Architecture is a dream

Sipane K-Hoh

In 2015, in London, the Sicilian architect Antonino Cardillo presented an installation that remains vivid in the memory. A look back at a pared‑down work that reveals itself as an ode to architecture.

In one of the Georgian streets of the English capital, behind a typical gate, lies a space that is anything but ordinary. According to its architect, it is a “grotto”. Indeed, on closer inspection, the rough walls and artisanal masonry evoke the impression of an ancient cavern. Yet what we encounter is a scenography intelligently orchestrated by the architect Antonino Cardillo.

To understand his gesture, one must turn to the architect’s website, where he unveils an atypical project in which several senses intersect. As a tribute to traditional construction, the artist presents walls painted using age‑old techniques. Inside the ‘grotto’, the décor is minimalist, and the street‑facing openings choreograph shadow and light. On the ceiling, one finds globes whose imperfections are visible to the naked eye, suspended by black cords. An unusual universe in which emptiness becomes one of the components. An invitation to focus on the message this installation seeks to convey.

Unexpected as it may be, this architectural work expresses a form of dualism in which the ordered forms of the container collide with the imperfections of the contents. On his website, the architect offers a detailed exposition, presenting among other things a singular project in which, despite the author’s explanations, each of us will find our own interpretation. Halfway between art and architecture, the journey into this grotto signed by Antonino Cardillo becomes a moment suspended in time.

• Sipane K-Hoh, ‘L’architecture est un songe’, detailsdarchitecture.com, Paris, 28 Nov. 2016 [French].