Off Club

Rome, 21 June 2018

The ‘Off Club’ is a transformative nightclub by Antonino Cardillo in Rome. Merging cinematic, ritual and primordial influences, the design reconfigures space through dual hospitality zones within a quadrangular enclosure, accented by twin black granite altars and a double grey façade—redefining architecture as a transfiguration of the human

Interpretation

Antonino Cardillo

Natural man is not a ‘self’—he is the mass and a particle in the mass, collective to such a degree that he is not even sure of his own ego. That is why since time immemorial he has needed the transformation mysteries to turn him into ‘something’, and to rescue him from the animal collective psyche, which is nothing but a variété. — Carl Gustav Jung

Off Club reunites the cinema of Kubrick and De Palma, Grand Theft Auto IV, Miami Art Deco District, the Escher’s perspectives, Byzantine iconostases, and Japanese folding screens. This work continues the investigation of Primordial Images presenting an ambience that reunites the sensorial plane of tactility with the intuitive, which projects onto reality the psyche of the observer. The space between the elements recalls the pattern of a mandala and the last works of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe—the theme of the double and the one divided. The two rooms devoted to hospitality form a raumplan six metres in height. Extending right round, a quadrangular enclosure sixteen metres wide unifies the duplex space framing the base of the Vault of the Golden Shadows. The latter, covering the space within the enclosure, is excavated at the centre by a black apsidal shape. Beneath this centre, a false scale palazzo encloses the contents and functions of the two bars. Constructed of two twin altars 7.22 metres long in black granite, both the bars—mixology on the upper floor and sushi on the lower—counterpoint the opposing sides of the palazzo towards the two rooms. With its double grey façade the palazzo carries out the apotropaic function of giving faces to the space. An iconostasis made from two twin black monoliths with elongated copper arches masks the face of the palazzo towards the road. Through the fissure created by the separation of the monoliths a view of figures is revealed. Arches, rhombuses, triangles and discs seem to evoke archaic rituals. Here, ancient and modern syntaxes find conciliation. Thus, this outline of physical and psychic scapes represents the idea of the architecture as transfiguration of the human.

References

Carl Gustav Jung, Psychologische Typen,[↗] Rascher & Cie. Verlag, Zurich, 1921; It. ed. Cesare Luigi Musatti and Luigi Aurigemma, Tipi Psicologici, Bollati Boringhieri, Turin, 2011.
Carl Gustav Jung, Psychologie und Alchemie, Rascher & Cie. Verlag, Zurich, 1944; En. ed. Richard Francis Carrington Hull, Psychology and alchemy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1968, p. 81.

Data

Time: February–October 2017 (design), October 2017–June 2018 (construction), June 2018 (photography), September 2018 (text), December 2018–February 2022 (Off Club activity), September 2023–October 2024 (Anima Restaurant and Club activity)
Place: Off Club, Via di Casal Bertone, 64, Rome, Italy
Area: 450 m² (three storeys)
Typology: Nightclub

Credits

Architecture, construction management: Antonino Cardillo
Clients: Massimo Di Persio; with Matteo Di Persio, Francesco Curcio, Remo Curcio
Building contractor: Roberto Federici
Masonry: Vincenzo Amato, Adrian Ciacan, Marius Ioan Frunzà, Emanuele Venturini
Logistics: Cristiano Massariello, Emanuele Zappone
Painting: Andras Marton Mihaly
Electrical system: Fabio Gabriele
Plumbing system: Stefan Minciuna
Granites: Ghirardi Stone Contractor
Windows: Claudio Carboni
Parquet: Gabriel Grama
Air system: Alessio Lanzani
Paintings: Sikkens (via Vito Caruso)
Curtains: Pasquale Lo Guercio
Mirrors: Nazzareno Garofani
Bar counter, tables, furniture design: Antonino Cardillo
Sofa design: Piero Lissoni, Living (via Mario Dejana)
Chair: Busnelli (via Luca Anzellotti)
Door handles: GIL (via Handles)
Balcony lamp: Armand Darot
Stair lamp: 1970s Murano glass from Palermo
Luminator: (via Giuseppe Picconi)
Photography, text: Antonino Cardillo
Translation: Charles Searson
Thanks to Klaus Mondrian

Testimonial

2018

Part of a grander scheme

Suzanne Trocmé

Well done, it is truly beautiful architecture.

[email], Wallpaper*, London, 27 June 2018. (en)

Anthology

2025–2018

Postmodern in spirit

Stefan Grundmann

An impression of theatricality emerges, as does spirituality (psyche), which the architect references—rich and intellectually demanding.

Architekturführer Rom, Stuttgart/London, March 2025, p. 368. (de)

Typology: Nightclub

Tom Wilkinson

These hieratic forms create an atmosphere of slightly menacing mystery—one could expect a Mithraic rite to begin at any moment.

The Architectural Review, no. 1470, London, April 2020, p. 44. (en, it)

Architecture of the unconscious

Akshaya Muralikumar

Inspired by Swiss Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, he is constantly reaching out for the ‘architecture of the unconscious’.

re-thinkingthefuture.com, New Delhi, 10 August 2019. (en, it)

Archetypes of imagery

Lucia Galli

This is a strong reference to the archetype, one which is considered as the need to return to the origin of things.

Abitare la Terra, no. 49, dir. Paolo Portoghesi, Rome, June 2019, p. 38. (en, it)

@offclubrome[↗] (IT)

Radja Nainggolan

This is the most beautiful restaurant in Rome.

@radja_nainggolan_l4, Instagram, Rome, 4 March 2019. (it)

Saturday selects

Monica Khemsurov

The Sicilian architect Antonino Cardillo just unveiled his latest masterpiece, the Off Club in Rome.

sightunseen.com, New York, 22 September 2018. (en)

The symmetry of the night

Tim Berge

A dark paradise of shadows, mirrors and symmetries.

DEAR Magazin, no. 4/18, Berlin, December 2018, p. 34. (de, en, it)

Roman empire

Suzanne Trocmé

A long-time Wallpaper* collaborator, Antonino Cardillo’s latest work marks a defining moment for the Sicilian architect.

wallpaper.com, London, 17 September 2018. (en, it)

Exhibitions

2024–2019

Open House Roma 2024

Gaia Maria Lombardo (cur.)

At the invitation of curator Gaia Maria Lombardo, Andrea Paolo Massara guides the visitors through the Off Club project of Cardillo, part of the ‘Open House Rome 2024’ program.

Open House Rome, Rome, 6–7 April 2024.

Inside/Out

Yara Boulos, Riccardo Rizzetto (cur.)

At the invitation of the students of the Royal College of Art, Cardillo talked about ’The making of Rome’s Off Club’ in the Inside/Out series curated by representatives Yara Boulos and Riccardo Rizzetto of the Interior Design department.

Royal College of Art, London, 22 January 2019.

Publications

2025–2018 (selected)

Stefan Grundmann, ‘M86-M88 Palazzo Rhinozeros, Off Club, Vestibül Domus Aurea’, Architekturführer Rom, Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart/London, March 2025, pp. 367‑369.
Antonino Cardillo, ‘Simulation as hermeneutics of reality’, Artbox – Puntata del 5/3/2025[↗] [television programme], ed. Didi Gnocchi, La7, Milan, 6 March 2025.
Antonino Cardillo, ‘Anima Restaurant and Club’,[↗] Open House Roma, cur. Gaia Maria Lombardo, Rome, 8 March 2024.
Anonymous, ‘OFF Club Rome (@offclubrome)’,[↗] instagram.com, 15 April 2022–8 Dec. 2018.
Tom Wilkinson, ‘Typology: Nightclub’,[↗] The Architectural Review, no. 1470, London, April 2020, p. 44. {tags: tom wilkinson, typology, italy}
Johannes Kister, ‘Vortragsreihe: Dessauer Gespräche’ (pdf), in Next to Bauhaus, vol. 2, ed. Matthias Hoehne, Hochschule Anhalt, Dessau Institute of Architecture, March 2020, pp. 216‑217.
Yumeh Digital & Marketing Agency, ‘Off Club Rome – Restaurant & Cocktail Bar – Shooting’,[↗] youtube.com, Rome, 19 Nov. 2019.
Antonino Cardillo, ‘A synchronicity of cultures and civilisations’, paper presented to the Dessauer Gespräche, ed. Johannes Kister, Hochschule Anhalt, Dessau Institute of Architecture, 13 Nov. 2019. https://www.antoninocardillo.com/en/writings/a-synchronicity-of-cultures-and-civilisations/
Lucia Galli, ‘Off Club’,[↗] Abitare la Terra, no. 49, dir. Paolo Portoghesi, Rome, June 2019, pp. 36‑39, cover.
Antonino Cardillo, ‘Antonino Cardillo: the making of Rome’s Off Club’, paper presented to the Inside/Out lecture series, ed. Yara Boulos, Riccardo Rizzetto, Royal College of Art, London, 22 Jan. 2019. https://www.antoninocardillo.com/en/writings/the-making-of-rome-s-off-club/
Tim Berge, ‘Die Symmetrie der Nacht: Restaurant in Rom’,[↗] DEAR Magazin, no. 4/18, Berlin, Dec. 2018, pp. 28‑35.
Antonino Cardillo, ‘Paradiso’,[↗] Divisare Journal [online journal], no. 221, ed. Paolo Antonacci, Rome, 19 Oct. 2018.
Monica Khemsurov, ‘Saturday selects: week of September 17, 2018’,[↗] sightunseen.com, New York, 22 Sept. 2018.
Suzanne Trocmé, ‘Off Club–Rome, Italy’,[↗] wallpaper.com, London, 17 Sept. 2018. {tags: rome, suzanne trocme}