Inclusive Education

Our investigation into how public space maintained segregation began with the book Mortal Cities & Forgotten Monuments + by Arna Mačkić. In view of the reconstruction of her family town Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was destroyed during the war in the nineties, she investigates how architecture was used during the Yugoslavian government to emphasize unity between the different ethnicities and identities of the country. Monuments, public space and shared rituals were deployed to contribute to the common identity by emphasizing a shared future, shared rituals, and a universal or mythological past. In the book, Arna investigates how these strategies can be used today to avoid the segregating opposition of “winners” and “losers” in public spaces. The book thus directly responds to the post-war reconstruction of Arna’s family town Mostar, in which public space maintains the conflict of the 1990s as an embodiment of the dividing line between the different ethnicities that have shared the city for centuries. In the book, Arna published a new proposal for the main square of Mostar, the monument Jump, in which the lessons of unifying monuments are being used in the contemporary urban context.

Mortal Cities and Forgotten Monuments received a lot of attention from cities such as Rotterdam and Beirut after its publication. Cities that, like Mostar, were destroyed in a war and now face questions about their reconstruction and the re-creation of identity. As a result, Studio L A organized the two-part programme called
Inclusive Cities: Rebuilding Collective Identities After the War + and Inclusive Cities: Shared Cultural Heritage In Segregated Cities + (2017) at the De Balie debate center. The first programme revolved around the relationship between architecture and conflict, the second focused on the relationship between architecture and identity. Among the speakers were Chief Government Architect Floris Alkemade, head of the Swedish Heritage Board Qaisar Mahmood, founder of Black Heritage Tours Jennifer Tosch and others. The programmes took place in a set designed by Studio L A that reflected on public space as a setting for dialogue.

In addition to self-initiated projects in the form of publications and programmes, Studio L A is regularly asked to share our vision on inclusive architecture. These projects are a significant part of our practice, because we always find a way to stimulate conversation within the architecture field through them. We do this because we believe that a discussion about the socio-political and ethical side of design needs to be held by all parties involved in architecture, in order to achieve substantial awareness in the field. In this context, Arna Mačkić held a TEDx talk in 2017 under the name TEDx – The Power of Inclusive Architecture + . In 2019 she held a lecture in the Sign of the Times: Mad as hell + programme at the Amsterdam International Theater, as an opening talk to architect Daniel Libeskind. Om May 14th in 2017 Arna Mačkić gave the H.J.A Hofland lecture + in Rotterdam, following the commemoration of the bombing of the city in 1940. In the lecture she made a connection between her investigation into the destruction of her family town Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the destruction of Rotterdam a few decades earlier. After losing their urban identity, both cities have had to redefine what the future looks like and who contributes to this future. Arna calls this connection one of the hundreds of thin wires that are spun between different cities worldwide with shared experiences and connected identities.