Tactile Remains: Reimagining Post-War Ruins as a Therapeutic Architecture in Sarajevo | Bachelors Design Thesis

Site Context

Bistrik Tower, located on Mount Trebević overlooking Sarajevo, originated as a military fortification during the Austro-Hungarian period. In the late 1960s, the structure was repurposed into an astronomical observatory, becoming one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s key facilities for night-sky observation and scientific research. During the Bosnian War in the 1990s, the complex sustained significant damage. Without restoration or funding, the observatory was ultimately abandoned, and the remaining structures now stand in ruin.

Bistrik Tower’s functional evolution is tied to wartime history and its unique geography. Its former observatory demonstrates Trebević’s importance in offering Sarajevo residents both a vantage point and closeness to nature. 

The community rehabilitation programs provided essential healthcare support for war victims in the post-war period. The programme seeks to extend the concept of community rehabilitation, addressing the current lack of communal spaces in Sarajevo by offering both physical and psychological support for individuals with disabilities.

Design Process

The design process began with an investigation of post-war ruins in Sarajevo, treating the remaining structures as active cultural artifacts rather than abandoned remnants. Through site observation, digital 3D scanning, and public engagement, the project explored how these spaces shape collective memory and how they can become accessible to a wider audience through virtual environments. Eye-tracking data and interactive digital platforms informed spatial strategies, forming the foundation for new architectural interventions.

The project then shifted towards developing responsive systems to support rehabilitation. Soft robotics became a key design driver, informing how architecture could dynamically adapt to human movement and therapeutic needs. Behavioral analysis guided the placement of responsive elements, enabling spaces to react through motion, pressure, and spatial modulation.

Final Outcome

The proposal frames rehabilitation not only as a medical function but also as a social and environmental experience, where recovery is shaped through interaction with space, material, and atmosphere. By integrating existing structures with responsive architectural systems, the project explores how environments can contribute to both physical healing and emotional reconnection.

Material and structural experiments focused on inflatable mechanisms and silicone-based systems as architectural applications of soft robotics. These flexible components were integrated with the existing ruins to create a tactile, adaptive physiotherapy environment.

Conclusion: Ultimately, the final design links preservation with responsive interaction, where soft robotic architecture mediates between body, space, and recovery processes, transforming the ruins into an active therapeutic landscape.

[This Academic Project has been published with text and images submitted by the student]