Review
Jeanette Kunsmann
Antonino Cardillo has transformed a dilapidated oratory in Trapani, Sicily, into an abstract coral cave.
Light and shadow, stone and dust, but above all: symmetry. Antonino Cardillo is an architect of the classical school, his spaces seek grand emotions similar to those Richard Wagner composed in his operas. Following the House of Dust and the “Greenish Twilight”, a gallery renovation in Rome, this summer brings Specus Corallii: a “coral cave” in Trapani, Sicily, Cardillo’s homeland.
The fact that his spaces often close themselves off from the world can be interpreted in various ways. Perhaps Antonino Cardillo simply has a penchant for caves: with his introverted spaces, which develop their own reality as a refuge, the architect wishes to tell stories. And when contemporary architecture is mainly composed of solid concrete walls, or opens to the city with glass facades, Cardillo imprints his personal signature on spaces with symmetry, stucco, and structure. As with his two previous projects in Rome, the circular horizon also plays a crucial role in the renovation in Trapani: it divides the space into upper and lower, thus giving it its central axis. However, symmetry also requires contrasts: in the corridor, a long passage adorned with arches, verticality dominates.
Earth, Water, Air and Fire
When Cardillo realised the House of Dust in 2013, he referred to one of the four classical elements of antiquity: Earth. The second was the primordial substance Water: for Crepuscular Green, the renovation of an art gallery in Rome’s San Lorenzo district, he was inspired by Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung and created a space that evokes “the greenish cave-like recesses in the Rhine—home of primal beauty and the place where love was cursed.” For the element Air, Cardillo travelled to London and built the spatial installation Colour as a Narrative there in April 2015.
Specus Corallii is the name Antonino Cardillo has given to his latest project, continuing—and perhaps even concluding—a cycle. The design for the oratory is said to refer to Fire: with warm, sensuous walls made of coral-coloured stone slabs in the lower half and pinkish-grey plaster above. The wooden doors are made of chestnut. Antonino Cardillo speaks of love—another great theme of Greek mythology.
Chamber Music
By the way, it was neither the Greeks nor the Romans who brought the art of coral jewellery to Trapani, but the Arabs. In the Middle Ages, the city in north-western Sicily was considered the island’s most important port city—alongside coral, salt production, fishing and wine-growing were strong economic sectors—today tourism rules in Trapani. A popular destination is the Cathedral of San Lorenzo Martire, a 17th-century building with an early Baroque façade. The adjoining dilapidated oratory (Sala Laurentina) was renovated and converted into a venue for chamber music and small events by Vicar Gaspare Gruppuso at the end of 2015. For Antonino Cardillo, this €120,000 commission for the Cathedral of Trapani was not only the fourth project in his Elements series, but also his first home game—after all, the 41-year-old architect hails from the neighbouring town of Erice.
When spaces tell stories
Cardillo reconstructed the 5.39-metre-high Sala Laurentina like a novel, referring to the founding myths of the city of Trapani. For Cardillo, the sacred significance of the coral cave lies in the depths of the sea. According to the architect, the “cadence of the space” should tell of the “allegories of beauty and metamorphosis” that allude to the shell imprints in petrified sediments and the arbitrary irregularities of coral reefs. Shells and corals also shape the urban landscape of Trapani. Therefore, Antonino Cardillo primarily works with surfaces, leaving the existing structure formally untouched. The ceiling and upper wall section, with their plastered relief, ensure good acoustics, while the lower part of the walls is clad with large, rough limestone slabs. Cardillo had the same slabs polished and laid on the floor.
While the oratory, with its warm colour palette, refers to the coral reefs off Sicily, the long corridor assumes a different drama. The plaster in cool green and dark grey tones also creates a consistent contrast in terms of colour—a combination of polished and matt green terrazzo tiles covers the corridor floor. Antonino Cardillo masters the art of telling stories through spaces and materials: visitors disappear into a mysterious passage that conjures up hidden underwater worlds. At the same time, these are familiar images and known forms. The world remains a labyrinth of memories, the architect is a time traveller—and architecture becomes ecstasy.
Antonino Cardillo, Specus Corallii, Cattedrale di Trapani, 2016. Photography: Antonino Cardillo