The Uffizi abandons the construction of the “Isozaki Loggia”

The dispute over the construction of the “Isozaki Loggia” in the Uffizi, which had been going on for more than 20 years, has ended. The project to redesign the exit of the Florentine Museum, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, will not be implemented, the Supreme Council for Cultural Heritage, whose members agreed on the plan, decided yesterday.

This ends a dispute that has been going on since 1999, when the Japanese architect won an international ideas competition for a new exit to the Uffizi. The project, which combines elements of steel, glass and stone supported by four sculptures, was rated the best by an international committee. It beat out the designs of Norman Foster, Gai Aulenti, Vittorio Gregotti, Mario Botta and Hans Hollein, the stars of international architecture.

From the beginning, Isozaki’s project was accused of being too extreme in its treatment of the medieval setting. When this exit was carried out in the back of the museum, disputes had already arisen between the city administration and the Cultural Assets Supervision Authority. The municipality wanted to revive the back part of the Uffizi with a new “Isozaki Gate,” but the supervisory authority has so far been reluctant to provide a modern example.