(b Zagreb, 15 July 1886; d Zagreb, 4 Nov 1978). Croatian architect and teacher. He studied in Vienna and completed studies at the Technical High School in Zagreb in 1923. He then worked in the studios of Viktor Kovacic and Hugo Ehrlich and started his own practice in 1927. At the same time he was a lecturer and, later, professor in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Zagreb until his retirement. His outstanding early work is the cultural centre (1936–40), in the suburb of Susak, Rijeka. This building, a skyscraper wedged in a very tight corner between two steep streets, with an articulated horizontal mass containing office space and an auditorium, was ahead of its time and was of seminal importance in the development of a refined functionalism in Croatia. Among his other few but carefully designed buildings are the Villa Meixner (1934), Malinov Street, the residential block Arko (1938), Basaricek Street, and the Technological Faculty (1959), all in Zagreb; the Savings Bank and Croatian Cultural Centre (both 1930) in Osijek; and a small but very fine residential block (1954) in Zadar. Although he was a participant in the Modern Movement, Albini often included restrained decorative elements in his work in order to fit his buildings into the existing traditional context. As a professor he was responsible for educating several generations of Croatian architects, who practised in various countries.

• Albini, Alfred
  • Croatia, §II: Architecture