Cardillo

Off Club

Via di Casal Bertone, 64, Rome,

The ‘Off Club’ (now Dahab Restaurant) is a transformative nightclub in Rome. Merging cinematic, ritual and primordial influences, the design reconfigures space through dual hospitality zones within a quadrangular enclosure, accented by twin black granite altars and a double grey façade—redefining architecture as a transfiguration of the human

Off Club
Off Club

Interpretation

Natural man is not a ‘self’—he is the mass and a particle in the mass, collective to such a degree that he is not even sure of his own ego. That is why since time immemorial he has needed the transformation mysteries to turn him into ‘something’, and to rescue him from the animal collective psyche, which is nothing but a variété. — Carl Gustav Jung

Off Club reunites the cinema of Kubrick and De Palma, Grand Theft Auto IV, Miami Art Deco District, the Escher’s perspectives, Byzantine iconostases, and Japanese folding screens. This work continues the investigation of Primordial Images presenting an ambience that reunites the sensorial plane of tactility with the intuitive, which projects onto reality the psyche of the observer. The space between the elements recalls the pattern of a mandala and the last works of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe—the theme of the double and the one divided. The two rooms devoted to hospitality form a raumplan six metres in height. Extending right round, a quadrangular enclosure sixteen metres wide unifies the duplex space framing the base of the Vault of the Golden Shadows. The latter, covering the space within the enclosure, is excavated at the centre by a black apsidal shape. Beneath this centre, a false scale palazzo encloses the contents and functions of the two bars. Constructed of two twin altars 7.22 metres long in black granite, both the bars—mixology on the upper floor and sushi on the lower—counterpoint the opposing sides of the palazzo towards the two rooms. With its double grey façade the palazzo carries out the apotropaic function of giving faces to the space. An iconostasis made from two twin black monoliths with elongated copper arches masks the face of the palazzo towards the road. Through the fissure created by the separation of the monoliths a view of figures is revealed. Arches, rhombuses, triangles and discs seem to evoke archaic rituals. Here, ancient and modern syntaxes find conciliation. Thus, this outline of physical and psychic scapes represents the idea of the architecture as transfiguration of the human.


References

  • , Psychologische Typen, Rascher & Cie. Verlag, Zurich, 1921; It. ed. Cesare Luigi Musatti and Luigi Aurigemma, Tipi Psicologici, Bollati Boringhieri, Turin, 2011.
  • , Psychologie und Alchemie, Rascher & Cie. Verlag, Zurich, 1944; En. ed. Richard Francis Carrington Hull, Psychology and alchemy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1968, p. 81.

Data

  • Time: February–October 2017 (design), October 2017–June 2018 (construction), June 2018 (photography), September 2018 (text), December 2018–February 2022 (Off Club activity), September 2023–October 2024 (Anima Restaurant and Club activity), March 2025– (Dahab Ristorante activity)
  • Place: Dahab Ristorante, Via di Casal Bertone, 64, Rome, Italy
  • Area: 450 m² (three storeys)
  • Typology: Nightclub
Off Club
Off Club
Off Club
Off Club
Off Club
Off Club
Off Club
Off Club
Off Club logotype

Credits

  • Architecture, construction management: Antonino Cardillo
  • Clients: Massimo Di Persio; with Matteo Di Persio, Francesco Curcio, Remo Curcio
  • Building contractor: Roberto Federici
  • Masonry: Vincenzo Amato, Adrian Ciacan, Marius Ioan Frunzà, Emanuele Venturini
  • Logistics: Cristiano Massariello, Emanuele Zappone
  • Painting: Andras Marton Mihaly
  • Electrical system: Fabio Gabriele
  • Plumbing system: Stefan Minciuna
  • Granites: Ghirardi Stone Contractor
  • Windows: Claudio Carboni
  • Parquet: Gabriel Grama
  • Air system: Alessio Lanzani
  • Paintings: Sikkens (via Vito Caruso)
  • Curtains: Pasquale Lo Guercio
  • Mirrors: Nazzareno Garofani
  • Bar counter, tables, furniture design: Antonino Cardillo
  • Sofa design: Piero Lissoni, Living (via Mario Dejana)
  • Chair: Busnelli (via Luca Anzellotti)
  • Door handles: GIL (via Handles)
  • Balcony lamp: Armand Darot
  • Stair lamp: 1970s Murano glass from Palermo
  • Luminator: (via Giuseppe Picconi)
  • Photography, text: Antonino Cardillo
  • Translation: Charles Searson
  • Thanks to Klaus Mondrian

Testimonial

2018

Part of a grander scheme

Well done, it is truly beautiful architecture.

[email], Wallpaper*, London, 27 June 2018. (en)

Anthology

2025–2018

Postmodern in spirit

An impression of theatricality emerges, as does spirituality (psyche), which the architect references—rich and intellectually demanding.

Architekturführer Rom, Stuttgart/London, 15 Feb. 2025, p. 368. (de)

Typology: Nightclub

These hieratic forms create an atmosphere of slightly menacing mystery—one could expect a Mithraic rite to begin at any moment.

The Architectural Review, no. 1470, London, April 2020, p. 44. (en, it)

Architecture of the unconscious

Inspired by Swiss Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, he is constantly reaching out for the ‘architecture of the unconscious’.

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

Archetypes of imagery

This is a strong reference to the archetype, one which is considered as the need to return to the origin of things.

Abitare la Terra, no. 49, dir. Paolo Portoghesi, Rome, June 2019, p. 38. (en, it)

@offclubrome (IT)

This is the most beautiful restaurant in Rome.

@radja_nainggolan_l4, Instagram, Rome, 4 March 2019. (it)

Saturday selects

The Sicilian architect Antonino Cardillo just unveiled his latest masterpiece, the Off Club in Rome.

sightunseen.com, New York, 22 September 2018. (en)

The symmetry of the night

A dark paradise of shadows, mirrors and symmetries.

DEAR Magazin, no. 4/18, Berlin, December 2018, p. 34. (de, en, it)

Roman empire

A long-time Wallpaper* collaborator, Antonino Cardillo’s latest work marks a defining moment for the Sicilian architect.

wallpaper.com, London, 17 September 2018. (en, it)

Exhibitions

2024–2019

Open House Roma 2024

Gaia Maria Lombardo (cur.)

At the invitation of curator Gaia Maria Lombardo, Andrea Paolo Massara guides the visitors through the Off Club project of Cardillo, part of the ‘Open House Rome 2024’ program.

Open House Rome, Rome, –.

Inside/Out

Yara Boulos, Riccardo Rizzetto (cur.)

At the invitation of the students of the Royal College of Art, Cardillo talked about ’The making of Rome’s Off Club’ in the Inside/Out series curated by representatives Yara Boulos and Riccardo Rizzetto of the Interior Design department.

Royal College of Art, London, .

Publications

2025–2018 (selected)