Quattro progetti
Il nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

Gae Aulenti, Santiago Calatrava, Gregotti Associati, Adolfo Natalini

For little more than a year, from October 1998 to December 1999, the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore Museum, Florence, underwent profound restructuring and rearrangement under the supervision of architects Luigi Zangheri and David Palterer: these works have been documented in the book MOPA. Il nuovo Museo dell’Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence, 2001).

The acquisition in 1999 of an extensive property just next to the Museum – at one time the seat of Theatre of the Intrepidi, but for the past few decades used as a garage – and the intention on the part of the Opera’s Board of Administrators of carrying through with the general reorganization of the Museum’s collections led to the launching of an international competition for a new, even more radical rearrangement.

The Board examined four different proposals submitted by the studios of Gae Aulenti, Santiago Calatrava, Vittorio Gregotti and Adolfo Natalini. It was the project of the Spanish architect and engineer which came out on top; following the official announcement, the Opera decided to host an exhibition which would display the contributions of all four participants.

The present volume is divided into three large sections. The first (“L’Opera del Duomo e il suo museo. Ricostruzione storica e rilievi archeologici”) includes an essay by Valerio Tesi, which serves as general introduction, and an archaeological note by Pier Roberto Del Francia. The second (“Rilievo dello stato attuale e documentazione fotografica”) illustrates the present condition of the Museum by means of plans, sections and photographs. The third (“L’ampliamento del museo”) is devoted to the enlargement of the Museum: it features two essays by Monsignor Timothy Verdon, a member of the Board and Secretary of the Scientific Committee appointed to evaluate the architects’ proposals, and documents the various phases of the competition. This last section also contains reproductions of the original drawings, models and memos submitted by the four participants.