On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Franco Albini, his work in the field of the preparation of exhibitions and the design of stores and museums.
Exhibit design is acknowledged to have been the test bed of modern Italian architecture. The experiments conducted in Milan, with the Triennali and the Trade Fair in the early thirties, served as a trigger for that “battle for modern architecture” in which, in spite of many contradictions and political difficulties, figures like Giuseppe Pagano, Edoardo Persico, Ignazio Gardella, Franco Albini, the BBPR group and many others became involved. For Franco Albini in particular, exhibit design became an area of work in which the Milanese architect was able to express himself at the highest level, developing a language attentive to internal spatiality, the needs of communication and the use of materials. The volume, edited by Federico Bucci and Augusto Rossari, is made up of essays looking at the general aspects of Albini’s work in the field of exhibit design as well as some his more famous projects, such as the exhibitions at the Milan Triennale, Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Rosso and the Museo del Tesoro di San Lorenzo in Genoa. A large section of illustrations, with hitherto unpublished material from the archives, closes the publication.