Interpretation
Antonino Cardillo
He realized suddenly that it was one thing to see the past occupying the present, but the true test of prescience was to see the past in the future. — Frank Herbert
Years ago, around Marrakech, spread out over the arid plains, I saw some fences. From the outside, I could not understand what lay beyond, but I believe that they were lodgings. What could be within those walls? What was life like there? These questions stimulated my imagination for some months. Today, in the project commissioned by occasion of the ‘Wallpaper* architects directory 2009’, I tried to imagine a possible answer. From the palace of Akhenaton to the projects of Mies, history is full of examples of courtyard houses. This mode of living fascinates me because it brings into question the need to define an ‘external’. So, rather than identify itself with its shell, the building finds its true essence within, where the parts of the composition can speak to each other inside the ‘empty heart’ of a patio, creating a dialogue that recalls the cities of a pre-modern Mediterranean.
Reference
- Frank Herbert, Dune,[↗] Chilton Books, Philadelphia, 1965, p. 350.
Data
- Time: February–March 2009 (design), 6 April 2009 (fotografie Neues Museum), September 2009–January 2010 (esposizione Chabot Museum)
- Venues: Neues Museum, Bodestraße 1-3, Berlin, Germany; Chabot Museum, Museumpark 11, Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Area: 100 m² (one storey)
- Typology: Detached house
Credits
- Architecture: Antonino Cardillo
- Berlin golden model: Solido 3d Print, Rome
- Rotterdam white model: DMC, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, London
- Client: Wallpaper* (editor-in-chief: Tony Chambers; architecture editor: Jonathan Bell; assistant architecture editor: Ellie Stathaki)
- Photography, text: Antonino Cardillo
- Translation: Charles Searson