oris
Obilazeći s vama Sarajevo, primijetili smo da pokazujete veliko poznavanje, senzibilitet i ljubav za kontekst; to sigurno ima veze s vašim formativnim godinama.

zec
80-tih završavam fakultet u Sarajevu kao student prof. Zlatka Ugljena. Tih godina, pred Olimpijadu njegova arhitektura doživljava procvat u Bosni, a tada se i grade kapitalni Ugljenovi objekti – hotel “Ruža” u Mostaru, kazalište u Zenici, džamija u Visokom. Za džamiju je dobio Aga Khanovu nagradu. Ja nikada nisam radio u nekom projektnom birou. Jedan od mojih prvih izazova su bili mali interijeri kao što je “Miris dunja”, gdje dotičem riječ miris. Prostori imaju miris, kontekst.

oris
Prvi su vam zadaci bili vezani uz lokale, što je svakako bilo povezano i s osjećajem za ulicu, za svakodnevni život, rekli bismo, za pulsiranje grada. To nisu projekti velikog mjerila, ali su egzistencijalno ukotvljeni u stvarnost.

zec
Karakteriziram taj rad na lokalima, interijerima kao rad na ulici. Napraviš tek skicu-obris, nemaš ti tu što puno ni crtati. Recimo, za zlatarnicu na Baščaršiji smo moj kolega Mirko Marić – Mara i ja sami išli tražiti kamen, riječne oblutke. Naša sarajevska Miljacka je spora, morala je biti rijeka koja je jaka u svojoj matici da fino istokari kamen. Zato smo išli do Neretve, išli smo čak i do mora.

oris
Za tu zlatarnicu ste 1986. dobili “Borbinu” nagradu, tada u Jugoslaviji najvišu nagradu za arhitekturu. Iza nje stoji jedan dosta zanimljiv koncept; možete li ga malo detaljnije objasniti.

zec
Bilo je to vrijeme rekonstrukcije Baščaršije. Tada sam radio, kao što sam već spomenuo, s kolegom Mirkom Marićem. Htjeli smo ponoviti osnovnu bit čaršije, a to je neposrednost prodaje na ulici (touch). Rekonstrukcijom Baščaršije napravljeni su izlozi, izgubili su se oni klasični ćepenci. Ćepenak je bio, još ih uvijek imamo u Mostaru, drveni kapak koji se otvori i ti sjediš kao u izlogu i posluješ. Kad je loše vrijeme, ne očekuje se ni velika trgovina. Ti trguješ i sve se odvija neposredno na ulici, u tom neposrednom kontaktu. I mi smo upravo u zlatarnicu uvukli dio ulice, nastavili kaldrmom misleći da će (nažalost, to nije provedeno) ta kaldrma biti popločenje ulice. I zidove smo mi obrađivali svojim rukama u siporeksu. Ti zidovi su trebali biti puni slojeva, naslaga. Jer postoji priča da su stari ljudi sakrivali zlato u zidove i ukopavali ga. U zidu su bile niše u kojima je bilo sakriveno zlato.
(...)

oris
While we were strolling around Sarajevo, you demonstrated great knowledge, sensibility and love for context. This certainly has something to do with your formative years.

zec
I finished my studies in Sarajevo in the 1980s as a student of Professor Zlatko Ugljen. In those years, right before the Olympic Games, his architecture flourished in Bosnia. Ugljen’s most important buildings were built at that time: the Ruža Hotel in Mostar, the Theatre in Zenica, and a mosque in Visoko. He received the Aga Khan Award for the mosque. I have never worked in a design studio. My first challenges were small interiors, such as the Scent of Quinces where I touched upon the term scent. Spaces have a scent, a context.

oris
Your first tasks were related to shops, and that was certainly related to the feeling for the street, for everyday life, or we could say, for the pulse of the city. Those were not large-scale projects, but they were existentially fixed into reality.

zec
I characterize that work on outlet interiors as a work on the street. You make just a sketch, an outline, there isn’t much drawing. For example, when my colleague Mirko Marić-Mara and I did a goldsmith’s shop in Baščaršija, we went to look for river cobblestones by ourselves. Our Sarajevo river Miljacka is slow; it had to be a river with a strong main current to wear the stone finely. That’s why we went to the Neretva, and we went even to the sea.

oris
You received the Borba Award in 1986 for that goldsmith’s shop, which was the highest architectural award in the former Yugoslavia. A really interesting concept underlies that project. Could you explain it in more detail?

zec
It was when Baščaršija was being reconstructed. I worked with my colleague Mirko Marić then, as I’ve already mentioned. We wanted to repeat the essence of čaršija (marketplace), and that was the immediacy of sales on the street (touch). With the reconstruction of Baščaršija, shop windows were made, and the classic ćepenak (a door and/or window of a Turkish-style shop) was lost. The ćepenak was, and we still have them in Mostar, a wooden door which was opened and you would sit there like in a shop window and do business. When the weather is bad, you don’t expect any significant business. You do business and everything goes on directly, in this direct contact. We pulled a part of the street into the goldsmith’s shop, we continued the cobblestone pavement, assuming that the streets would be paved with cobblestones (unfortunately this was not done). We also worked the walls with our own hands in siporex. These walls were supposed to be full of layers, strata. There is a story that people used to hide gold in the walls, digging it in. There were niches in the wall in which gold was hidden.
(...)