Cardillo

architecture

/ anthology /

Anthology

2024–2007


Collection organised into thematic chapters of further writings ‘of’ and ‘on’ the architect Antonino Cardillo sorted by date in reverse order








Of the architect






Articles

2019–2007


Architect’s articles





A synchronicity of cultures and civilisations

Antonino Cardillo


These works explore the idea of a sacred universe, where cultures and civilisations, ancient and recent, come together in singularities that tell of how the Psyche has diversified and projected its contents in the different eras and different places of the world.


Dessauer Gespräche, Dessau Institute of Architecture, 13 Nov. 2019. (en, it)





The making of Rome’s Off Club

Antonino Cardillo


This project is about how the Psyche is involved in the body of architecture. My speech will therefore be divided into three parts: Vision, Construction, Identification.


Inside/Outside, Royal College of Art, London, 22 Jan. 2019. (it)





From Zak McKracken to House of Dust

Antonino Cardillo


This game, and a few others, were an invitation to destroy that reality. They indicated a possibility: to believe in another story.


Rome Video Game Lab 2019, Istituto Luce Cinecittà, Rome, 11 May 2019. (en, it)





Takero Shimazaki: colors in the shadows[↗]

Antonino Cardillo


Inside, short corridors hide rather than reveal. The second passage, to the left, reveals the architecture in its deeper nature, not pertaining to magnitude but to proportion.


Casabella, no. 895, dir. Francesco Dal Co, Milan, March 2019, p. 32. (en, it, ja)





Vaults, grottoes, arches and polychromy

Antonino Cardillo


The ‘words’ Vault, Grotto and Arch still inhabit our imagination. They embody archetypes that still move us today.


Heinze ArchitekTOUR Kongress, STATION-Berlin, Berlin, 23 Nov. 2017. (en, it)





Faked reality

Antonino Cardillo


So, what we are used to defining reality, is not reality itself, but a representation of information that we have acquired from surrogate experiences.


Constructed Realities, Goethe‑Universität, Deutsche Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, 1 Dec. 2015. (de, en, it)





False friend

Antonino Cardillo


Any act of beauty is a shard of love en route for a stranger.


Baunetzwoche, no. 403, BauNetz, Berlin, March 2015, p. 25. (de, en, it)





The alternative

Antonino Cardillo


Through architecture, I try to give voice to interrupted tales from the past, to resurrect stories that have been erased by the discourse of power.


Fulcrum, no. 77, AA School Press, London, 18 Nov. 2013, p. 1. (en, it)





Architecture is dust

Antonino Cardillo


Architecture is dust.
Dust that becomes form,
Dust transfigured by the mind.


House of Dust, Rome, May 2013, p. 7. (en, it)





James Stirling

Antonino Cardillo


At a certain time on his creative path, though, Stirling swapped part of his modernist vocabulary for more historical references.


Blueprint, no. 299, London, Feb. 2011, pp. 58. (en)





MAXXI: poppies for a fortress[↗]

Antonino Cardillo


Can some colourful spots redeem architecture’s failures?


archpaper.com, New York, 29 July 2011 [censored article]. (en)





Is Massimiliano Fuksas a classicist?

Antonino Cardillo


A classicist sets an objective before starting work, trying to stay as close as possible to it.


Design Today, vol. IX, no. 11, New Delhi, Aug. 2010, p. 76. (en)





Architecture and reverberation

Antonino Cardillo


Sometimes architecture is all the more interesting, the more invisible or concealed it is.


Tasarim, no. 194, Istanbul, Aug. 2009, p. 91. (en, it, tr)





Rome and Hadrian’s Villa

Antonino Cardillo


Beauty always has a bastard quality and sometimes the most profound, truest art lies in the distortion of reality.


Design Today, vol. VIII, no. 5, New Delhi, Feb. 2009, p. 91. (en, it)





Maurizio Betta’s Villa-Atelier (IT)

Antonino Cardillo


History teaches that, often, characters and important works are recognised by historiography only after many decades and, on the other hand, not always works that gain consensus in the immediate, appear relevant in a historical perspective.


Il Giornale dell’Architettura, no. 53, Turin, July 2007, p. 18. (it)





Comment

Antonino Cardillo


The history of man has developed through continuous interaction between different cultures. It often happens that the dominant take possession of the submissive, managing to disguise the process by rewriting history.


Blueprint, no. 256, London, July 2007, p. 58. (en)





Egypt and immortality lost

Antonino Cardillo


Here History was undoubtedly born. But its opposite was also born, namely the possibility of changing the truth by re-writing history.


Ulisse, no. 279, Alitalia, Rome, Nov. 2007, p. 15. (en, it)





Valencia: the white laguna and history

Antonino Cardillo


Today, in Calatrava’s white laguna, history seems to be placated.


Ulisse, no. 274, Alitalia, Rome, June 2007, p. 18. (en, it)





Barcelona: too modern to miss

Antonino Cardillo


From East to West, these places are apparently marginal, and despite their natural contradictions, they tell how Barcelona has courageously founded its rebirth on a contemporary architecture project.


Ulisse, no. 271, Alitalia, Rome, March 2007, p. 22. (en, it)







Interviews

2024–2009


The architect’s Q&A interviews (articles with interviews are in the ‘On the architect’ section)





Conversation with Paolo Portoghesi

Antonino Cardillo


I think your life was like the history of Italy. The story of a sabotage.


L’Arca International, Monaco, May 2024 (en, fr, it)





An impossible history (IT)

Antonino Cardillo


It is like trying to create an impossible history. A history that was destroyed or perhaps never existed.


The Trail Blazers, ed. Federico Chiarello and Antonio Mistretta, ZAK Radio, Trapani, 20 April 2017. (it)





Reality doesn’t exist

Antonino Cardillo


If you have power, you can influence other people. If you love, you destroy yourself.


DEAR Magazin, no. 1, ed. Jeanette Kunsmann and Stephan Burkoff, Berlin, April 2017, p. 79. (de, en, it)





Punta Tipa

Antonino Cardillo


My youth was populated with symbols which came from an ancient past. My imagination was also moulded by the desires of people that inhabited the island long time ago.


Odda, no. 11, ed. Zurain Imam, New York, Sept. 2016, p. 427. (en)





Italian touch (IT)

Antonino Cardillo


Now they put the spotlights in it, but once there were frescos.


Living, n. 1/2, ed. Elisabetta Colombo and Paola Menaldo, Corriere della Sera, Milan, Feb. 2015, p. 83. (it)





You have lied

Antonino Cardillo


Art is a lie.


Radio 3 Suite, ed. Andrea Penna, RAI Radio 3, Rome, 6 June 2013. (it)





We are mirrors of one another

Antonino Cardillo


The sacrifice of just one is better than the corruption of the many. It was valid for Piranesi, it was valid for Sottsass when he went into the desert, and it is valid for me.


Opere, no. 32, ed. Stefano Mirti and Gioia Guerzoni, Florence, Oct. 2012, p. 54. (en, it)





Impressionist architect (ZH)

Antonino Cardillo


To live in such a house, you must believe that sunlight can replace TV sets. In a way, living in such a house means returning to a primitive state.


Interior Architecture of China, ed. Helen Geng Haizhen, Beijing, Nov. 2011, p. 68. (zh)





Taking a position

Antonino Cardillo


There is fear within us, and that which we don’t accept in others is often a reflection of our character.


build Das Architekten-Magazin, no. 5/11, ed. Ralf Ferdinand Broekman and Olaf Winkler, Wuppertal, Oct. 2011, pp. 44‑51. (en)





The consolidated promise (ES)

Antonino Cardillo


I prefer the architects of the past. The current ones, except for some, are only business and marketing.


freelanceviajera.blogspot.it, ed. Teresa Morales-García, Avila, Jan. 2011. (es)





A heartfelt architecture

Antonino Cardillo


My works are often portraits of the people I have loved.


Slurp, no. 8, ed./tr. Roberto Santoro, Milan, Aug. 2010, p. 59. (en)





Values transcending time

Antonino Cardillo


Why Rome? Perhaps for voluntary exile. To create I need silence and distance.


build Das Architekten-Magazin, no. 4/10, ed. Ralf Ferdinand Broekman and Olaf Winkler, Wuppertal, Aug. 2010, pp. 41‑47. (en)





Flamenco architecture (ZH)

Antonino Cardillo


These houses are like planetary observation stations, constantly recording the changes in the weather on their walls.


The Outlook Magazine, no. 82, ed. Daniel Qiu, Guangzhou, Feb. 2009, p. 44. (zh)





Emotional space

Antonino Cardillo


Having the courage to discover ourselves through others.


B1 Magazine, no. 15, ed. Jakkrit Angsutti, Bangkok, Jan. 2009, pp. 94‑99. (en, th)





A tower (IT)

Antonino Cardillo


It happened a late afternoon, ⁠I was seventeen years old. Seeing a small construction for electricity in the countryside, I thought about how nice it would be to live on top of a tower. The next day I bought an architecture dictionary and spent the summer reading it, as is done with a book that tells of distant countries.


demaniore.com, ed. Luca De Giuseppe, Il Sole 24 Ore Casa, Milan, Jan. 2009. (it)









On the architect






Threshold of twilight

2024–2023


The writings by other authors





Conversation with Paolo Portoghesi

Paolo Portoghesi


In all these years you have remained consistent with your vision of architecture. You did not give in, and your works possess an integrity that is very rare today. This makes you one of the few architects.


L’Arca International, Monaco, May 2024 (en, fr, it)





Anthropology in architecture

Rita Cedrini


We are not prepared to read the plans of the one who implements the future. This is the case of the architect Antonino Cardillo, a great eclectic.


La Camera dello Scirocco, Palermo, 20 Oct. 2023 (en, it)







Evocation

2023–2015


The writings by other authors mainly related to the architectural projects Specus Corallii and Off Club





Brave new Italian world

Karin Van Opstal


The Sicilian architect Antonino Cardillo has been able, with his cutting-edge, almost archetypical work, to engage with centuries-old cultures and civilisations.


Villas, no. 107, Brussels, 6 Sept. 2021, p. 70. (en, fr, nl)





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)





Chamber music (DE)

Eva Gründel and Heinz Tomek


In Sicily, in addition to ancient temples, Norman cathedrals and baroque palaces, exciting examples of modern architecture can now be admired, such as Antonino Cardillo’s Specus Corallii in Trapani.


Sizilien, DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern, 5 Sept. 2019, media release. (de)





Architecture and Eroticism

Evdoxia Karageorgi and Konstantina Vasileiadou


We cannot decide whether Specus Corallii looks more like emerging from the depths of the ocean or whether it is the image of the ocean itself which on the distant horizon coincides with the sky as if they are reaching their love-making peak.


Architecture and Eroticism. An Imaginary Wandering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, June 2019, pp. 80‑117. (el, en)





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 Aug. 2019. (en)





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 Sept. 2018. (en)





The symmetry of the night (DE)

Tim Berge


A dark paradise of shadows, mirrors and symmetries.


DEAR Magazin, no. 4/18, Berlin, Dec. 2018, p. 34. (de)





Reflection

Brianna Ruland


This space evokes love and loss, nostalgia, melancholy, and life’s most essential inaudible philosophies. Most importantly, this long dark cave can certainly be trusted.


[email], ed. Matt Edwards, San Luis Obispo, 29 March 2018. (en)





Evocation, abstraction, illusion

Jean-Marie Martin


The spaces he has designed make clear the endless distance that separates them from what they evoke—while the measurement of distance is the most proper meaning of the evocation.


Casabella, no. 879, dir. Francesco Dal Co, Milan, Nov. 2017, p. 30. (en, it)





Architecture is to express my love for light (ZH)

Xia Shu


Sicily is a magical and wonderful place, where there are mafia, beautiful legends, large olive groves and sunshine scattered on towns and beaches. And… my favourite Italian architect, Antonio Cardillo?


zhuanlan.zhihu.com, Beijing, 3 Aug. 2017. (zh)





Elemental

Mrinalini Ghadiok


Antonino Cardillo challenges the very norms of the architectural process as we have popularly come to know it.


Mondo*Arc India, no. 15, New Delhi, July 2017, p. 51. (en)





The haven of memory

Francesca Gottardo


The wooden inlay in the oratory floor, […] represents the final destination in the journey and expresses the peaceful stability of a safe haven.


Abitare la Terra, no. 41, dir. Paolo Portoghesi, Rome, May 2017, p. 46. (en, it)





Dream world (DE)

Andreas Kühnlein


Antonino Cardillo is dedicated to a design with centuries of tradition: the artificial grotto, which he translates into contemporary forms. Offshoots of his poetic spaces exist in London and Rome. The latest was now created in Sicily.


AD Architectural Digest, no. 178, Munich, April 2017, p. 163. (de)





An architecture that looks to the future and has roots in the past (IT)

Luigi Frudà and Sebastiano Costantino


Trapani has recently earned a new pearl for its historic centre. In 2016 the work of restoration and total architectural re-design of a very old and historic building located in Via Generale Domenico Giglio, 12, a stone’s throw from the Cathedral of S. Lorenzo Martire.


Strenna d’Agosto 2016, La Ragnatela, Rome, March 2017, pp. 305‑307. (it)





Architecture as stupefaction (DE)

Jeanette Kunsmann


Antonino Cardillo masters the art of telling stories through spaces and materials: the world remains a labyrinth of memories, the architect is a time traveller—and architecture becomes stupefaction.


designlines.de, BauNetz, Berlin, 29 Nov. 2016. (de)





A soul for the Sala Laurentina (IT)

Mariza D’Anna


At the backdrop, a niche like a mihrab: ‘in the idea of architecture as a sacred and universal dimension.’


La Sicilia, Catania, 28 Oct. 2016, p. 13. (it)





Coarse coral-pink plaster[↗]

Jessica Mairs


Italian architect Antonino Cardillo has coated the walls of a vaulted chamber-music and events space in lumpy coral-pink, grey and green plasterwork.


dezeen.com, London, 26 Oct. 2016. (en)





Like the places of worship of antiquity (IT)

Peppe Occhipinti


The scabrosity of the pozzolana, used for millennia as a coating, cancels, with its chiaroscuro effects due to the particular technique of rinzaffo, the detachment of the corners of conjunction between the roof and the walls, evoking the aerial quality of the sacred place once had to possess.


[email], Trapani, 24 Oct. 2016. (it)







Ancestral images

2021–2013


The writings by other authors related to part of the series of architectural projects Grottoes: Colour as a Narrative, Crepuscular Green, and House of Dust





New retail scenarios[↗]

Valeria Maria Iannilli


It is a poem, an indelible experience that evokes powerful memories.


Retail and Service Experience Design for CCIs, DigiMooD MOOCs, Politecnico di Milano, 9 Feb. 2021. (en)





Inherent color and material color

Kerstin Schultz, Hedwig Wiedemann-Tokarz, and Eva Maria Herrmann


The alienation of the material using the devices of color and texture surprises and, at the same time, generates a feeling of security.


Thinking Color in Space: Positions, Projects, Potentials, Birkhäuser, Berlin‑Boston, Dec. 2018, p. 342. (de, en)





Lumira favourite works

Annie Carroll


His understanding of space and balance has resulted in some of the most influential interiors of recent times.


atelierlumira.com, Sydney, 22 Jan. 2018. (en)





Saturday selects

Monica Khemsurov


Cardillo is the guy behind one of our favorite interiors projects in recent memory, the House of Dust.


sightunseen.com, New York, 22 April 2017. (en)






Architecture is a dream (FR)

Sipane K-Hoh


This architectural work, however unexpected, reflects a certain dualism where the ordered shapes of the container collide with the imperfections of the contents.


detailsdarchitecture.com, Paris, 28 Nov. 2016. (fr)





The architect of a generation

Eve


Successful architect, Antonino Cardillo has confirmed his place in contemporary design history with, among other things, a series of avant-garde aesthetic projects.


promostyl.com, Paris, 24 Nov. 2017. (en)





New generation (PT)

Pierre Yovanovitch


He is the most radical architect in my selection. It creates tension and a strong atmosphere. He has a sharp notion of interior design.


Bamboo, no. 61, São Paulo, Aug. 2016, p. 33. (pt)





A shop with no products in sight

Jessica Cooper


Somewhere on Dover Street, […] there lies a fairy tale grotto filled with tranquillity and calm.


Eclectic, no. AW15, Paris, Sept. 2015, p. 160. (en)





Beguiling simplicity (DE)

Achim Meissner


Perfumery Illuminum in London welcomes its customers in a shop that breaks with all the buying and viewing habits of the luxury class.


handelsjournal, no. 9/15, Düsseldorf, Sept. 2015. (de)





Give us every day our daily enchantment

Ana Araujo


Egyptian? Greek? Roman? It doesn’t really matter, because once these ancestral images are deposited in our unconscious they are emptied of their historical specificity.


Design Exchange, no. 12, London, Aug. 2015, p. 109. (en)





Scent and texture[↗]

Anna Winston


Italian architect Antonino Cardillo has created a multi-sensory space for experiencing and buying fragrance by coating a room inside an old London building with volcanic ash.


dezeen.com, London, 6 May 2015. (en)





Being in shape / shaping environments

Sophia Klinkenberg


Cardillo links shadows and mysteries to the creation of a sense of eroticism.


Being in shape / shaping environments, thesis, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, The Hague, May 2015. (en)





Stories of other rooms

Beppe Finessi


A new author who has carved out a place entirely his own in the history of this discipline within just a few years.


‘Stanze. Altre Filosofie dell’Abitare’ [exhibition], XXI Triennale, Milan, April 2016. (en, it)





Dust architecture (IT)

Francesca Gottardo


A dimension seemingly out of time, which here seems to have stopped or never spent, suspended, immobile.


Abitare la Terra, no. 37, dir. Paolo Portoghesi, Rome, March 2015, p. 50. (it)





Twilight of the Gods in Rome (DE)

Jeanette Kunsmann


With 40 square metres rather manageable, the architect has transformed the gallery into a sacred space—and created a courageous change from the eternal white cube.


designlines.de, BauNetz, Berlin, 24 Feb. 2015. (de)





Italian touch (IT)

Francesca Taroni


Antonino Cardillo focusses on the potential of the ceiling.


Living, no. 1/2, Corriere della Sera, Milan, Feb. 2015, p. 13. (it)





Postmodern room

Nacho Alegre


It instantly brought back memories of the best postmodern, neoclassical architecture that I was revisiting at the time—Bofill, Moneo, Tusquets—but with a more personal and very contemporary view.


Room: Inside Contemporary Interiors, Phaidon, London, Oct. 2014, p. 64. (en)





Not going in a rut (HE)

Haim Capone


Cardillo breaks boundaries, shatters familiar patterns and infuses his works with a unique individual character with a new language based on classical principles. However, it is quite clear that this new aesthetic language is not easy to digest and understand, and is not intended for everyone, it is very far from the mainstream, deep, different and different, in the way of groundbreaking works.


Trend, no. 141, Tel Aviv, March 2014, p. 180. (he)





Decorative ceilings

Jenny Dalton


It is purposely reminiscent of all kinds of subliminal historical references, in particular the vault of very early architecture.


How to Spend It, Financial Times, London, March 2014, p. 71. (en)





Feeling through sight

Ana Araujo


Cardillo’s architecture promotes the sensorial mobilisation envisioned by Benjamin as a potential force for social / political transformation.


The Journal of Architecture, vol. 19, no. 1, RIBA, London, Jan. 2014, p. 15. (en)





Earth tones never looked better than in the ‘House of Dust’[↗]

Spencer Peterson


Doing a house up entirely in earth tones would be pretty ill-advised 99 percent of the time, but in the right hands the effect can be nothing short of arresting.


curbed.com, New York, 20 Dec. 2013. (en)





Domestic philosophy

Riya Patel


In place of abundant natural light and designer furnishings are gloomy cavernous spaces characterized by a grainy ceiling of pozzolanic plaster, tinted the colour of dust.


Frame, no. 95, Amsterdam, Nov. 2013, p. 58. (en)





Dwelling of the ephemeral (ES)

Sandra Bermudez


The Sicilian architect uses colour to illustrate the path of humanity: “from the grotto to the rose” as the maximum expression of the sublime.


Folio, vol. 4, Mexico City, Oct. 2013, p. 42. (es)





A Roman theatre of light

Felix Mara


An apartment interior in Rome’s Via Veneto, glamorised by Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, the House of Dust serves as an ideal springboard for fanciful lighting effects and architectural narrative.


Architects’ Journal Specification, London, Oct. 2013, pp. 4, 50‑55, cover. (en)





A courageous project

Dana Tomic Hughes


This is a courageous project with a fresh aesthetic and a unique vision. It’s the kind of interior that creates new trends, memes and movements.


yellowtrace.com.au, Sydney, 27 Sept. 2013. (en)





National team of Italy! (RU)

Aleksandra Sheveleva


Architecture exists to build bridges between contradictions.


Grazia, no. 30, Moscow, 17 Sept. 2013, p. 70. (ru)





Primordial caverns

Mitchell Oakley Smith


As one of the world’s most exciting architects, Antonino Cardillo draws on classical and ancient architectural forms to create spaces that feel entirely new.


mroakleysmith.com, Sydney, Aug. 2013. (en)





House made of dust (DE)

Tim Berge


For the architect, architecture becomes exciting at the point where it becomes “invisible or hides something” and exists on the border “to the dream”—he has realised exactly that into reality with his house made of dust.


designlines.de, BauNetz, Berlin, 13 Aug. 2013. (de)





House of Dust[↗]

Amy Frearson


Italian architect Antonino Cardillo used roughly textured plaster to create lumpy brown surfaces across the upper walls and ceilings of this apartment in Rome.


dezeen.com, London, 5 Aug. 2013. (en)





A house, a vision (IT)

Paolo Maria Noseda


A side entrance reveals a hall that, like a Greek mask suddenly worn by the visitor, projects and draws attention onto two tapered windows: a pair of eyes on the world.


Casamica, no. 3/13, Corriere della Sera, Milan, June 2013, p. 77. (it)







Mirrors

2019–2012


The writings by other authors related to the simulated reality phenomenon of the series of architectural projects Seven Houses for No One





The architect as a storyteller (DE)

Kirsten Wenzel


Apart from the involuntary irony that Der Spiegel appears in both impostor stories, once as a prosecutor and once as an accused, they differ fundamentally.


competitionline.com, Berlin, 17 Jan. 2019. (de)





Architecture and truth

Jeanette Kunsmann with Stephan Burkoff


Cardillo has created a labyrinth of truths and illusions. It is a novella with multiple layers. […] There is no one truth—reality: it doesn’t exist. Antonino Cardillo has built it.


DEAR Magazin, no. 1, Berlin, April 2017, p. 84. (de, en, it)





Models in reality. The digital image promises of Antonino Cardillo (DE)

Carolin Höfler


After the representations were revealed as desired pictures, he replied: “Just see it like a literary narrative, […] a fairy tale. It is also not important that things actually happened.”


Konstruierte Realitäten, Goethe‑Universität, Deutsche Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, 1 Dec. 2015. (de)





About the mediatised representation of architecture[↗] (DE)

Gérard Houllard


In fact, Cardillo is right here at its core, because as this essay also wanted to show, images of unrealised and utopian architectures can become an integral part of architectural history and not insignificantly influence it.


iacsa.eu, vol. 4, no. 1, Basel, May 2013, p. 11. (de)





Is it still possible without stacking up? (DE)

Carl Zillich


Cardillo, who meticulously lists all these press reports on his website, only holds up the mirror to the architectural media and refers to a fundamental problem: How should young architects get to a builder without having published beforehand?


bkult.de, Berlin, 10 Sept. 2012. (de)





Everything just rendered – and now? (DE)

Christian Holl


Or how we are constructing our reality from the material and the imaginary through the media today and what consequences this has. No simple questions, really. If the Cardillo case now served to seriously discuss at least one of these questions again, it might have done more for the architectural discourse than those who think they always have the answer to them.


german-architects.com, Stuttgart, 29 July 2012. (de)





Imagination and reality (DE)

Gabriele Detterer


Incidentally, architecture has always been ephemeral and virtual, he explains. From Palladio to Schinkel, from Sant’Elia to Mies van der Rohe, architects influenced architectural development and changed reality with ideas in the form of surrogates.


Neue Zürcher Zeitung, no. 164, Zurich, 17 July 2012, p. 40. (de)





Imposter: Roman ruins (DE)

Susanne Beyer


When Felix Krull was young, he thought for a long time about whether he should see the world small or big. According to his ‘nature’, he then respected the world for a great and infinitely tempting appearance in his later life. He became the happiest impostor in literary history.


Der Spiegel, no. 27/12, Hamburg, 2 July 2012, p. 121. (de, it)





Beautiful cloning (DE)

Peter Reischer


Asked if the photos are real, there is the short answer: “I am an artist and as an artist I manipulate reality!”


Falter, no. 19/12, Vienna, 9 May 2012, p. 31. (de)







Wallpaper

2021–2009


The writings by other authors related to professional collaborations with Wallpaper*, which also include architectural projects commissioned by the magazine to the architect: House for Wallpaper*, Akin to a Cinema Set, and Postmodern Cafe, and Colours as a Narrative





Outstanding spaces around the globe[↗]

Ellie Stathaki


The project had a limited budget, but what it may lack in scale, it makes up in creative ambition.


wallpaper.com, London, 7 Juy 2021. (en)





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 Sept. 2018. (en)





Perfume brand Illuminum explores realm of scent through architecture[↗]

Emma Moore


Visitors can remove the cork stoppers to sample the fragrances, and in an environment stripped of colour, graphics, names, ingredients, the scents are able to capture their full attention, the essences being perceived purely intuitively.


wallpaper.com, London, 13 May 2015. (en)





A whistle-stop tour of the world’s best interiors[↗]

Ali Morris


Fashion photographer Nacho Alegre’s highlights include a number of characterful residential projects, such as Antonino Cardillo’s House of Dust in Rome.


wallpaper.com, London, 16 Oct. 2014. (en)





Style and subversion

London Design Festival


To complement the V&A’s keynote exhibition ‘Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–90’, the LDF invites you to the specially commissioned Postmodern Cafe, designed by architect Antonino Cardillo.


The London Design Festival 2011, London, Sept. 2011, p. 183. (en)






Experiments of the architect (IT)

Massimo Locci


In the implementation phase there is a process of decanting of signs and a systematisation of the method so effective that the language appears to be clarified and strengthened.


L’Architetto Italiano, no. 42, Rome, April 2011, p. 31. (it)





Wallpaper* and Sergio Rossi unveil an ephemeral boutique in Milan[↗]

Malaika Byng


Wallpaper* and luxury footwear brand Sergio Rossi stepped up the fashion game during the Salone del Mobile by launching an ephemeral men’s shoe boutique in Milan, designed by acclaimed Sicilian architect Antonino Cardillo.


wallpaper.com, London, 19 April 2010. (en)





The madness of pop-up stores[↗] (FR)

Frédéric Martin-Bernard


If the fashion of pop-up shops can be perplexing, Sergio Rossi’s pop-up store […] aims to unveil new local design sizes.


‘La mode se pique de design’, Le Figaro, Paris, 17 April 2010. (fr)





Men’s footwear world tour

Tony Chambers


Cardillo is one of the most significant architects of our time.


Men’s footwear world tour [media release], Sergio Rossi‑Wallpaper*, Milan, March 2010. (en)





Wallpaper* architects directory

Johnatan Bell and Ellie Stathaki


Rather than simply report on the newest firms to flash onto our radar, Wallpaper* has commissioned 30 of the finest young architects to design their ideal home.


Wallpaper*, no. 125, eic. Tony Chambers, London, Aug. 2009, p. 78. (en)







Remote places

2021–2007


The writings by other authors related to the series of architectural projects Seven Houses for No One





Top inspiring Palermo interior designers[↗]

Nicole Lawrence


Each of his designs is both fierce and empowering as if he could turn each project into a living, breathing being. Truly a lifeforce to behold.


rugsociety.eu, Rio Tinto, 18 March 2021. (en)





Sicilian visitors

Francesco Rocco Ruggeri


We present a few brief snippets of some modern architects and their work in Sicily.


Sicilian Visitors—Culture, vol. 2, Lulu, New Brunswick, July 2018, p. 324. (en)





The memories within architecture

Andrea Chiu


Since Antonino Cardillo is hailed as an impressionist architect, then we should indeed talk about Impressionism.


Ravenel, no. 6, Taipei City, Aug. 2013, pp. 70‑73. (en, zh)





The Norman legacy

Devyani Jayakar


Differently from the [William Morris’] Red House in London which represents the search for a national British identity, Purple House tries to recall the forgotten routes between Mediterranean and Britain shorelines.


Inside Outside, no. 315, Mumbai, Sept. 2011, pp. 147‑148. (en)





Romance with space

Vertica Dvivedi


Romance with space works when the architect locates and positions his thoughts not merely in the physical, but emotional, cultural and social space as well.


Surfaces Reporter, New Delhi, June 2011, pp. 36‑41. (en)





Sameness and otherness (CS)

Lucie Červená


“In contemporary architecture, a lack of idea is often masked by the use of overwhelming materials. I am not interested in today’s architecture,” says the architect. “I am fascinated by old architecture that we cannot fully understand and thus stimulates our imagination.”


Projekt, no. 9/10, Prague, Sept. 2010, pp. 28‑37. (cs)





A house like a dance (DE)

Judith Jenner


The traditional Andalusian flamenco has inspired many artists: Federico García Lorca on poems, Pablo Picasso on paintings and sculptures—and the young Italian architect Antonino Cardillo to a house.


H.O.M.E., no. 2/10, Berlin, Feb. 2010, p. 126. (de)





Minimalist mansion takes inspiration from the moon

Lucy Foster


Whoever says that Australia lacks culture hasn’t met the client who commissioned this exemplary home.


ShortList, no. 109, London, Jan. 2010, p. 8. (en)





Poetry of space

Ridhi Kale


So, if Homer had his Iliad and Odyssey, Rome based architect Antonino Cardillo has the homes he builds across the globe, interpreting his clients’ “most hidden and irrational wishes.”


Home, India Today, Mumbai, Jan. 2010, p. 47. (en)





Physical poetry

Thomson Carpenter


The first to admit to being a dreamer, Cardillo concedes to inhabiting a virtual world, a parallel universe, moreover describing his fall into architecture as a chance happening.


DNA, no. 119, Sydney, Dec. 2009, p. 105. (en)





Rise of the new titans

Rohan Yung


According to the Almanac of Architecture & Design, these are some of the world’s top new architectural wonders.


Going Places, Malaysia Airlines, Kuala Lumpur, May 2009, pp. 44‑45. (en)





A world of wonder

Ramia Habchy


The play of light within the convex walls of this house create a romantic aura that envelopes visitors and transports them into a world of wonder at the inspired superiority that made this beautifully shaped structure possible.


Touch Decor, Beirut, Oct. 2008, p. 58. (en)





The house that clutter forgot

Matt Hussey


We’d all like a bit more space around the house. We’re not talking Changing Rooms-style wall hangings and naff trompe l’oeil—we mean golf club-swinging, echo-inducing caverns that make you wish you’d mastered acrobatic gymnastics whenever you walk into them.


ShortList, no. 52, London, Oct. 2008, p. 6. (en)





Flamenco and architecture

Devyani Jayakar


In a profession full of flamboyant empresarios, meet Italian architect Antonino Cardillo. Which is not to say, however, that his creations are not flamboyant. You can eulogise, criticise or analyse them, but you certainly can’t ignore them .


Inside Outside, no. 280, Mumbai, Oct. 2008, p. 119. (en)





More temple than dwelling

Devyani Jayakar


His homes are more nearly temple than dwelling, and they reward aesthetic contemplation before they fulfil domestic necessity.


Home Review, vol. 7, no. 5, Mumbai, Sept. 2008, p. 72. (en)





Void to live (PL)

Anna Krenz


The passing time, however, leaves the interiors the same, creating only a temporary spectacle during which the play of colours and light becomes a space in itself.


Vox Design, no. 8, Warsaw, Feb. 2008, pp. 54‑57. (pl)





The feeling of movement (BG)

Jordan Krosnakov


As soon as we step into the large-scale, serene spaces of buildings designed around him, it captures us and drags us into an extraordinary journey.


Мебелен Дизайн, no. 5/07, Sofia, Oct. 2007, pp. 104‑109. (bg)





Celestial vision

Devyani Jayakar


Magnetising the eye from the very moment you view the enormous sweeping curves in the living room, the architecture appears to be the harbinger of an epochal change in Italy’s post imperial design history.


Home Review, vol. 6, no. 5, Mumbai, Sept. 2007, p. 60. (en)





My concrete heart

Jana Martin


It functions as observatory. It makes slides of the moon. It considers the Earth’s place in the universe.


moli.com, New York, July 2007. (en)





Ellipse 1501

Matt Hussey


This new house designed by Antonino Cardillo has stumped us good and proper.


thecoolhunter.com, Sydney, July 2007. (en)