Uffizi Museum complex

Original name

Complesso Museale “Uffizi”

Geographic Area

Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Reference Project

Documentation and analysis activities for the Uffizi restoration site

Site description

The historical complex of Uffizi palace in Florence, commissioned by Cosimo I de’Medici in 1560 and designed by Giorgio Vasari as the administrative headquarters of the Magistrates, consists of a U-shaped building opening towards Palazzo Vecchio.

The new construction of the complex included existing buildings of the previous Baldracca district, with demolitions that conserved only partially the existing buildings, as the Church of San Pier Scheraggio. This condition influenced Vasari’s project, organizing the complex into two wings of new environments characterized with regular modules of different lengths for the inclusion of existing structures, in particular in correspondence of the eastern wing which incorporated the aforementioned church and the ancient Palace of “La Zecca”.

With Vasari’s death (1574) the construction continued until the conclusion of the Loggia dei Lanzi in 1580, and from 1587 the first destination for museographic installations in the Gallery was established. With the Kingdom of Italy and the transfer of the Renaissance statues to the new Bargello National Museum, the Gallery gradually assumed the function of a picture gallery.

Credits

Promoted by
MIBAC – Superintendence of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for metropolitan city of Florence and
provinces of Pistoia and Prato (Italy)

Società consortile ‘Grandi Uffizi’

Coordinator
Sandro Parrinello

Partnership
University of Pavia

University of Florence

Survey Activities

Terrestrial Laser Scanner
Sandro Parrinello, Giovanni Pancani, Sara Porzilli, Andrea Pagano, Filippo Sani, Anna Dell’Amico, Pietro Becherini, Eugenia Bordini

Topography
Matteo Bigongiari, Sandro Parrinello

Terrestrial Photogrammetry
Francesca Picchio, Sara Porzilli, Anna Dell’Amico, Silvia La Placa

Post production Activities

2D Drawings
Raffaella De Marco, Anna Dell’Amico, Sara Porzilli

3D models
Raffaella De Marco, Sara Porzilli

Gallery
Point Cloud

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Documentation Methodology

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The survey activities carried out on some rooms of the Uffizi museum complex in Florence are part of a collaboration and research project between the DIDA Department of Architecture in Florence and the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Pavia in synergy with the main institutions responsible for the expansion of museum spaces. This collaboration, which began in 2010 and has continued until today, has produced a series of investigation experiences not only to support the technicians and specialists active in the construction site, but it has also offered, in the more purely inherent field of scientific research, a series of opportunities to experiment and develop 3D digital survey methodologies and data processing for architectural structural monitoring.

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In order to obtain an updated documentation consisting of 2D and 3D drawings with very high metric reliability, it was necessary to plan in advance the procedural strategies for survey operations. The 3D Terrestrial Laser Scanner methodology was the main activity for the survey of the environments, supported by a topographic survey. TLS scans have always been performed with High and UltraHigh resolution to facilitate the redrawing of architectural and decorative elements, and to ensure a very high level of metric precision for horizontal and vertical structures. In some cases, the complexity of the morphology of the environments made it necessary to integrate data through the execution of photo-modeling operations, acquired with photogrammetric cameras or 3D EYE. From these activities, 3D models were directly obtained from the processing of intense and detailed photographic campaigns with dedicated software.

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In this specific context, the monitoring through TLS survey of Uffizi environments had the purpose of obtaining reconnaissance surveys and morphological analysis with very high metric reliability, necessary to technicians for various intervention projects: diagnostic analysis, verification of the solidity of structures, projects for the safety of environments, interventions of restoration and structural consolidation, inspection and insertion of supporting structures.
The analysis and surveys led to the elaboration of planimetries, vertical and horizontal sections, progressive sections, technical drawings for the comparison between data obtained in different survey phases, 3D models processed directly from the point cloud with three-dimensional overlap for morphological analysis of the static behaviour of floors and vaulted structures.

Bibliography

Parrinello, S., Porzilli, S. (2018). 3D Survey Systems and Digital Simulations for Structural Monitoring of Rooms at the Uffizi Museum in Florence. In E. Ottaviano, A. Pelliccio, V. Gattulli (Ed.) Mechatronics for Cultural Heritage and Civil Engineering (pp. 203-233). Cham: Springer. ResearchGate

Parrinello, S., Porzilli, S. (2016). Rilievo laser scanner 3D per l’analisi morfologica e il monitoraggio strutturale di alcuni ambienti inseriti nel progetto di ampliamento del complesso museale degli Uffizi a Firenze. In S. Parrinello, D. Besana (Ed.) ReUSO 2016. Contributi per la documentazione, conservazione e recupero del patrimonio architettonico e per la tutela paesaggistica (pp. 188-196). Firenze: Edifir. ResearchGate