researches how the urban context affects interior spaces. What began as an intuitive leap has gradually become purposeful research into the phenomenon of how the urban environment reflects interior design, and vice versa.

Because of our powerful subjective and professional bond to the city of Sarajevo, like that so eloquently expressed above by Aleksandar Hemon, we were obliged to pursue the burning topic of Sarajevo’s urban public spaces crisis. With this book we contribute to a profounder exploration of this topic by proposing alternative planning methods and intervention

tools from interior design methodology, which we applied in our professional projects designing urban staircases.1

The completion of this book coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the greatest challenges contemporary global society has faced. The new circumstances prompted radical shifts in urban lifestyles worldwide, reflected primarily by social distancing measures and the closure of public places and events. The pandemic will inevitably affect social interaction and the shaping of public spaces in the future, and may even yield new social and urban paradigms. In light of these circumstances, the theme of this book is that of utopia in a dystopian situation, in which the ultimate urban public space is virtual. The book also, however, stresses the importance of the human-centred experience of the urban environment. It compares this to the domestic atmosphere of the home, and simulates it in a city that has recreated itself in spite of the many challenges it has encountered throughout its history.

1 The Jury of the Association of Architects of Bosnia and Herzegovina Collegium Artisticum Prize for Contemporary Architecture have noted the relevance of projects that address the public realm. In this environment, the design approach expressed in the authors’ three urban staircase projects in Sarajevo received professional recognition when they won this award in 2017.