Energy efficient and sustainable ancient museum buildings: a case study in Florence

The Historical Bardini Museum in Florence is a representative paradigm of the Italian Museum Building, and it is very suitable to serve as an exemplary pilot project for the restoration of historical museums. This article presents results of the architectural and energy retrofitting carried out applying appropriate and strategic low-energy and sustainable techniques and of the monitoring campaign (IAQ, thermal comfort, light, acoustic) performed first to evaluate the existing situation and then to verify comfort parameters and the energy consumption after works. The Bardini Museum participates, as Italian case study, to the European MUSEUMS project, financed by EU Commission in the Fifth Framework Programme. The result of this project is to provide also with a direct guidance, complete with architectural and engineering examples, for design professionals and museum authorities, setting a new standard for energy consumption in museum buildings. In parallel, it has aimed to disseminate effective information for designers and local authorities and to demonstrate the efficiency of the measures in order to promote them in efficient market promotion, penetration and utilization.