Music Staircases

Project Description

Staircase in the Pruščakova street was conceived as a “Music staircase”, and its design was inspired by the proximity of the cultural center “Sloga”, an iconic venue in which the famous rock and roll musicians started their careers in the 1960s and 1970s. This project aims to promote and revive the cultural values and the legacy of the urban scene of Sarajevo, while affronting the problem of neglected urban spaces. The idea behind the project is to shift the perception of urban values from expensive commercial centers, proliferation of gas pumps and instant residential quarters, to a more meaningful small scale open public spaces. The key feature of the staircase is the 60 cm wide and 70 m long black stripe, dancing and curving along existing urban stairs, connecting city center with up-hill residential neighborhoods. Only after walking along the stripe one sees the most important part of this urban intervention – music boxes –or, juke boxes, each dedicated to a group or an individual artist. Each music box enables visitors to select and listen some of the most important songs by the selected artists while reading their short biographies. The idea of was to provide all visitors their own personalized experience – younger visitors will get acquainted with genesis of popular culture and rock scene in their city, whilst senior visitors will have a chance of remembering beautiful moments of their youth. The stripe features a series of urban furniture elements as well, such as benches, chess table and chaise longue, that appear to peel up from the stripe. All of the designed elements (urban furniture, hand rails, fencing, and lighting) seem to be made out of the same material – galvanized steel sheets. Its bold appearance contrasts the stone pavement of the stairs and the concrete facades of the surrounding buildings inviting the visitor to touch and interact with it. At each fold, the stripe changes color from bold anthracite grey to electric and vivid yellow emphasizing the dynamicity of the ascend and giving project at the same time clear visual identity.