Dwelling of the ephemeral

The Italian architect Antonino Cardillo built the ‘House of Dust’ in the heart of Rome. This flat evokes not only the origins of architecture, but also the fragile nature of humanity.

Architecture is one of the artistic disciplines that most strongly resists the ephemeral. At the same time, it is one of the practices that most deeply affects our delicate, fleeting daily lives. Within this context, we encounter House of Dust, a 100-square-metre flat located in central Rome. Designed by Antonino Cardillo, the project uses dust as a metaphor for a complex architecture: a gesture that alludes to the discipline’s primal conditions, rooted in the earth and pedestrian shelters. “Architecture is dust. Dust that becomes form, Dust transfigured by the mind. Dust is memory so dust is also death. […] Dust refers to the beginnings”, says Cardillo.

Yet House of Dust is also a profoundly classical and rational dwelling, its spatial layout anchored in golden proportions, with multiple references to Italian Renaissance art. Both the ceiling and the upper sections of the walls are coated in a rustic raw plaster texture that mimics bare earth. The private areas of the home are bathed in a soft pink hue—“the colour of dying beauty”. The rest remains in neutral, earthy browns. In this way, the Sicilian architect uses colour to illustrate humanity’s journey: “from the cave to the rose” as the ultimate expression of the sublime. Conceived to host few furnishings and devoid of artworks on its walls, the true protagonist of the house is the light that filters through its windows. The flat also features a series of details — such as the arched cupboard doorways — that recall Italian paintings from the 14th century.

A constant in Cardillo’s work is the dialogue he establishes between the classical principles of the discipline and contemporary language, alongside a profound reflection on each of his creations. In this case, it is a search for the archetypal elements of the home, interpreted through the lens of modern life.