Franco Albini Vertical Marks by Sebastiano Nespoli

ESK STUDENT VERSION

The evolution of the vertical uprights in the exhibitions, interiors and furniture by Franco Albini

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

FRANCO ALBINI VERTICAL MARKS

PRODUCED BY AN AUTO

Research by Sebastiano Nespoli. Politecnico di Milano. History and Theory of Contemporary Architecture. AA 2019/2020. Prof. Fulvio Irace Ass. Valentina Marchetti

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bucci F., & Rossari A. (2005). I musei e gli allestimenti di Franco Albini. Milano: Mondadori Electa. Tentori F. (2006). Edoardo Persico. Grafico e architetto. Napoli: CLEAN Edizioni. Bucci F. (2009). Franco Albini. Milano: Mondadori Electa. Bosoni G., & Bucci F. (2016) Il design e gli interni di Franco Albini. (2nd ed., 1st ed. 2009). Milano: Mondadori Electa. Dragoni P., & Cecchini S. (2016). Musei e mostre tra le due guerre. Macerata: Eum edizioni Università di Macerata. Prestinenza Puglisi L. (2019). La storia dell’architettura. 1905-2018. Milano: Luca Sossella Editore.

WEB-SITES Lecce C. (2017). Franco Albini e il progetto dell’effimero (19361958): le fonti d’archivio come tracce dell’evoluzione di un metodo. Retrieved June 20, 2020, from http:// www.aisdesign.org/aisd/franco-albiniprogetto-effimero Tosto A., & Campognara C. (2017). Opere principali di architettura di Franco Albini. Retrieved June 26, 2020, from http://www. fondazionefrancoalbini.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/03/REGESTOARCHITETTURA.pdf Galleani G. (2017). Opere principali di design di Franco Albini. Retrieved June 26, 2020, from http://www. fondazionefrancoalbini.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/03/REGESTODESIGN.pdf Prestinenza Puglisi L. (2019). Architetti d’Italia. Franco Albini, il cattivo. Retrieved June 22, 2020, from https://www.artribune.com/ progettazione/architettura/2019/07/ franco-albini-storia-italia/

INDEX

Purpose p.1 A story of the upright p.3 Album p.17 Genealogies p.81 Conclusion p.87

PURPOSE The aim of this research is to investigate the use of the upright as a vertical element in the works by Franco Albini, regarding the fields of exhibitions, interior spaces and the design of some pieces of furniture. This element, a recurrent one in his projects, developed a lot during all Albiniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s works. A first approach to this element, following the lesson by Edoardo Persico, conceive it as part of a grid, a series of varnished tubes that define the exhibition staging; then, the translation of these devices in furnishing of houses, as a support for â&#x20AC;&#x153;memory objectâ&#x20AC;?, work of art, but also a diaphragm for separating rooms. All his research in this fields between the 30s and the 50s leads to notable results also in the field of designing furniture, which will be the base point for the fluidity of lines experimented in the later years.

[In a letter to Melegari, talking about the Rimmel shop] Since the study is so important and much complex (...) I understand that, becoming near to the delivery date, I cannot complete the work with the accuracy and undertaking I would like to do. I would then really appreciate if you could postpone the deadline of about ten days.â&#x20AC;? Franco Albini 11th of March 1934

A STORY OF THE UPRIGHT Starting points In Albini’s complete work the preparations for exhibitions, together with some important interiors and pieces of furniture, constitutes without any doubt the majority of his reasearch. His first confrontation within this field of architecture, happens in 1933 at the V Triennale di Milano. Called by Giuseppe Pagano to take part at the designing of “Casa a struttura d’acciaio”, he will also take care about its furnishing together with Giancarlo Palanti. At that time Albini was still a very young architect, graduated at the Politecnico di Milano in 1929, he had opened two years later his first professional practice, in collaboration with Palanti and Renato Camus. His way of thinking architecture, still linked to a “Novecento” stile and a more European influence undergoes a crucial change at the beginning of the thirties. Marcello Fagiolo in an article on the review “Ottagono” reminds us of an episode in which Albini showed some of his “Novecento” furnishing to Edoardo Persico and the critiques of the master made him fall in a deep crisis1. Albini talks about an authentic 40 fever, from which his whole work came out completely changed. Two main sides can be identified, up to Canella, in that period: a leva Pagano and a leva Persico, of which Albini was part2. In 1934 Franco Albini takes part at the organisation of the Aeronautic’s Italian Exhibition, designing the Aerodinamic room, while the rest of it was assigned to Persico and Nizzoli, who together realized The Gold Medals room. Here the young architect had the opportunity to compare his work with the one of the master. Moreover, the staging designed by Persico and Nizzoli can be considered as the first crucial manifestation of a new tendence in this field. The structure made by thin white rods and the grated framework remained 3

a recurrent motif in the later installations. Albini had to learn a lot by those master and their influence is extremely clear if we consider his works of the next years. As Giuseppe SamonĂ wrote in his essay â&#x20AC;&#x153;Franco Albini e la cultura architettonica in Italiaâ&#x20AC;?, his activity needs to be interpreted as the conjuction of the actions by Persico and Pagano3.

A first rationalism approach to exhibitions In this social environment Albini starts his research for a personal language, which will see him experimenting on architecture, with a particular attention on new ways of exhibiting, shaping showcases, panels and supports above all, every time in a different manner. In the first exhibitions designed by Albini during the thirties is still clear the rationalist matrix. Squared grids of horizontal and vertical rods make the space. In the aforementioned Aerodinamic room the staging consists in a series of widemesh white grids, displayed at a regular interval, and a frame orthogonal to these, which shows some photos of the planes. The whole system is supported by tall and slender uprights in steel and varnished in black. These vertical marks, which give rythm to the entire room, have a round section. The origin of this so simple element can be identified in some previous experimentation made by Persico on the theme of a tubular grid. The structure built inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in March of the same year by him with Nizzoli, already worked on some similar objects, in a clearer reference to scaffoldings and to its temporariness. In the room by Albini this language is less clear, and probably unwanted, but these thin tubes with the round foot at the two ends will be recovered in the later years for different projects. In the Hall of Honour for the X Triennale di Milano (1954) the theme of the scaffolding will emerge a lot better, in a complex system which support the auditorium. The year before the Aerodinamic room, Albini had made his real debut in the exhibition field with the realization of the pavilion for the insurance company INA at 4

the Fiera Campionaria di Milano. This collaboration will be repeated for the next two years in the same occasion and during the Bari Fair. The pavilion of 1935 in Milan, although a strong rationalistic approach can still be perceivable, can be taken as a starting point for a new personal language. The whole building is based on a square module of eighty centimeters4. In the main room, which is twelve modules tall, some squared black uprights fall from the ceiling, reaching the pavement on which the grid is manifestated by the marble tiles. These vertical elements support some panels in wired glass which allow the light to diffuse in an homogeneous way inside the whole room, underlining the transparency of the whole staging. In this rarefied atmosphere the square rods stand mute: is an extremely simple object, anchored to the ground with no need of a terminal part. The continuation of these so pure, standardized and quite industrial pieces in a strict spatial grid goes on the following year, with the staging for the Ancient Jeweler’s Exhibition. Displayed in the same space occupied two years before by Persico and Nizzoli with their Gold Medals room, this installation is designed with Giovanni Romano. The system, made up of twentyfour glass showcases supported by several thin white rods is a clear homage to the Neapolitan master, just disappeared. The designers had to satisfy requirements of security, visibility, light and organise the space in spatious rythmical intervals. The essentiality here is the key word. The uprights are reduced to some standard T steel profiles which goes from the bottom to the top in the most clear and straight manner, with nothing more than the hidden bolted joints. Significant is the praise made by Pagano who speak about the Albini’s research of purity and sincerity as a “liberation from every pleonasm, banality and coventionalism: aspiration to new and freer relationship between lines, shapes and colours. The thin dimensions of the profile, the rigorous modesty of the overhangs, the evidence of the exposed structures ... are dependently on an artistic rationality”5.

“Invenzione espositiva” The started research of the first exhibition experiences resounds at the end of the thirties in the furnishing of Albini own houses: two different settlement in the house in Via Cimarosa and one in Via De Togni between 1937 and 1940. In each of these interventions two objects emerge above the beautiful furniture designed by Albini: two white steel tubes, standing in the middle of the rooms and holding each one a lamp and an eighteenth century painting, part of the collection of the family, create a virtual diaphragm in space. These uprights are quite a repetition, in a smaller scale, of the one already employed for the Aerodinamic room. Again is a very simple element, with a neutral colour which highlight the anonymity of it in comparison to the object exhibited. This is a clear statement in the whole production of Franco Albini: the uprights and the supporting system will evolve in a consistent manner, but the functionality of them will remain the same, they will never take the scene instead of the product shown. Although his research on the vertical support will lead him to excellent results, creating complex and beautiful objects, the neutrality of them will privilege the real protagonist of each exhibition. Is quite interesting the transposition of these rods from the installation field to a domestic environment. In fact in Albini conception, an house is not only a shell for containing object. It’s a space open to what he called “invenzione espositiva”6 (exhibiting invention). The same attitude towards the products in the fair pavilion or the artworks in exhibition is kept in the interiors where the objects, memories of the family, are shown. It’s a juxtaposition of old and modern perfectly successful, with the delicacy and lightness typical of Albini work. It means to promote a living culture, for Albini there’s no difference between installation and architecture of interiors, the two progress together.

The “brackets” case In the same year of the furnishing of the house in Via De Togni, Albini is working on a prototype of the famous bookshelf Veliero which we can already see in some photos of his house. That year two works marked a relevant change in the evolution of Albini’s uprights. One is the aforementioned piece of furniture, the other is a Stand for the milanese steel foundry Vanzetti. This last one in particular, is the place where a new kind of vertical support is conceived. Two curved wooden planks perforated where they enlarge, are put together by some wooden joints in the shape of “brackets”. The two slats match at the ends creating an elegant and clean square foot. This new object seems to have no direct relation with the previous ones used. Is for sure a further research on that rationalistic spatial grid, in fact these vertical elements are coupled and disposed following a regular network. What is also innovative consists in their height, definitely lower than before and not reaching the ceiling. Instead, on the uprights summit a net of steel wires reminds the grid and tie together the inclined elements. The last difference in comparison with the staging of the younger Albini is in the relation between the product exhibited and the upright, which now doesn’t support directly it, but holds a texture of wires on which the panels are hanged. A similar thought stands behind the Veliero bookshelf. This beautiful structure existed only as a prototype and was never produced during Albini’s life; only in 2011 Cassina decided to recover it and start producing it. Also in this case the relation upright-object exhibited is not so direct. Two spindle-shaped inclined elements hold a tensioned system of steel wires and are at the same time kept in position by them in an astonishing equilibrium. Hanged to the wires the tempered glass shelves shows the family collection of books, suspending them in the air. Again, the protagonists are not the wooden arms7. The attachment of those arms to the ground happens through a large wooden base, making the theme of the upright’s 7

foot less important to discuss about, while the two ends, where the four ashwood stripes gather are covered in brass. Obviously the bookshelf occupies a strange position in the discussion about the uprights, but it’s a fundamental step concerning what will be developed in the following years by Albini. In 1941 the Scipione and contemporary drawings Exhibition helded into the rooms of the Pinacoteca di Brera is another development, and probably the last so direct, of the “brackets” typology. There, the uprights of the Stand Vanzetti comes back, but this time they are much more taller, slender and not coupled or inclined. A wire net at 3.5 meters height makes a square grid and holds the summit of the vertical supports. The base, still very punctual, is simply laying on the pavement. Now what changes again is the relation with the artworks, which returns to be direct: the upright is holding the paintings. When this doesn’t happen, those supports hold inclined showcases or double glass panels containing the drawings. Some lamps are fixed on the uprights, while some others are falling from the ceiling. The Exhibition collected a lot of agreements: Gian Alberto Dell’Acqua, one of the organizers, speak about a ”refined elegance” obtained with an extreme semplicity, lightness and poorness of materials8. Some praise comes also by Gio Ponti, who names his article “A perfect Exhibition”9.

Good synthesis After the 1941 the war rages and Albini’s research takes a break. The first two interesting projects at the restart takes place both in Milan in 1945. The experimentation in these cases is quite similar also if the results differ in some aspects. The two projects are the Zanini fur shop and the Institute of cosmetic dermatology Hotz & Co. The theme of a thin linear white tube is developed in different ways inside these commercial interiors, becoming sometimes a hanging scaffolding for tables, shelves or walkways10. Anyway, it is not strictly related with the upright conceived until now as a direct or indirect support for products, artworks and 8

showcases or bookcases. What must attract the attention in these two interiors, are those white varnished uprights which, again, stay in between the pavement and the ceiling. It’s interesting to notice how these objects recover some elements from the previous trial. The coupled steel profile of the uprights in the Hotz Institute (T or C section) reminds the ones of the Ancient Jeweler’s Exhibition, but now they are doubled and equipped with a round foot. The two rods are then put together thanks to four welded joints. A similar solution interest the uprights in the Zanini shop, although they are two simpler rods with no joints except for the terminal parts. Here their function is to sustain a stripe of white bookcases on a side of the head office. A slightly tapering near the ends can be observed in some photos, a shy try, more shaped later. In Hotz & Co.’s interior the upright assumed a more relevant role, inserted in a square grid on which tables and showcases are displayed. The vertical elements are horizontally linked by some black ones which contain the electrical stuffs for the lamp fixed on the uprights. The compositional scheme of these spaces is so fixed that makes them versatile and flexible for the exhibiting of every kind of objects11. The empty space born inside the coupled profiles is another important intuition for the later Albini; already experimented in the “brackets” case here it assume more consciousness, giving the rods a higher level of transparency and so lightness. Some years later, at the end of the fourties, Caterina Marcenaro asks to Albini to take care about the staging of some museums in the city of Genova. The first regards the Palazzo Bianco Municipal Galleries. Actually here Albini makes use of two very different supports for the artworks. One is the evolution of the steel tube typology, bent in the lowest part and planted into some column drums or capitals, a strong choice which will have some consequences in the Hall of Honour for the X Triennale di Milano and in the Eighteenth century Venetian Exhibition five years later. But in Palazzo Bianco makes an appearance another good synthesis which will reveal to be a 9

successful one, and so reiterated in more than one project. In this upright we can identify a lot of the previous experimentation. The black rod lays on the pavement and stops before reaching the ceiling. On the top the same wire net of the Stand Vanzetti and Scipione trial is anchored to the walls and draws a square grid holding together the single uprights. On the top and on the bottom a round feet makes the end, connected with a conical topper which exagerates the tapering of Zaniniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s uprights. The section becomes more complex: four ashwood slats with a square profile are united by several bolted joints in pear wood painted black. Here the experiment of the Veliero bookshelf with its inclined elements made in four pieces, as well as the joints distributed along the height of the Hotz case, find a clean and effective synthesis. The empty space which is creating inside the rod (an environment inside the environment12) becomes almost an aesthetic value which characterize this new object. But what must be highlighted is that this kind of configuration is the most effective and versatile for the fixing of paintings and showcases, making it an extremely adaptable solution. Also in this case the functionality of the support does not fail in favour of an aesthetic reason, better, the two are perfectly merged. Thanks to this versatility and neutrality this kind of vertical object will be reused by Albini some year later for the staging of Palazzo Rosso Gallery and the one of the Contemporary art, decorative art and architecture Exhibition in Stockholm and Helsinki. The last one differs only in the texture of the wire net which is based on a rhomboidal shape and serves also to sustain the falling lights. In 1951 this new upright lands also in Triennale at the Temporary Exhibitions, designed with Franca Helg, also if, at a careful looking, it differs a bit in the no more conical toppers. Linked to the Galleries experience in Genova is the episode of the House for an art lover, an apartment in Palazzo Rosso designed in the 1954 for Caterina Marcenaro. This project doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make use of the last evolution of the upright, but takes a step back to the other 10

typology utilized in Palazzo Bianco, of which takes also the way of hanging the painting on the walls. So, a black, simple, tubular element, like the one at the origin of Albini’s experience with the Aerodinamic room, makes an appearance. Here it stops before reaching the ceiling and exhibits the sculpture of a baroque angel, property of Caterina Marcenaro. The reasoning is the same of the Albini’s collection of paintings exhibited in his house. The aim is to offer the old memories through a modern device in order to get the viewers settled in, moving the attention from the artwork to the public. Albini explains “The goal of the museum seems to be to let the spectator understand that the works he admires, ancient or modern, belongs to his culture, to the actuality of his life. (...) The architecture, moving the attention from the work exhibited to the public, tends now to get the public settled in, instead of acclimatize the artwork.13”

Final stage? After the Genova experience Albini is again in Milan for the Fiera Campionaria di Milano of the 1955. There he together with Franca Helg, official partner since 1952, repeats the collaboration of the previous year for the preparation of the Stand Rhodiatoce inside the Montecatini pavilion. This time a new original synthesis appears. The tubular typology of the Palazzo Bianco Galleries and the Marcenaro house together with the section made up by four slats of the Ligurian upright give rise to a completely new hybrid element which mix the two thanks to a change of section in the central part. Starting at the bottom with a round leg it stops and turned into a cage of three (not four anymore) beech slats, returning round at the top part. The foot is also a sort of unity between the flat one of the milanese shops and the tapered one of Palazzo Bianco; an undecided solution. In particular, what makes this upright more revolutionary is the light on the top end, integrated in it, as well as the neon contained in the central cage. The system of the staging is ruled by four spiral movements following which the height of the 11

uprights increase. No more wires are visible on the summit. A stronger study on the ground attaching lead Albini to the foot for the LB7 bookshelf, realized in the following year. Now the influences are much clearer: the round flat foot linked to the tubular uprights is mounted on a cruciform topper, emulation of the conical one of Palazzo Bianco. This piece of furniture, available in different essences of wood and thought to be a movable diaphragm, goes from slab to slab stating its position in the furnishing of the house. Again the central body is treated as for Palazzo Bianco, Rosso, etc., but with some adjustments in terms of proportions of the different elements, giving more importance to the direction orthogonal to the bookshelf development14. These two study cases are the ones which, carried out in the research from Albini will lead to a more complex, but excellent result at the end of the fifties. Is the case of the Olivetti shop in Paris, one of the last interesting installation before the long commitment of the Santâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Agostino museum and probably the last upright experimented. In this final stage we can find all the influences from the origins of his experimentation, mediated by the several different vertical object drawn in about thirty years. Here we see the tripartition of the main section and the light on the top, both inherited by the Stand Rhodiatoce; the tapered round foot, final synthesis of the previous ones; the net of wires woven between the uprights ends, which is now based on a triangular shape, more similar to the Stockholm stage. In the same language, the joints also are triangular. The wood essence chosen is mahogany, a reddish wood, which makes this upright the most coloured, but again, keeping a very low profile in comparison to the typewriter shown in the shop. A so complex and humble object is the fruit of this so long story.

REFERENCES 1. Fagiolo M. (1975). L’astrattismo magico di Albini. Ottagono, 37. 2. Tentori F. (2006). Edoardo Persico. Grafico e architetto. Napoli: CLEAN Edizioni. 38. 3. “...necessario complemento alle azioni, non sempre convergenti, di Persico e di Pagano”. Samonà G. (1958). Franco Albini e la cultura architettonica in Italia. Zodiac, 3, 83-115. 4. The grid rules all the dimensions. The exhibition space is made by 12 modules in largeness and 24 in length. The entrance is a two storey space with a height of 8 modules. On the pavement the tiles are divided by joints of 1,50 centimeters. Bucci F., & Rossari A. (2005). I musei e gli allestimenti di Franco Albini. Milano: Mondadori Electa. 28. 5. “Quello che il borghese viziato dell’estetica del ‘salotto buono’ giudica come ambiente da clinica, diventa per noi, come per Franco Albini, ricerca di purezza, amore di sincerità e di schiettezza, liberazione da ogni pleonasmo, da ogni banalità, da ogni convenzionalismo: aspirazione a nuovi e più liberi rapporti di linee, di forme e di colori. Le esili dimensioni dei profili, la rigorosa modestia degli aggetti, l’evidenza delle strutture a vista, la stessa abbondanza di trasparenze sono in dipendenza di una razionalità artistica che non si smentisce neppure nei particolari più modesti e per cui la gioia di una bellezza raggiunta è anche in diretto rapporto con la semplicità dei mezzi impiegati per ottenerla”. Pagano G. (1939). Una casa a Milano dell’architetto Franco Albini. Casabella-Costruzioni, 142, 6. 6. Typewritten by Fondazione Franco Albini (2005). Prolusione tenuta dal Prof. Dott. Arch. Franco Albini all’inaugurazione dell’anno accademico 1954-55 all’Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia. Casabella, 370, 9-12. 7. “Era questo che sorprendeva entrando: i libri sospesi nello spazio del soggiorno con una struttura che era sì meravigliosa per il suo ingegnoso congengo e quindi attirava su di sè l’attenzione, ma che in realtà era una struttura che con la sua leggerezza e trasparenza aveva solo il compito di tenere sospesi i libri nello spazio. In questo modo la nostra attenzione andava prima ai libri sospesi e poi al modo di sospenderli”. Bucci F., & Rossari A. (2005). I musei e gli allestimenti di Franco Albini. Milano: Mondadori Electa. 12. 8. Dell’Acqua G. A. (1941). L’allestimento della mostra di Scipione e di disegni contemporanei nella Pinacoteca di Brera. Le Arti, fasc. IV, 281. 9. “ciò che distanzia Albini artista, da altri architetti che ricercano le stesse espressioni, è l’innata e felice e costante eleganza. Le sue cosa hanno la chiarezza e la finezza di una calligrafia: nel vedere le sue cose si sente che, prima di esser materia son state un bel disegno di Albini artista”. Ponti G. (1941). Una mostra perfetta. Stile, 3, 1.

10. This is the case of the Baldini & Castoldi bookshop, designed in Milan in the same year and, although it is part of that experimentation, is a different conception of upright and for this reason is not taken into consideration here. 11. Bucci F., & Rossari A. (2005). I musei e gli allestimenti di Franco Albini. Milano: Mondadori Electa. 34. 12. Ibidem 13. Albini F. (1954-55) Le funzioni e lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;architettura del museo: alcune esperienze. Torino: Mimeographed by FacoltĂ di Architettura del Politecnico di Torino. 9. 14. Another less known model was drawn by Albini, the LB10, a variation in which the bookshelf stops at a certain height and the base is made of coupled feet.

ALBUM

Aerodinamic room Palazzo dellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Arte, Milano, 1934 INA Pavilion Fiera Campionaria di Milano, 1935 Ancient jewelerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Exhibition at VI Triennale di Milano, 1936 Furnishing of Albini house Via Cimarosa, Milano, 1937-38 Via De Togni, Milano, 1940 Stand Vanzetti Fiera Campionaria di Milano, 1940 Veliero bookshelf Albini house in Via De Togni, 1940 Scipione and contemporary drawings Exhibition Pinacoteca di Brera, Milano, 1941 Zanini fur shop Milano, 1945 Institute of cosmetic dermatology Hotz & C. Milano, 1945 Temporary Exhibitions IX Triennale di Milano, 1951 Palazzo Bianco Municipal Galleries Genova, 1949-51 Palazzo Rosso Gallery (educational exhibition room) Genova, 1952-62 Contemporary art, decorative art and architecture Exhibition Stockholm-Helsinki, 1953 House for an art lover (Marcenaro house) Genova, 1954 Stand Rhodiatoce in Montecatini pavilion Fiera Campionaria di Milano, 1955 LB7 bookshelf 1956 Olivetti shop Paris, 1958-60

Aerodinamic room in Aeronauticâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Italian Exhibition at Palazzo dellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;arte di Milano, 1934

Together with the Gold Medals room, designed by Persico and Nizzoli, it constituted the Aeronautic Italian Exhibition, helded between june and october and organized by Giuseppe Pagano, Carlo Felice and Francesco Cutry.

Couples of tall black tubes support a white wide-mesh grid and an orthogonal wooden frame of the same colour. The slender uprights are fixed both to the ceiling and to the pavement, creating a regular grid which follows the rules of the shed system. The constant round section is anchored trhough an as well round base.

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INA Pavilion Fiera Campionaria di Milano, 1935

The third pavilion designed by Albini for INA, appreciated a lot by Persico and Pagano and replicated so in September for the Bari fair.

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Inside the main room of the pavilion, a grid of squared uprights based on a square module orders the space. The module is clearly visible on the white marble tiles of the pavement, divided by joints of 1,5 cm. Along the joints are fixed the metal grid falling from the high ceiling. The same grid is framed in two opposite directions between the uprights. At the top are hanged to white railings, while they reach the bottom in a simple manner without using bases.

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Ancient jewelerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Exhibition at VI Triennale di Milano, 1936

The Exhibition was organised by Antonio Morassi, who asked to Albini, together with Giovanni Romano, for a project which could satisfy the requirements of security, visibility and light in a rythmical spatious system.

The Exhibition occupied the same space of the Gold Medals room designed by Persico and Nizzoli two years before. The design of the entire preparation is a clear homage to them. The white steel uprights, with a constant T section, are the consequence of an epuration to the essentiality of support. Here they hold some showcases in which the object are exhibited. The vertical elements constitute a clear grid which goes from the pavement to the ceiling with an anchorage wich make no use of bases or feet. The light are disposed in a regular interval, hanged to an horizontal element supported by the vertical ones.

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Furnishing of Albini house Via Cimarosa De Alessandri, Milano, 1938 Via De Togni, Milano, 1940

The research in exhibition projects finds fertile ground in the domestic scale, starting from the two houses that Albini design for himself and his family, which use the same solution for the exposition of eighteenth century paintings.

In both the houses the upright which shows the art works reminds the one used in the Aerodinamic room. A simple white varnished steel tube support a white frame which contain the painting and, above it, the lamp for its enlightment. The upright starts and ends with a round foot. In Via De Togni an equal tube is used also for supporting one side of some shelves.

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Stand Vanzetti Fiera Campionaria di Milano, 1940

The stand for the milanese Vanzetti steel foundry, is part of the Fiera Campionaria di Milano helded between the twelve and twentyseven of April 1940.

The upright changes typology in this project. Lower than before, a grid of coupled vertical elements is linked by a net of wires from which are hanged the panels and signs. These new uprights assumed a “brackets” shape, composed by two perforated stripes of wood which join together at the ends making the attachment to the ground a very clean and simple one.

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Veliero bookshelf Unique prototype in Albini house Via De Togni, Milano, 1940

This bookshelf existed only as a prototype in the living room of Albini house, before being reissued by Cassina in 2011.

A couple of elements in ash wood supports the tempered glass shelves through steel wires. These inclined arms can be considered an evolution of the “brackets” upright. Here they are made by four arched parts, tied together thanks to six joints. This configuration leave the structure transparent and light. The top part, as well as the bottom one, is covered in brass.

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Scipione and contemporary drawings Exhibition Pinacoteca di Brera, Milano, 1941

Opened in Milan in March, is the first approach for Albini toward the exhibition of art works (here the ones of Gino Bonichi, known as Scipione), except for the Ancient Jewelerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one.

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The wooden uprights, in the shape of a spindle, are now straight and 3.5 meters high. They serve as a direct support for paintings or, indirectly, for inclined showcases and double glasses which contain the drawings. These elements are arranged following the squared grid of steel wires which connect and ensure them. Some lights are fixed directly on them.

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Zanini fur shop Milano, 1945

The arrangement of the interior of this shop, together with the Institute of cosmetic dermatology Hotz & C., was published the next year on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Domusâ&#x20AC;&#x153; directed by Rogers.

This white varnished upright holds on some shelves in the head office. Here the roundish foot comes back, fixed both at the ceiling and at the pavement. The section is made by two paired rods which taper reaching the ends, where are tied together. One of the vertical elements supports also a light.

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48 ESK STUDENT VERSION

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Institute of cosmetic dermatology Hotz & C. Milano, 1945

Designed in the same year of the Zanini fur shop, it consists in a square mesh framework on which are placed tables and showcases.

The rounded foot survives, but now it grabs two T or C section steel profiles varnished in white. The rods are holded together by four steel joints welded at a regular interval through the entire height. The system works as a whole thanks to horizontal elements on which are suspended the crystal tables.

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Temporary Exhibitions at IX Triennale di Milano, 1951

Albini research continues in some temporary exhibitions at Triennale di Milano, in particular in the LĂŠger one and in the Applied Arts Exhibition.

The black wooden rod, as the ones in palazzo Bianco, is made by four vertical pieces, hooked one to each other with bolted wooden joints. The square shape of the final section turns into a round one when it becomes the proper foot. Used for holding paintings or showcases it lays on the pavement and is tensioned above by a wire net.

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56 ESK STUDENT VERSION

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Palazzo Bianco Municipal Galleries Genova, 1949-51

The exhibition of Palazzo Bianco, wanted by Caterina Marcenaro, can be considered as a masterpiece of the twentieth century museography. Here the staging wants to remain neutral and versatile keeping a sense of temporariness.

Palazzo Rosso Gallery (educational exhibition room) Genova, 1952-62

Organised again by Caterina Marcenaro, the staging of Palazzo Rosso repeats the solution adopted in palazzo Bianco, creating a new environment inside the room, working with the importance of the art works, over the architectural aspects.

Contemporary art, decorative art and architecture Exhibition Stockholm-Helsinki, 1953

This exhibition, subsequently brought to Helsinki, reasons again with a grid of uprights, less rigid and farther away than before. This happens especially in the Liljevalchs Konsthall rooms in Stockholm.

This upright devised for Palazzo Bianco and then reiterated in the other two exhibitions, is a complex evolution. The section, made by four slats in ashwood taper at the ends becoming a topper of black pear wood. The same wood makes the joints, while the round feet on the top and bottom are again in ashwood. The wire net is still present and in Stockholm supports also the lighting system.

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House for an art lover (Marcenaro house) Genova, 1954

The apartment designed for Caterina Marcenaro in Palazzo Rosso constitutes an example of Albiniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research of new way of exhibiting, transposed in domestic interiors, in order to accomodate the owner collection.

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The protagonism of the living room, just entering in the apartment, is a baroque angel sculpture, climbed on a steel black tube. The same vertical element can be found in some rooms in Palazzo Bianco, with a different basement, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more a return to the origin, after an epuration and semplification process.

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Stand Rhodiatoce in Montecatini pavilion Fiera Campionaria di Milano, 1955

The stand for the company specialized in technofibres is made up with Franca Helg and consists in four spiral structures converging towards the centre.

The whole staging is given by a group of trusses-like uprights in beech natural wood which constantly grow in height. Together they support some low shelves for the products exhibition. The section changes from a round one to an empty cage generated by three bars, returning then round. The most innovative aspect is the integrated lighting system on the top and inside the upright.

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70 ESK STUDENT VERSION

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LB7 bookshelf 1956, Cassina reissues â&#x20AC;&#x153;I Maestriâ&#x20AC;?, 2008

This overhead bookshelf was originally produced by Poggi. In 2008 has been reissued by Cassina. Another similar model was designed by Albini, the LB10, less known than this one.

The vertical elements which support shelves here has their origin in the typology used for Palazzo Bianco. Four slats in solid walnut wood, teak or rosewood are connected by four spacers along the height by using metallic pressure clamps. The cabinet can be with two doors or drop-down. The topper taper and is linked to a round metal foot.

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Olivetti shop Paris, 1958-60

The Olivetti shop is one of the last example in the evolution of the upright, before the long commitment about the Santâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Agostino museum. For this reason can be considered as an end point on this experimentation.

Following the Rhodiatoce example, here the polished mahogany upright is a truss of three rounded bars connected by triangular spacers. On the bottom part the foot taper into a round finished end, while on the summit the same section ends with a simple lamp which crowns the object. The triangular net designed is remarked on the top by the wires which connect the uprights.

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GENEALOGIES

LB7 bookshelf Stand Vanzetti

Furnishing of Albini house

Stand Rhodiatoce in Montecatini pavilion

Ancient jeweler’s Exhibition

House for an art lover (Marcenaro house)

Aeronautic’s Italian Exhibition

Temporary Exhibitions

Palazzo Bianco Municipal Galleries / Palazzo Rosso Gallery / Contemporary art, decorative art and architecture Exhibition

Institute of cosmetic dermatology Hotz & C.

Zanini fur shop

INA pavilion

The following synoptic tables want to return a general genealogy of Albini’s upright, in order to show how his experimentation was not linear, but a more complex one. The result is the fruit of personal interpretations together with the ones of researchers who wrote on Albini. The tables give a possible and the most probably evolution of the architect’s thoughts through this theme, looking at the upright elevation, the main transversal section and the attachment to the ground. Some of them come out from previous experience, some are the synthesis of two or more already experimented objects, while still others are an almost completely new idea. All the uprights are here compared as they are put in the same scale, the same is for sections and feet. Every intersection of lines highlight a connection, an influence; new archetypes or base points are recognisable from the starting symbol ( ), while subsequent experiments are reached by arrows ( )

1945

1941

1940

1938

1936

1935

1934

Zanini fur shop

Scipione and contemporary drawings Exhibition

Veliero bookshelf

Stand Vanzetti

Furnishing of Albini house

Ancient jeweler’s Exhibition

Aeronautic’s Italian Exhibition

INA pavilion

UPRIGHTS GENEALOGY

LB7 bookshelf

Olivetti shop

1958

Stand Rhodiatoce in Montecatini pavilion

1956

1955

House for an art lover (Marcenaro house)

Temporary Exhibitions

1951

1954

Palazzo Bianco Municipal Galleries / Palazzo Rosso Gallery / Contemporary art, decorative art and architecture Exhibition

Institute of cosmetic dermatology Hotz & C.

1949

1945

FEET GENEALOGY Aeronauticâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Italian Exhibition

INA pavilion

Ancient jewelerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Exhibition

Furnishing of Albini house

Stand Vanzetti

Veliero bookshelf

Scipione and contemporary drawings Exhibition

Zanini fur shop

Institute of cosmetic dermatology Hotz & C.

Temporary Exhibitions

Palazzo Bianco Municipal Galleries Palazzo Rosso Gallery Contemporary art, decorative art and architecture Exhibition

House for an art lover (Marcenaro house)

Stand Rhodiatoce

LB7 bookshelf

Olivetti shop

SECTIONS GENEALOGY 1934

1935

1936

1938

1940

1941

1945

1949

1951

1954

1955

1956

1958

CONCLUSION The upright of the Olivetti shop is the last witness of Albiniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research about these vertical marks. Some other works in his last years resound again of the linearity experimented with the great number of exhibition and installation made. A more rigid linearity gives way to a fluidity, well expressed in some pieces of furniture of the early sixties such as the Poltrona Tre Pezzi (1959) or the Poltrona Consigliere (1962) both realized with a structure of curved dark tubes, till the design for the handrails of the M1 Metropolitan stations in Milan (1962-64). We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know which could be considered the final stage of this long research, but we know for sure that he would have go ahead if he had the possibility. In fact what have made Franco Albini a winner architect in his field, widely recognised as a genius in the interior design, was his capability of never stop experimenting new solutions. This attitude allowed him to reach every time better results, in a non-linear way, inventing and recovering and then reinventing again. It is not possible to identify a unique process, but a series of back and forth. He was an architect able to come back on his own ideas, save what was successful and leave what was not. This is the right way.