The Architect as a Learner

Navigating Conflict, Disciplines and Technologies to Rebuild Meaning

Abstract

This text traces the journey of Boris Cindric, an architect born in Sarajevo, shaped by the structured and technically oriented educational system of socialist Yugoslavia, and later transformed by the experience of war, migration, and technological evolution. Rooted in the collective ideals of architecture as a social mission, the narrative confronts the trauma of urban destruction during the siege of Sarajevo and moves toward the concept of urban healing rather than mere physical reconstruction.

The story expands into a deeper reflection on space, memory, and resilience, drawing on the work of critical urban thinkers such as Jane Jacobs and Kevin Lynch. A second formative phase unfolds in France, where the Beaux-Arts tradition—with its emphasis on artistic freedom, narrative, and interdisciplinary experimentation—offers a contrast to earlier technical rigidity.

These dual legacies shape a practice grounded in complexity, humility, and openness. Faced with today’s global challenges—ecological crises, social fragmentation, and the rise of artificial intelligence—he recognizes the need to become a learner again: a mediator between tradition and transformation.

Rather than rejecting technological tools, he proposes integrating AI as a means of deepening a humanistic approach to architecture. Architecture is not a final product, but a continuous process of care, interpretation, and reinvention—a project of re-learning how to live together in conditions of uncertainty.