The curriculum of the University of Sarajevo Faculty of Architecture (UNSA AF) has evolved from a predominantly theoretical framework and setting imaginary tasks to recognizing and adequately responding to current topics and real social problems. However, the inert institutional character is noticeable, limiting the academic community's timely response to urgent challenges and societal changes. To eliminate the identified shortcomings and improve the education process, the Faculty of Architecture has undertaken several activities in cooperation with partnering institutions in BiH and the EU, resulting in critical self-evaluation and novel guidelines. Previous examples of collaboration with industry illustrate possible ways to improve the quality of education and raise student competencies. The newly designed ERASMUS + project “APLE” (2022) aims to integrate practice and cooperation with the real sector to transfer (applicable) knowledge into the teaching process. New formats of interaction with the real and public sector “ARCHIPRAXIS” are envisaged as a testing ground for implementing various ideas. This paper aims to present the importance and modalities of incorporating the practical component into the process of student education and the actualization of global topics in the local context. It also wants to point out the inertia and shortcomings in the existing academic procedures at different levels, which should be valorized as extracurricular activities. The experience gained, i.e., "lessons learned," should serve all actors involved in the educational process: academia, and industry, to the broader community to create a better framework for acquiring and applying knowledge.

Yielding from an overall quantitative study of the residential sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), this chapter concentrates on the ratio between single-family and collective housing, as well as on the urban-rural ratio of the single-family housing. Based on the data from the existing building stock (buildings built by 2014) and the statistical estimates, 23% of the buildings belong to the urban areas and 77% belong to the rural areas. The main goal was to study the correlation between the characteristics of the building envelope, the shape factor (A/V ratio) and the energy savings potential for the application of conventional measures of refurbishment of the building envelope of the single-family houses (type of buildings, which dominate in rural and urban areas). The chapter wraps up with recommendations for the adequate level of the energy performance indicator (energy need for heating) for the approved energy class for single-family houses located in the climate zone of the northern B&H.

The objective of this paper is to evaluate and distinguish the most critical segments of the residential building stock in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of its energy performance, in order to define the guidelines and priorities in the development of the energy efficiency strategies and building refurbishment plans. The research methodology will be explained systematic in the case of the most dominant typology in Bosnia and Herzegovina: the single-family houses built from 1981 to 1991. The analysis will include an overview of the average features for the selected category, which were obtained from the statistical survey and embraces several aspects: urbanism, architecture building physics and heating system. Subsequent methodological steps included the selection of the “representative” or the “typical” buildings, which are characterized by average or the most typical properties of each category within the entire database. This paper will present the analysis, which intend to demonstrate that, according to their potential in terms of possible energy savings, based on the presented improvement measures, the highlighted building typology – the single-family houses of 27 to 37 years of age – can be considered as the most relevant building typology in developing the strategies and plans of the residential building stock refurbishment. This paper is a part of the research on the typology of existing residential buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was initiated in 2014. Being the first-of-a-kind systematic approach on the subject matter, this research intends to catalyse the shift to the energy efficient housing models in a post-transition and post-conflict country such as Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This paper intends to bring attention of both scientific and general audience to the status quo of the existing, residential building stock in Bosnia and Herzegovina, highlighting its energy savings potential. The research results presented in this text may be applicable on two levels: on a larger scale, the policy makers may use this data in the process of development of strategic and EE measures implementation plans, while, on a smaller scale, the individual users may gain practical insight into the benefits of energy saving measures and implement them in their own households. Moreover, the exposed data may be subject to further evaluations, studies and comparisons, while the presented methodology can be used by other researchers in countries where there have not been research activities on the existing residential buildings stock from the EE perspective.

The traditional architecture of Bosnia and Herzegovina echoes historical and cultural narratives of ancient Ottoman patriarchal society. The Oriental culture had specifically defined the way in which the gender roles in family and society were manifested in the domestic space, and vice versa, space itself was shaped according to the criterion of gender. While exploring the gender criterion of differentiation of space in the traditional Bosnian residential architecture, this paper will particularly focus on the link between female identity and the spatial characteristics of the traditional Bosnian house. Critical evaluation of elements and principles that compose the traditional model of residential space within its cultural and historical context will be followed by a contemporary insight and interpretation of its universal architectural meanings.