The International Consultation for the New Exit on Via dei Castellani and the “Nuovi Uffizi” Project: a Missed Combination

This paper explains how the Uffizi contemporary project and construction site have been adapted to the historical building, which was continuously transformed over the centuries. This paper examines the “Nuovi Uffizi” project, starting from the preliminary project (1964-65) up to the definition of the distributive aspects and the identification of the museum routes (1989). The issue of vertical links, which characterized the building over the centuries – due to its peculiar “U” shape and to the different functions coexisting in the building – is still to be defined: if in the west wing the staircase by Adolfo Natalini has already been completed (2010), in the east wing the difficult insertion of the staircase in the Romanesque church of San Pier Scheraggio remains to be defined. Arata Isozaki & Associates’ winning project by way of an international design consultation for the new exit of the Uffizi in Piazza Castellani, launched by Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and the Municipality of Florence in 1998, is also waiting for its carrying out. Ministry and Municipality proceeded together with the consultation but with different final purposes: the Municipality was interested in the revaluation of the square that was of its own property. The Ministry was more interested in the Gallery exit. If the issue of the exit had been treated together with the entrance and the internal circulation routes within the Uffizi itself, it would have been possible to solve the issues of this stratified and complex building, giving a huge help to the “Nuovi Uffizi” project. Although not required by the consultation requests, the project by Norman Foster’s group went in this direction.