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Architecture Directory 2009

As well as our definitive room-by-room round-up of the latest and greatest designs for your home, we’ve identified and profiled the world’s 30 most talented young architectural practices. Always ambitious and determined to add value, we went that little bit further this year and commissioned each of our 30 chosen ones to not only design their ideal home (a practical, sustainable, functional and elegant residential prototype, adaptable to any plot), but to also produce an exquisitely crafted scale model (no soulless cad drawings allowed). They then had to hop on a train, plane, automobile (or boat) and assemble at our chosen photo-friendly location: David Chipperfield’s masterpiece of restrained elegance – the reconstructed Neues Museum on Berlin’s Museum Island.

— Tony Chambers, Editor-in-Chief

A born-and-bred Sicilian with a degree from the University of Palermo, Antonino Cardillo set up his Rome office in 2004. Hugely influenced by his professor, Antonietta Iolanda Lima, he says, ‘I learned that in space, relations between things are more important than the things themselves.’ History is another inspiration; he believes that without memory it is impossible to build for the present, and sees good architecture as an element that can unite people. Inspired by private-garden fences spread across Marrakech’s dry plains, Cardillo’s residential proposal is called Lime and Limpid Green House. Exploring the history of courtyard houses, he was challenged to define the notions of external and internal. The result was a home with a large patio, like those found in cities of the pre-modern Mediterranean. Currently, Cardillo is designing a private residence in Melbourne. He cherry-picks his projects, admitting his ideas might not suit everyone. ‘In my houses, the interactions with environmental events such as sun, rain, wind and sounds are more important than objects or furniture.’

— Ellie Stathaki and Jonathan Bell