International competition launched for new exit at Florence's Cappelle Medicee

The Museo Nazionale del Bargello, under director Paola D'Agostino, has announced an international ideas competition for the design of a new exit and museum layout at the Cappelle Medicee in Florence. The project, valued at €540,000, includes an underground space and an open-air area between the Cappella dei Principi, the Sagrestia Nuova, and the right transept of the Basilica di San Lorenzo. The winner will receive €16,936.28 and a contract for subsequent design phases and works supervision. Submissions are due by February 15, 2018, with results announced by May 21, 2018, and construction targeted for completion by 2019. The competition is organized in collaboration with the Fondazione Architetti Firenze and the Soprintendenza Belle Arti e Paesaggio for Florence, Pistoia, and Prato, directed by Andrea Pessina. The jury includes Gennaro Miccio, Maddalena Ragni, Pia Petrangeli, Matteo Luca Ceriana, and Valerio Tesi. The initiative follows a €900,000 MiBACT grant approved in January 2015 for the new exit. Silvia Moretti, president of Fondazione Architetti Firenze, expressed hope that the competition will mark a new era of systematic public design contests in Italy.