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 and partner of
The Architects Collaborative.
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
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
but his studies were halted by the Second World War. His father was killed by the communists
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 The Tolstoy Foundation is a non-profit charitable and philanthropic organization. It was established on April 26, 1939, by Alexandra Tolstaya, the youngest daughter of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, and her friend Tatiana Schaufuss. Its headquarter ...
’s scholarship to study architecture at the
Harvard Graduate School of Design
The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban ...
.
Career
Shortly after graduating from Harvard, Cvijanović joined
The Architects Collaborative (TAC),
an architectural partnership founded by Walter Gropius and seven younger partners. TAC was renowned for its innovative, collaborative working methods
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.
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,
, Iraq
*1958-1963
Pan Am Building,
, USA
*1962 Berlin Double School and Children’s Centre, Berlin, Germany
*1962-75
Gropiusstadt,
Neukölln
Neukölln () is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located in the southeastern part from the city centre towards Berlin Schönefeld Airport. It was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city. It featu ...
, Berlin, Germany
*1968-1970
Rosenthal glass factory (known as the "Glass Cathedral"),
Amberg
Amberg () is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate, roughly halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. In 2020, over 42,000 people lived in the town.
History
The town was first mentioned in 1034, at that time under t ...
,
Bavaria, Germany
*1965
Rosenthal
Rosenthal is a German and Jewish surname meaning "rose valley". Notable people with the name include:
A
* Abe M. Rosenthal (1922–2006), ''New York Times'' editor and columnist
*Albert Rosenthal (1863–1939), American portrait artist
* Albert ...
Porcelain Factory;
Selb, Bavaria, Germany
*1975
Jubail Industrial Complex,
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
*1976-1979
The Bauhaus Archive,
, Germany
* 1982-1986 Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences,
Sharq, Kuwait
*1984 O'Neill Library,
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
,
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".
He lived in Boston with his third wife, Maria, and died on 7 May 2019.
Gallery
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cvijanovic, Alexander
1923 births
2019 deaths
People from Dalj
Serbs of Croatia
20th-century American architects
Modernist architects
Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni
Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
Yugoslav emigrants to the United States