City of tomorrow and cultural heritag. Sustainability in a retrofitted Museum Building

This paper is the outcome of a demonstration project dealing with energy efficiency in museum buildings. The idea for this project originated from two preceding ones, a research project carried out within the framework of the Joule III programme of the European Commission and a further SAVE II project. Both projects dealt with energy efficiency in a specific building type - archaeological museums - and in a specific climatic region - the European member states around the Mediterranean. The paper illustrate in detail the developed design guidelines for the energy efficient design of museum building in the Mediterranean region, the Bardini Museum in Florence and the appropriate and strategic low energy strategies in order to setting a new standard for energy consumption in similar museums building in Mediterranean area.