City games: Designing the new Sarajevo Olympic Legacy 1984-2024-2064

Abstract

igre i grad / city games: Designing the new Sarajevo Olympic Legacy 1984-2024-2064 explores how the Olympic spirit can be reimagined as a transformative force for Sarajevo’s urban future. Building on the legacy of the 1984 Winter Olympics, this project investigates sustainable urbanisation strategies rooted in architecture, urbanism, and citizen engagement. ETH Zurich master’s students, in collaboration with the University of Sarajevo and local planning institutions, developed site-specific proposals addressing the duality of durability and change — retrofitting existing infrastructures while envisioning new typologies of cultural, social, and environmental resilience. The research proposes an Olympic legacy extending beyond sports, transforming Sarajevo into a network of vibrant, connected cultural districts. Central to this vision is a pedestrian oriented cultural route along the river at the intersection of Sarajevo’s first and second transversale, integrating key urban institutions like the National Museum and future Ars Aevi Museum. The design fosters accessibility, environmental sustainability, and community participation, reorienting major venues toward public spaces and embedding culture into the city’s fabric. By challenging traditional museum forms and creating dynamic public interfaces, the project envisions Sarajevo’s Olympic legacy as an enduring catalyst for urban transformation — blending past, present, and future to establish a living, evolving city of cultural engagement and collective memory.