As a result of the war in former Yugoslavia, a great deal of discourse has been generated on ‘urbicide’ -a war strategy of ‘city-killing’- and ‘warchitecture,’ and the relationship between violence, culture, war and architecture. Many have argued that violence against architecture transforms, often fundamentally, the values, meanings and the identity of architecture. Thus the nature of rebuilding becomes a complex question. Rebuilding can be as symbolic as the destruction that necessitates it. Construction can be used to cement a violent sundering of the built environment or to weave the fabric of a former life back together. Doing so creates new touchstones for collective memory. History moves forwards while looking over its shoulder; how much to commemorate and remember, how much needs to be forgiven then forgotten in the interest of peace within and without? On September 18, 2003, the administration of the Sarajevo Canton re-established Vjecnica as a city hall with part of the building allocated to the National Library. This decision was controversial; many Sarajevans associate the function of the building as a library with the city’s identity. UNESCO’s decision to put the building under the Monuments Protection Act is also controversial. To declare Vjecnica a monument is to freeze it in time, denying its reflective role and undermining not only its past ´ ´
but also the past of Bosnia. The final phase of reconstruction is underway, while the fate of the National Library, once again much like the nation itself, remains uncertain. To address Bosnia in its entirety, both geographically and culturally, I propose a theoretical design for a new National Library. As a political statement the conceptual new National Library sits across the river, expanding the pedestrian zone of the old city center Bascarsija onto the other shore and reflecting the old library and the unity that it used to represent. Rivers as life forces gave rise to many Bosnian cities. They are also geographical dividers, marking the territorial boundaries between Bosnia and its neighbours, and in times of war, great massacres occurred along their banks. Rivers have the power to offer ˇ ˇ ´ absolution, whether through perceived holiness or by offering a change to one’s vantage point – a chance to cross over to the other side. A new library must be based on a series of sectional and horizontal relationships that respond to the river, the old library, the existing urban fabric and the surrounding paths linking the library which leans out over the river to the city. The cultural role of the new library, while preserving Vjecnica ’s former function and significance, opposes its static monumentality. ´
WAR matters: On Site review 22
43
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator