Alexander Cvijanović

Alexander Cvijanović
Born	(1923-12-19)December 19, 1923 Dalj, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Died	May 7, 2019(2019-05-07) (aged 95) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Architect
Practice	The Architects Collaborative

Alexander Cvijanović (also Alexander/Alex Cvijanovic, Aleksandar Cvijanović; 19 December 1923 – 7 May 2019) was a Yugoslav-American architect. He was a close associate of Walter Gropius^[1][2] and partner of The Architects Collaborative.^[3]

Early life

Cvijanović was born into a prosperous Serbian family. His father, Budislav Cvijanović, was a medical doctor and, during the Regency of the 1930s, a government ministerial advisor. Cvijanović started to study conducting at the Academy of Music in Belgrade but his studies were halted by the Second World War. His father was killed by the communists^[1] and the family fled socialist Yugoslavia in 1946. Initially, they settled in Paris, where he started studying architecture. After a short while, the family emigrated to the United States, where he secured the Tolstoy Foundation’s scholarship to study architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Career

Shortly after graduating from Harvard, Cvijanović joined The Architects Collaborative (TAC),^[3] an architectural partnership founded by Walter Gropius and seven younger partners. TAC was renowned for its innovative, collaborative working methods^[3] and Cvijanović worked on many of the firm’s iconic projects per below. As they worked closely together, Gropius and Cvijanović formed a bond that went beyond the professional, with Gropius treating his colleague as a substitute son.^[2][1]

Cvijanović spoke several languages, including Russian, Italian, French and German. His knowledge of German and close working relationship with Gropius, as well as his considerable talent, resulted in him working on many TAC projects in Germany.

Selected projects

• 1958-1963 University of Baghdad,^[4] Baghdad, Iraq
• 1958-1963 Pan Am Building,^[1][4][5] New York City, USA
• 1962 Berlin Double School and Children’s Centre, Berlin, Germany
• 1962-75 Gropiusstadt,^[4][2] Neukölln, Berlin, Germany
• 1968-1970 Rosenthal glass factory (known as the "Glass Cathedral"),^[6][5] Amberg, Bavaria, Germany
• 1965 Rosenthal Porcelain Factory;^[7][8] Selb, Bavaria, Germany
• 1975 Jubail Industrial Complex, Jubail, Saudi Arabia
• 1976-1979 The Bauhaus Archive,^[9][10][5] Berlin, Germany
• 1982-1986 Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, Sharq, Kuwait
• 1984 O'Neill Library, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA
• 1984 Copley Place, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Later career and life

After the demise of The Architects Collaborative, Cvijanović continued to work internationally (Kuwait, Singapore, Berlin) and in the USA. In 2019, Cvijanović's recollections of working with Gropius and sketches for the projects they undertook together in Bavaria were used to create the virtual reality experience film "Bauhaus in Bavaria".^[11]

He lived in Boston with his third wife, Maria, and died on 7 May 2019.^[12]

Gallery

• 
  Pan Am building (now the Met Life Building)
• 
  The Bauhaus Archive building in Berlin
• 
  Rosenthal glass factory in Amberg, Germany

References

1. MacCarthy, Fiona (2019). Walter Gropius : visionary founder of the Bauhaus. London. p. 467. ISBN 978-0-571-29513-5. OCLC 1084393434.
2. Thompson, Jane (Summer 2013). "A Man of Parts" (PDF). ArchitectureBoston. Summer 2013: 24–29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-05-02. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
3. "THE ARCHITECTS COLLABORATIVE (TAC)". architecture-history.org. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
4. Nerdinger, Winfried (2019). Walter Gropius Architekt der Moderne 1883-1969 (in German). C.H. Beck Verlag (Originalausgabe ed.). München. pp. 350–359. ISBN 978-3-406-74132-6. OCLC 1120721420.
5. "Bauhaus Timeline". Gropius House. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
6. Gropius, Walter (November 2015). Walter Gropius Glaswerk, Amberg (in German). Alex Cvijanovic, Ira Mazzoni, Wilhelm Koch, Manfred Wilhelm, Wilhelm, Gerhard Schmidt u. Manfred Wilhelm GbR BÜRO WILHELM Koch, Büro Wilhelm (1. Auflage ed.). Amberg. ISBN 978-3-943242-59-1. OCLC 952104857.
7. Sack, Manfred (1967-10-13). "Wir haben eine neue Fabrik". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 2021-05-04.
8. "Rosenthal Werk Rotbühl in Selb - entworfen von Walter Gropius". Porzellan Selb (in German). 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
9. Barry Bergdoll; Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, eds. (1986). The Thames and Hudson encyclopaedia of 20th century architecture (Expanded and completely rev ed.). London: Thames and Hudson. p. 140. ISBN 0-500-23425-6. OCLC 59150249.
10. "Building Profile". Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
11. "360° Bauhaus in Bavaria". Visual Vitamin. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
12. "Alexander Cvijanovic Obituary". The Boston Globe. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 2021-05-05.