“Kogo” Coffee-Bar and “Brazil” Coffee-Bar in Sarajevo by Architect Ahmet Hadrovic

Coffee-bars are those architectural programs that have always reflected a simplified ('zipped') image of a society. They are mostly located in the center of a city, at extremely frequent points of the 'strictly pedestrian zone of the city core'. As such, cafes themselves became the 'genius loci' of a city. Since the end of the 1970s, one of the hallmarks of social life in Sarajevo has been coffee shops, symbols of the urbanization of Sarajevo and the orientation of young people towards 'Western values'. Each social group had its favorite place, and some, like the old 'Cactus', were visited by everyone. Before or after 'Kaktus', cafes 'Dedan', 'Kod Piketa', 'Lola', 'Estrada', 'BB', 'Parkusa', 'Sloga', 'Koliba', 'CDA'... The advantage of living in pre-war Sarajevo was that each faculty had its own student club: 'KUK' (at the Faculty of Medicine), 'AG' (at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering), 'Index' (at the Faculty of Law), 'Stelex' ' (at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering) and cafes at the Faculty of Philosophy, the Faculty of Political Sciences... In these clubs there were often gigs where demo bands usually played, but also some more famous ones. The author of this paper, as an architecture student, visited some of the mentioned cafes. Later, as an architect, he was lucky enough to design several cafes. Here he presents two famous cafe-bars in Sarajevo, through the design of which he experienced the 'spirit of the city of Sarajevo' in the best way.