Florence (Italy). All eyes are reaching out to Florence’s physiognomy in this summer 2025. It had started with the dismantling of the 60 -meter giant crane for almost two decades in front of the Offices Gallery. It ends with the virulent controversy called “black cube”. The one who according to the transalpine press “Défigure” The city’s horizon line. The almost unanimous political class castigates “This architectural monster” While a flood of indignant reactions on social networks targets this building. He was erected on the old municipal theater, demolished in 2021 to give way to a real estate project. A three -storey building which houses 150 luxury apartments intended for tourist rental. Nicknamed the “black cube” (see ill.), Because of its shape and the dark aluminum panels that compose it, it is rented by some as a gesture of daring contemporary architecture sending a message of modernity in the historic heart of Florence. But most of them consider it perfectly unsightly, a real visual shock which distorts the urban heritage and detonates with the historic architecture which surrounds it.
However, the project has received approval from the superintendence, the region and the landscape committee. “” It’s really ugly, it is absolutely not suitable for Florence, and maybe not even the standards of the buildings “told the Timethe German Eike Schmidt, the emblematic former director of the Offices gallery. His maintenance granted to the British newspaper relaunched the controversy by pointing to the granting of a building permit without taking into account the impact of a site of this magnitude. “We do not want Florence to be removed from the UNESCO World Heritage List”Alarmed Eike Schmidt, citing the recent case of Dresden with the construction of a four-track bridge above the Elbe. “” UNESCO could put pressure on the city to change the colors and reduce the height of this cube, Hope the former director of offices at the head today of the Capodimonte Museum in Naples. It is now clear that the project has been changed. Someone had to authorize the construction of a building higher than the usual parameters, and higher than the theater he replaced. Who does this responsibility be? »» This is what the Ministry of Culture seeks to establish an urgent report on the situation. The Florence court also opened an investigation to determine whether irregularities were committed during the project design and approval phase.
