Milano: Fondazione Franco Albini

© Photo Molteni & Motta
FONDAZIONE FRANCO ALBINI 2015

“It is more than our creations that we spread by our ideas than through ourselves,” Albini affirmed.
And it is precisely his creations themselves which speak of him, of the philosophy underlying his works; what with the strong social tension, expressed without redundancy, pursuing the obsessive care with detail, as well as the constant perfection of an idea able to unite rationality with fantasy, giving life to a world both functional and poetic at the same time. Albini spoke very little, and wrote rarely, yet was able to communicate his values through a language made of concrete acts, leaving his mark on the history of both Italian and international architecture.
This is his way of designing, ‘honest’ and ‘ethical’, finalized in improving the quality of our lives. It is his museum-like inventions which aim to educate the viewer; as it is his designer pieces which blend handicraft and serialization, as well as his urbanistic projects reflecting the needs of modern civilization, which now reveal this great architect to us.
And it was with the purpose of spreading these values that the Foundation Franco Albini was born 30 years after the death of the architect, a ‘craftsman’ a he liked to be called. Many have done research into his work, but no one, perhaps, has been able to grasp it in all its entirety.
In acknowledgement of the value of his work, now bonded by the Italian Government as ‘National Historic Patrimony’, an institution was created to esteem its present aspects, as well as to deepen our awareness through researching the infinite possibilities which the documents in his archive offer.
The Foundation was not created to preserve a static, dust-covered archive, but instead to become a center open to dialogue and research, realizing educational activities within the archive.

www.fondazionefrancoalbini.com