oris
Med ogledom Sarajeva v naši družbi ste pokazali veliko znanja, senzibilnosti in ljubezni do konteksta, to je gotovo povezano z vašimi leti oblikovanja.

zec
V osemdesetih sem končeval študij v Sarajevu kot študent prof. Zlatka Ugljena. V letih pred olimpijado je njegova arhitektura v Bosni doživljala razcvet, takrat so se gradili tudi kapitalni Ugljenovi objekti – hotel Ruža v Mostarju, gledališče v Zenici, džamija v Visokem. Za džamijo je dobil nagrado Aga Khana. Sam nikoli nisem delal v kakšni projektivni pisarni. Eden mojih prvih izzivov so bili mali interierji, kot je Vonj po kutinah, v katerem se dotikam besede vonj. Prostori imajo vonj, kontekst.

oris
Vaše prve naloge so bile povezane z lokali, kar je bilo vsekakor povezano tudi z občutkom za ulico, vsakdanje življenje, rekli bi, za utrip mesta. To niso projekti velikega merila, vendar so eksistencialno vpeti v resničnost.

zec
Delo pri lokalih, interierjih, označujem kot delo na ulici. Izdelaš le skicoobris, tu niti ni veliko risanja. Recimo, za zlatarno na Baščaršiji sva z mojim kolegom Mirkom Marićem – Maro šla sama iskat kamen, rečne prodnike. Naša sarajevska Miljacka je počasna, morala je biti reka, ki je v svoji osnovi močna, da fino izoblikuje kamen. Zato sva šla do Neretve, celo do morja sva šla.

oris
Za to zlatarno ste leta 1986 dobili nagrado Borbe, ki je bila v takratni Jugoslaviji najvišja nagrada za arhitekturo. Za njo stoji precej zanimiv koncept; ga lahko malce natančneje pojasnite?

zec
To je bil čas obnove Baščaršije. Takrat sem delal, kot sem že omenil, s kolegom Mirkom Marićem. Želela sva ponoviti osnovno bistvo čaršije, to je neposrednost prodaje na ulici. Ob rekonstrukciji Baščaršije so naredili izložbe, izgubili so se tisti klasični čepenci. Ćepenak je bil, v Mostarju jih še vedno imamo, lesena oknica, pokrov, ki se odpre, ti pa sediš kot v izložbi in posluješ. Ko je slabo vreme, se niti ne pričakuje veliko kupcev. Ti trguješ in vse se odvija neposredno na ulici, v tem neposrednem stiku. Tudi midva sva prav v zlatarno povlekla del ulice, nadaljevala s kaldrmo, misleč, da bo (žal to ni izpeljano) ta kaldrma postala tla ulice. Prav tako sva zidove obdelovala sama s svojimi rokami iz siporeksa. Ti zidovi bi morali biti polni slojev, plasti. Obstaja namreč zgodba, da so stari ljudje skrivali zlato v zidove in ga vkopavali. V zidu so bile niše, v katerih je bilo skrito zlato.
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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.
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