TU Graz Graduate Dinko Jelečević Wins the Young Talent EU Mies Award 2023

In recognition of his master’s thesis “VALTER — Vraca Forum Sarajevo,” Dinko Jelečević, a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at TU Graz, was awarded the “Young Talent EU Mies Award 2023” on June 29, 2023. Supervised by Petra Petersson at the Institute of Construction and Design Principles (KOEN), the graduate thesis proposes the revitalization of a multilayered historic site in Sarajevo through an adaptive reuse methodology. Used as a fortification, execution site, memorial complex, and military base during four different eras in the twentieth century, the site will ultimately take up the shape and function of a public-oriented forum typology.

According to the project description: “Taking into account the historical context of the site and its geostrategic position along the borderline between the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, as well as the prevailing political narrative that considers the site to be undesirable heritage, it was possible to harness its spatial and emancipatory potential. Being that the fortress has been structurally altered a number of times since its creation, it proved necessary for the design, on the one hand, to assess all changes and to consider any interventions and, on the other, to develop a holistic design approach to which new layers could be added. The project explores the Vraca palimpsest by contextualizing spatial elements with historical events and proposing a new layer that, with its forum typology, enables a platform for understanding its contested past and for creating a participatory society of the future.”

The EU Mies Awards have been honoring outstanding achievements by European architects since 2001 and are regarded as the most prestigious architecture prize within the European Union. In 2016, the awards were expanded to include the category “Young Talent EU Mies Award.” The prize, offered by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, is aimed at graduates in the fields of architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture in Europe, as well as in other parts of the world, and is bestowed every two years. Dinko Jelečević’s winning project, along with the projects of all the finalists, was on display through November 2023 at Palazzo Mora as part of the exhibition program of the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Translation: Max B. Spamer