TRADITIONAL BOSNIAN HOUSE – LESSON IN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

TRADITIONAL BOSNIAN HOUSE – LESSON IN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

ZEJNILOVIC, Emina
AHMETSPAHIC, Erna

Keywords:Mahala, traditional house in Bosnia and Herzegovina, indigenous materials, green garden, eco-design, sustainability, vernacular architecture. ABSTRACT Following recent architectural trends in housing, Bosnia is facing problems of city sedimentation. Proportionally to the city growth, level of environmental contamination is increasing. Environmental crisis cannot be limited to a specific micro-scale for it is a global issue. Residential buildings are one of the biggest energy consumers. Macro-regions are being formed through informal dwellings, suffocating the city and bending over it. ‘New Mahalas’1 in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the result of ‘new way of living.’ They are collectors of pollutants and unsustainable development. Surpassing ecological, there is ever present social and economic aspect of this type of built environment, which is a serious threat to aesthetic and historical value of traditional mahala. Before the era of sustainability, synergy between architecture and nature was the foundation of traditional settlement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of this research is not ‘anti-modernism’ or going backwards but to investigate the elements of vernacular house that can be implemented to present social and environmental circumstances as well as to answer to the needs of contemporary living and create a more sustainable architecture.

Article
PeerReviewed

ISSN 2233-1565

International Burch University

2013-05-24

2064