This slim monographic volume by the architectural historian Federico Bucci describes the most important achievements of Franco Albini's architectural career.
This slim monographic volume by the architectural historian Federico Bucci describes the most important achievements of Franco Albini’s architectural career. Born at Robbiate, near Como in 1905, he graduated at the Milan Politecnico in 1929 and began to work as a professional architect in 1930. During the years between the two world wars, he was very active in the sectors of furnishings and exhibition interiors for the Triennale and the Milan Trade Fair. In Milan, along with Renato Camus and Giancarlo Palanti, in line with ideas and types favored by the Rationalist avant-garde movement, he worked on the “Fabio Filzi” (1936-38), “Gabriele D’Annunzio” and “Ettore Ponti” (1939) council housing programs. In the field of design, he also designed the ‘Securit’ metal and glass radio-receiver (1938) and the ‘Veliero’ bookcase with a tensile structure of wood and steel wire (1940). After WWII he participated in the renovation of some of Italy’s museums, especially Palazzo Bianco (1949-51), Palazzo Rosso (1952-62) and the Treasury of San Lorenzo (1952-56) in Genoa. He also tackled the theme of placing buildings in natural and urban contexts, for example the Pirovano Hotel-cum-Refuge at Cervinia (1948-52), and the new INA offices in Parma (1952-54). Along with Franca Helg, who became an associate of his studio in 1952, he designed the La Rinascente department store in Rome (1957-1961), the stations for the Milan underground (1962-1969) and the SNAM building at San Donato Milanese (1969-72). In 1949 he began teaching interior design at the Architecture Department of the University of Venice and, after 1965, taught architectural composition at the Milan Politecnico. He died in Milan in 1977.