Mothership Vienna
Mothership Vienna

Summary/Abstract: This paper completes a series of essays written by former students of the Sarajevo Architectural Faculty - now dispersed globally and informally forming a Bosnian architectural diaspora. Authored by architect couple Dalila and Semir Zubčević, each of whom is pursuing their own professional path in Vienna, this essay offers a reflective and personal exploration rooted in place, memory, and history. Vienna holds a unique significance in Sarajevo’s urban narrative, making it a fitting stage for the couple’s reflections. Both grew up and were educated in Sarajevo during a time of relative linearity - when history was presented as a singular path, architecture held a respected, almost technocratic role in society, and the world around them was not supposed to be questioned. But after relocating to Vienna, just as Austria was stepping into a new European chapter following the fall of the Iron Curtain, they encountered a familiar urban pattern - only on a much grander scale. Their moment of realization came unexpectedly: seated together in an open-air inn in the Vienna Woods, under plum trees with whitewashed trunks, plastic tablecloths, and an enamel ashtray before them - elements eerily familiar from their Bosnian upbringing - evoked a deeper questioning of their cultural identity and architectural heritage. Were these similarities coincidental, or were they traces of a more intricate, shared history? This experience compelled them to dig deeper, to reframe their own understanding of heritage - not as a linear, isolated narrative, but as a layered and interconnected one.

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