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House of Dust

Rome,

The House of Dust is an experimental apartment in Ludovisi, Rome. The project juxtaposes classical orders and golden proportions with the metaphorical element of dust embodied by a grotto-vault, complemented by an enigmatic series of elongated arches and the ambivalence of the colours earth and pink

Genres work
Series grottoes
Themes arches colour fields enclosures forms pink trilithon
Typology apartment
Intervention types furniture renovation
Stages built
Places rome

Work

Antonino Cardillo

Colour itself is a degree of darkness (σκιερόν).

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Zur Farbenlehre (1810)

In this house classical orders and golden proportions celebrate dust. A grey base supports a ceiling of rustic plaster of the colour of the bare earth: craving for primordial caverns, for Renaissance grotesques, for baroque nymphaeums in Doria Pamphilj, for faintly Liberty façades in the streets off Via Veneto.

A sequence of compressions and dilatations makes up the space of the house. On the walls, passages and windows appear, now dug out of the base, now like carvings in a baguette. A series of arches, memories of Trecento Italian painting, disguises doors and cupboards.

Among these, one studded with a pink glass doorknob introduces the intimate rooms, which too are distinguished by the palest pink on the walls: yearning for dawns and flowers, the colour of beauty, the colour of beauty that dies.

, London,

House of Dust
Hall: from the entrance; ceiling of rustic plaster of the colour of the bare earth
House of Dust
Hall: empty; windows dug out of the grey base
House of Dust
Hall: reverberation of light on the rustic plaster; marble table on three feet
House of Dust
Hall: trilithon opening lit by pink light; arched door with a pink glass knob
House of Dust
Entrance: elongated arches and rustic plaster lit by the line of pink light on the ground
House of Dust
Study: purplish light on the rustic plaster; opening towards the hall
House of Dust
Hall: in the evening, bell tower with elongated arches in the dark window; grey wool sofa
House of Dust
Pink room: enfilade of two arches towards the hall
House of Dust
Pink room: shower curtain lit from within; porphyry washbasin

, interviewed by Jenny Dalton

At the beginning I really thought that this could not, should not, be my house. [However, after a while,] that first sensation of mine has completely gone. Sometimes I find myself reclining on the sofa in the evening, watching the reflections of the purplish light above, hypnotised.

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

Data

  • Time: Design (Mar – Oct 2012); Construction (Nov 2012 – Mar 2013); Photography (Mar – Apr 2013); Poem (May 2013); Text (June 2013)
  • Place: Ludovisi, Rome, Italy
  • Area: 115 m² (single storey)

Credits

  • Architecture, works supervision: Antonino Cardillo
  • Patron: Massimiliano Beffa
  • Building contractor: Galliani & Giorgetti
  • Masonry: Michele Ripan
  • Plaster: Julian Paraschiv
  • Logistics: Giorgio Giorgetti
  • Decorating: Petrica Rotaru
  • Electrical system: Luca Camai
  • Plumbing and ventilation systems: Emiliano Proietto
  • Cement: Elio Martorana, Michele Martorana
  • Parquet: Style Maison
  • Stones: Daniele Ghirardi (Ghirardi Stone Contractor)
  • Curtains: Pasquale Lo Guercio
  • Tables design: Antonino Cardillo
  • Chair design: Kazuhide Takahama
  • Sofa design: Piero Lissoni
  • Bookcase design: Giuseppe Bavuso
  • Knob: GIL (via Handles)
  • Lamps: Armand Darot
  • Photography, poem, text: Antonino Cardillo
  • Translation: Charles Searson
  • Thanks to Ana Araujo

Poetics

2023 – 2013

This lecture traces a decade of research aimed at reintegrating psychology, anthropology, historiography and archaeology into architecture, a discipline fragmented by modern specialisation. It recognises in the House of Dust a seminal moment: the maturation of an intent to integrate the historicity of places into a present-day architecture. The title is read as an oxymoron, and dust as a metaphor of sediment, of marks and scars, set against the clean, perfect, sanitised spaces that modernity celebrates. In the main room, the pozzolana ceiling dissolves the vault into a darkness, above the pale enclosure of the temenos.

L’antropologia nell’architettura, Museo Agostino Pepoli, Trapani, (en, it)

Spoken reflection on the work House of Dust, delivered during the inaugural visit of Open House Roma 2023. The account explores the project as an integration of shadow, a reintegration of the erotic, and an allegory of space. The house is conceived as a passage from cave to garden, evoking forgotten archetypes and archaic forms erased by modernity. Through compressions, thresholds and sensitive figures, architecture becomes a psychic and poetic process, capable of welcoming what is censored and restoring to dwelling a ritual and symbolic dimension.

Open House Roma 2023, House of Dust, Rome, (en, it)

This lecture explores architecture as a symbolic and psychological act, where ancient archetypes and cultural opposites converge in spatial form. In the House of Dust it continues the reading of Plato’s allegory of the cave: here the cave refers to the objects, in whose illusion people live today. The image of the living room appears as a parody of the present condition: the space is portrayed as a small theatre or dollhouse holding a collection of objects, in an ambiguous approach that at once depicts and criticises.

Dessauer Gespräche, Dessau Institute of Architecture, Dessau, (en, it)

This lecture draws a parallel between the 1988 video game Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders and the architectural work House of Dust. Through a reflection on pixel abstraction, symbolic narration and simplified representation, the talk explores how early digital aesthetics shaped a critical approach to space and perception. Themes of simulation, memory and psychological inversion emerge as the speaker recounts a personal journey from virtual houses to built form, proposing architecture as a medium for storytelling and inner transformation.

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

This lecture presents the House of Dust as a metaphorical space shaped by memory, tactility and psychological inversion. Drawing on Persian etymology, Renaissance grottoes and video game logic, the talk explores the role of dust as both material and symbol – challenging modern ideals of cleanliness and exposure. Through dualities of colour, symmetry and form, the house becomes a screenplay of eros and concealment, where rustic plaster, pink light and phallic arches evoke a sensual archaeology of domestic space. Architecture is reframed as a journey through sediment, ambiguity and revelation.

Intermediate Unit 2, Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, (en, it)

Recorded inside the House of Dust in Rome, this interview recounts its theatrical nature. Dust is called a manifesto: the idea of an architecture built on layers, which leaves users to build their own interpretation. A bourgeois house of familiar elements is destabilised by the sky of earth-coloured rusticated plaster, an allusion to Renaissance grotesques and primordial caves, which a line of light on the ground contradicts. Of the six arches in the living room each leads or does not lead, and the kitchen is reached through a secret passage.

Radio3 Suite, RAI Radio 3, Rome, (en, it)

Composed for the unveiling of the House of Dust, this poem reflects on dust as both material and metaphor – evoking memory, death and the origins of architecture. In opposition to modernity’s sanitised surfaces, dust becomes a symbol of sediment, tactility and transience. The poem was recited by Paula O’Brien in a sonic interpretation featuring her voice and original electronic composition, conceived and produced specifically for this work. The audio performance transforms the text into a ritual of atmosphere and resonance.

House of Dust, Rome, (en, it)

Historiography

2026 – 2013

Effective atmosphere produces a very specific illusion: the sensation of memory without event. One feels they have been there before. But cannot say when.

sanchezquintana.substack.com, Florence, 28 March 2026 (en, it)

Here, the harmony of the whole enters into dialogue with the present. This is also the case for the so-called House of Dust, built in Rome.

Museo Agostino Pepoli, Trapani, 26 May 2023 (en, it)

Conventionally, dust is the grey hues that are dulling a house’s interior experience. But what if we could embrace the imperfections of the building just as we do in humans?

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

, ,

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

Farbe räumlich denken: Positionen, Projekte, Potenziale, Birkhäuser, Berlin/Boston, December 2018, p. 342 (de, en, it)

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

atelierlumira.com, Sydney, 22 January 2018 (en, it)

The earth is disrobed and fractured, crumbled into a fine dust that evolves into forms, forms into space, and space into experiences.

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

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, it)

A jewel of contemporary architecture that captured the attention of his entire profession.

promostyl.com, Paris, 24 November 2017 (en, it)

with

So that is the story behind House of Dust: a project that cannot be rendered.

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

There are interior designers who magically sweep away all established practice and make a name for themselves with a project destined to become a landmark.

Stanze. Altre filosofie dell’abitare, exhib. cat., Marsilio, Milan, September 2016, pp. 169, 283 (en, it)

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, it)

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 (en, it)

Antonino Cardillo focusses on the potential of the ceiling: ‘now they install spotlights, but once there were frescoes’.

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

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, October 2014, p. 64 (en, it)

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 other, as pioneering works tend to be.

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

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, it)

The architect has managed to create a flat with solid materials […] that processes the history of architecture and the very particular history of the city of Rome in its own unique way.

AIT Magazin, No. 3/14, Leinfelden‑Echterdingen, March 2014, pp. 120‑125 (de, en, it)

It is a hopeful piece that suggests that architecture still holds the power to awaken our senses and emotions for a deeper, more intimate and fulfilling engagement with the world.

The Journal of Architecture, vol. 19, no. 1, Royal Institute of British Architects, London, January 2014, p. 15 (en, it)

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 December 2013 (en, it)

The architecture creates a calm, almost alien atmosphere in Rome, with intimate rooms hidden behind barely visible doors and a play of texture and light that unfolds a sequence of unusual atmospheres.

thelavishworld.com, Antwerpen, 19 November 2013 (en, it)

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, November 2013, p. 58 (en, it)

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, October – November 2013, p. 42 (en, es, it)

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, 28 October 2013, pp. 4, 50‑55, cover (en, it)

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 September 2013 (en, it)

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, August 2013 (en, it)

For the architect, architecture becomes interesting where it ‘becomes invisible or hides something’ and exists on the border ‘to the dream’ – with his House of Dust he has precisely realised this into reality.

designlines.de, BauNetz, Berlin, 13 August 2013 (de, en, it)

Using the geometric ratio of the golden section, Antonino Cardillo designed House of Dust with a horizontal division that separates living spaces and furniture from the coarse plaster walls and ceilings above.

dezeen.com, London, 5 August 2013 (en, it)

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 (en, it)

The Strand of the Archaic Sea is evoked in the cosmogonic vision of Antonino Cardillo’s House of Dust.

[email], Florence, 14 April 2013 (en, it)

Exhibitions

2023 – 2013

C. G. Jung-Institut Zürich

As part of the seminar ‘Depth architecture – The aesthetic nature of the psyche’ at the C. G. Jung-Institut Zürich, a sequence of sixteen images conceived as imaginal chambers was presented as a silent and solitary exhibition, anticipating the seminar’s themes and the idea of ‘form as the task of the Spirit’. Of the House of Dust the sequence included a single image, the empty hall.

Küsnacht, (de, en, it)

Museo Agostino Pepoli

Following an introduction by anthropologist Rita Cedrini, Antonino Cardillo presented his built works in the lecture ‘An integrative journey’, part of the encounter L’antropologia nell’architettura at the Museo Agostino Pepoli in Trapani. The House of Dust appeared under the title ‘Roman Apartment’.

Trapani, (en, it)

Dessau Institute of Architecture

After an introduction by Professor Johannes Kister, Cardillo interpreted seven images of his architectural works during the lecture ‘A synchronicity of cultures and civilisations’, part of the Dessauer Gespräche series at the Dessau Institute of Architecture, Bauhaus Campus. The House of Dust illustrated the section ‘The cave and things’.

Bauhaus Campus, Dessau, (de, en, it)

Open House Roma

At the invitation of curator Gaia Maria Lombardo, Cardillo guided the visitors through the House of Dust, part of the Open House Roma 2023 program. The work also celebrates the opening day of the Festival by also hosting the first of nine Nine by Night aperitifs.

House of Dust, Rome, – (en, it)

Open House Roma

At the invitation of curator Gaia Maria Lombardo, Alfredo Vattimo’s guided tours of the House of Dust, part of the Open House Roma 2021 program.

House of Dust, Rome, – (en, it)

Istituto Luce Cinecittà

At the invitation of curator Diego Grammatico, Cardillo talked about his relationship between video games and architecture in the lecture ‘From Zak McKracken to House of Dust’, part of a panel for the Rome Video Game Lab festival of the Istituto Luce at the Cinecittà Studios. He set the House of Dust beside a screen of the video game Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (1988).

Rome, (en, it)

La Triennale di Milano

The curator Beppe Finessi exhibited the House of Dust among the fifty representative Italian interior architecture projects from 1925 to 2016, part of the Stanze. Altre filosofie dell’abitare exhibition at the Palazzo dell’Arte of the Triennale di Milano.

Palazzo dell’Arte, Milan, – (en, it)

Architectural Association School of Architecture

At the invitation of Professors Ana Araujo and Takero Shimazaki, and student Alexandra Savtchenko-Belskaia, Cardillo presented his recent project in Rome at the lecture House of Dust and supervised the field trip to Sicily, part of The Language of Flowers, the 2013 Intermediate Unit 2 course of the Architectural Association School of Architecture.

Sicily/London, – (en, it)

Publications

2025 – 2010

Work texts

  • , ‘’, Open House Roma, 11th edition, ed. Gaia Maria Lombardo, Rome, May 2023, pp. 68, 168.
  • , ‘’, Open House Roma, area 3, ed. Gaia Maria Lombardo, Rome, Oct. 2021, p. 16.
  • , ‘’, hicarquitectura.com, ed. Jordi Badia, Barcelona, 9 Jan. 2017.
  • , ‘’, architettura-italiana.com, no. 128, ed. Paolo Antonacci, Rome, 1 Dec. 2016.
  • , ‘’, Architects’ Journal Specification, London, 28 Oct. 2013, pp. 50‑55, cover.
  • , ‘’, worldarchitecturenews.com, ed. Siân Disson, London, 21 Aug. 2013.
  • , , Rome, May 2013, pp. 1‑40. Printed in 250 copies.
  • , , ed. Angel Fanghsien Lin, Rome, Sept. 2010; rev. eds, May 2011, July 2011. Printed in c. 20 copies; web eds, Nov. 2011, .

Theoretical writings

  • , ‘Depth architecture – The aesthetic nature of the psyche’, seminar as part of the Training Programmes in Analytical Psychology, C. G. Jung-Institut Zürich, Küsnacht, 31 Oct. 2025; transcript published on , 31 Oct. 2025.
  • , ‘’ [television programme], Artbox, interviewed by Eleonora Angius, La7, Milan, 6 March 2025; transcript published on , 6 March 2025.
  • , ‘Un percorso d’integrazione’, lecture as part of the encounter , part of the series of cultural events of the Museo Agostino Pepoli, Trapani, 26 May 2023; transcript published on , 20 Sept. 2025.
  • , ‘La grotta e il giardino’, guided visit as part of Open House Roma 2023, curated by Gaia Maria Lombardo, Rome, 20 May 2023; transcript published on , 4 Oct. 2025.
  • , ‘A synchronicity of cultures and civilisations’, lecture as part of the Dessauer Gespräche cur. Johannes Kister, Hochschule Anhalt, Dessau Institute of Architecture, 13 Nov. 2019; transcript published on , 15 April 2023.
  • , ‘Da Zak McKracken a House of Dust’, lecture as part of the Rome Video Game Lab 2019, ed. Diego Grammatico, Istituto Luce Cinecittà, Rome, 11 May 2019; transcript published on , 4 June 2019.
  • , ‘Reality does not exist’, live interview as part of Mitte/Rand Salon, interviewed by Tim Berge, Berlin, 21 Nov. 2017; transcript published on , 6 Oct. 2025.
  • , ‘’, ODDA, no. 11, interviewed by Zurain Imam, New York, Sept. 2016, pp. 426‑427.
  • , ‘’, interviewed by Carol Junqueira, bamboonet.com.br, São Paulo, Aug. 2016.
  • , ‘House of Dust’, lecture as part of Intermediate Unit 2, ed. Alexandra Savtchenko-Belskaia, AA School, London, 20 Nov. 2013; transcript published on , 23 Nov. 2024.
  • , ‘’ [video], ultrafragola.com, ed. Paolo Maria Noseda, Milan, 25 June 2013.
  • , ‘’ [radio programme], Radio3 Suite, interviewed by Andrea Penna, RAI Radio 3, Rome, 6 June 2013.

Bibliography

2026 – 2013

Reception in press and internet

Reception in social media