Perspectives and Challenges of Sustainable Preservation of the Hotels from the Socialist Period in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Focus on Hotel Visoko

Preservation of the socialist-built heritage in the countries of the former Yugoslavia has become a trending topic in the recent architectural discourse, surrounded with controversies due to a bias towards the legacy of the past socialist regime from 1943–1992. The architectural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina from this period is abundant, yet it is considered endangered. Consequently, this research strives for a scientifically based approach to the assessment and sustainable preservation of the socialist architectural heritage in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Architectural typologies designated for commercial purposes are particularly vulnerable. Affected by the ideals and aesthetics of the post-socialist reality, tourism facilities have been sacrificed in the process of transition, as in the case of the remarkable hotel architecture designed by the renowned Bosnian architect Zlatko Ugljen. The only exception is the hotel Visoko because it still remains almost intact. Based on the premise that the status quo of the hotel Visoko can be regarded as an opportunity, this paper seeks the most appropriate approach for its sustainable preservation. The assessment of the designated hotel as a “socialist architectural heritage” encompasses the impacts of the socialist ideology and the architectural aesthetics of modernism/postmodernism. Recognition of the values of the Hotel Visoko as an outstanding example of town-hotel architecture from the socialist period is the basis for sustainable preservation of its physical structure and reinvention of its social identity in a dialogue with the community. The new vitality of the hotel Visoko can be generated from the inside out. The introduction of participative, iterative methodologies in interior design can simultaneously strengthen the existing and authentic qualities and create a new social value inherent to the socialist architectural heritage.