Review
Akshaya Muralikumar
Antonino Cardillo, one of the most unique architects of our time is known for his breathtaking blend of an ancient and modern architectural language that goes beyond the consciousness of the user. His not-so-ordinary style is a visual potpourri of textures, connected by the relatability of color tones and other perceptual matters. Inspired by Swiss Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, he is constantly reaching out for the “architecture of the unconscious” that has done great justice with his peculiarly-named imaginary house series ‘Seven Houses for No One’. Having born in Sicily, Italy, the architect has indeed experienced the muse hidden in every wall and details that fill up the aura of the classical structures. He intends to get into the depth of the experience and psychological principle with every work of his.
House of Dust
Series: Grotto
Location: Ludovisi, Rome, Italy
Type: Residence
Year: 2013
Conventionally, dust is the grey hues that are dulling a house’s interior experience. But what if we could embrace the imperfections of the building just as we do in humans? House of Dust is one iconic work of Antonino Cardillo that has been selected as one of the world’s most exceptional interior architecture of the past five years [Room, Phaidon]. Encompassed under his theme grotto, the house is a beautiful blend of the classical arches layering over the natural earthen shades of colors and texture of the contemporary construction.
Antonino Cardillo, House of Dust, Rome, 2013. Photography: Antonino Cardillo
Off Club, Italy
Series: Paradiso
Location: Rome, Italy
Type: Restaurant
Year: 2018
Antonino Cardillo prefers indirect representation over direct ones proven by this culturally significant pan-Asian restaurant that reflects the design principles of the East such as Mandala. The investigation of primordial images is continued from the House of Dust to this project, where the spaces take up the intensity of the tactile senses to get into the psyche of the user. The skillful balance of light and shades in the interiors echoes the psychological references to the functions of the restaurants.
Antonino Cardillo, Off Club, Rome, 2013. Photography: Antonino Cardillo
Concrete Moon House
Series: For No One
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Type: Residence
Year: 2008
We remain perturbed, recognizing that in remote parts of our interior universe resides an apparent otherness. — A. Cardillo
The house has not just the profile taken from the moon, but also the subtle vibe. Originally a 2-part plan, the house is an assemblage of public and private ‘faces’ of itself, that has traces of each other in them. The water reflecting the concrete moon echoes a visual similar to that of the conventional picture of the moon reflected on the vast expanse of water, that does the right justice to the name.
Antonino Cardillo, Concrete Moon House, Melbourne, 2008. CGI: Antonino Cardillo
Illuminum Fragrance Shop Interior
Series: Grotto
Location: Mayfair, London, UK
Type: Shop Interior
Year: 2015
The uniformity of the monotonous walls is outpaced by the gracefully un-uniform textures that enclose the space occupied by nothing but suspended freeform glass forms that intrude the vacuum-like visual appeal of the space. Accentuated by linear light entrances, the place is definitely an unconventional user-friendly grotto.
Antonino Cardillo, Colour as a Narrative, London, 2015. Photography: Antonino Cardillo
Purple House
Series: For No One
Location: Pembrokeshire, UK
Type: Residence
Year: 2011
Cardillo has created a labyrinth of truths and illusions. There is no one truth-reality: it doesn’t exist. Antonino Cardillo has built it. — J. Kunsmann & S. Burkoff
The Purple House is an attempt to relate to the Norman legacy, re-evoking the history of England till the middle east, where the expressionist architectural elements approach towards healing the history. The soft curves are given a bold face with strips of light that transit the experience across the day. Altogether, the project is where ‘architecture is personified as drama’.
Antonino Cardillo, Purple House, Pembrokeshire, 2011. CGI: Antonino Cardillo
Birnbeck Island
Series: Urbanism
Location: Weston-Super-Mare, UK
Type: Urban design
Year: 2007
The island has a story. It has its birth from the existing piers and buildings that were left solitary in the middle of the water, giving a face of multitude breaking the existent solitary views. Set amidst the waterscape, it is an assemblage of linear elements—right from the building openings to the forms and profiles of the urban design elements that stand like the mighty lighthouses along with the water bodies. The drama is kept intact by introducing basement areas by Antonino Cardillo in the plan that apparently dominates the user experience.
Antonino Cardillo, Birnbeck Island, Weston-Super-Mare, 2011. CGI: Antonino Cardillo
Akin to a Cinema Set
Series: Frames
Location: Sergio Rossi, Milan, Italy
Type: Store Design
Year: 2010
Visual potpourri isn’t always well contemplated. But when a buffer is introduced into the translation of the visuals, keeping the user conscious of the superimposition, harmony strives. Rightly related to ‘Nikki’ in the movie ‘Inland Empire’ who traces her translation in perception and consciousness, space’s blue-grey tones intersecting the urbanist pink hues, create a sense of closure within the actually glass-transparent spaces. Witness the interaction of Architecture and Cinema in the project.
Antonino Cardillo, Akin to a Cinema Set, Sergio Rossi, Milan, 2010. Photography: Antonino Cardillo
Arcade
Series: Arches
Location: Milan, Italy
Type: Store Design
Year: 2012
Often in the modern era, traces of historically significant architectural elements are infused, for the user to achieve a relationship, a kind of familiarity with the aura of the space. The store design reflects the royalty of arches while creating the layered visual imagery, highly defined by the pearlescent shades of whites and blues. Feel the optical illusion of grandiose within the minimal space.
Antonino Cardillo, Arcade, Milan, 2012. CGI: Antonino Cardillo
House of Twelve
Series: For No One
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Type: Residence
Year: 2009
When the inspirations from ancient ruins and comprehension of the millennial architecture interact, a peculiar architectural language is evolved. The urban-toned house by Antonino Cardillo is a collection of visuals reflecting itself not just through the walls, but also the landscape features. The rigidity contrasting the smoothness of the curved profiles gives the entire built environment the touch of uniqueness.
Antonino Cardillo, House of Twelve, Melbourne, 2009. CGI: Antonino Cardillo
Specus Corallii
Series: Grotto
Location: Sala Laurentina, Cathedral of Trapani, Sicily
Type: Event Space
Year: 2016
The coral tones of the spaces speak not just of the material but its relationship with the past of the city of Trapani. Space brings along, the reference of the sea with the coral shades and shell textures where the history will live on as indirect depictions. The coral caves have a lot of stories echoing.
Antonino Cardillo, Specus Corallii, Trapani, 2016. Photography: Antonino Cardillo
Altogether, Antonino Cardillo is the man who creates spaces that could speak for themselves.