FROM FRANCO ALBINI TO STUDIO ALBINI ASSOCIATI
A reality that continues to live in the spaces that in 2007 saw the birth of the Franco Albini Foundation. A place where past, present and future are closely related and which makes this place the only studio-museum dedicated to a still active reality.
“By continuity we mean a continuity of method rather than a continuity of style. It is a way of doing architecture that is not self-celebratory but honest and ethical ”- Francesco Albini
The Milanese studio, founded in 1930 by Franco Albini, is characterized by an approach to architecture understood as “rationalized craftsmanship”, that is, as an artisan tradition rationally mediated by industrial production. In 1952, with the association of Franca Helg, the studio was enriched with new design skills and sensibilities. Since 1962 the Albini-Helg studio has availed itself of the collaboration of Antonio Piva and since 1965 of Marco Albini, assuming in 1975 the name “Franco Albini, Franca Helg, Antonio Piva, Marco Albini architecture studio.” From 1990 to 2000 the studio became “Marco Albini, Antonio Piva associates” and from 2004 “Studio Albini Associati Marco Albini and Francesco Albini”.
The Firm is therefore now in its third generation but continues in line and method by pursuing the values of modernity and innovation.
Continuity does not mean imitation of forms but consistency with a design method that presupposes specific attitudes towards the world and oneself. Continuity of method rather than continuity of style. “I think it is important to ensure the continuity of this way of understanding architecture as a profession – says Francesco Albini – which can contribute to improving the quality of people’s lives”.
FRANCO ALBINI
«It is more from our works that we spread ideas than through ourselves» argued Franco Albini.
And it is precisely his works that speak to us of him, of the philosophy underlying his work; of a strong social tension, expressed without redundancy, pursuing the obsessive attention to detail and the constant improvement of an idea. Works capable of combining rationality and imagination, functionality and poetics. It is his “honest and ethical” way of designing; it is his museum inventions that aim at educating the viewer; his design pieces capable of combining craftsmanship and serialization and his urban projects that reflect the needs of modern civilization, which tell us about an ever-current method.
Albini spoke little and wrote rarely, but he managed to communicate his “values” to us through a language made up of concrete acts, capable of marking the history of Italian and international architecture.
STUDIO ALBINI ASSOCIATI
The work experience of over fifty years of Studio Albini includes projects and works management of museums, installations, exhibitions, restoration, renovation and recovery of historical and non-historical buildings, in which the introduction of modern elements for compliance becomes an opportunity of architectural research and comparison between tradition and modernity.