House for Wallpaper*

Years ago, around Marrakech, spread out over the arid plains, I saw some large 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 Wallpaper* magazine, I tried to imagine a possible solution. 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.

Time: Feb 2009
Inner area: 100 m²
Place: Marrakech, Morocco

CREDITS

Client: Wallpaper* magazine, London
Architect: Antonino Cardillo
Photography: Antonino Cardillo
Text: Antonino Cardillo
English translator: Charles Searson

Model: Solido 3d Print, Rome

BIBLIOGRAPHY

THOMSON CARPENTER
DNA Magazine, no.119, Sydney, Dec 2009.

wallpaper.com, London, 5 Oct 2009.

SEBASTIAN JORDANA
archdaily.com, Brea, 24 Jul 2009.

NIKI MAY YOUNG (ed.)
worldarchitecturenews.com, London, 13 Aug 2009.

TONY CHAMBERS
JONATHAN BELL
ELLIE STATHAKI
wallpaper.com, London, 2 Jul 2009.
Wallpaper*, no.125, London, Jul 2009.