Crepuscular Green
Antonino Cardillo, [project], Rome,
Scenario
Crepuscular Green is an interior refurbishment of an art gallery. The use of colour and texture is inspired by the opening scene of Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold, which describes a greenish dawn as seen from the depths of the river.
This work was made on a low budget with one builder. The poverty of means applied here relates to the idea of architecture being a faculty to transcend the ordinary.
Like a green golden grotto, a rusticated vault envelopes the upper part of the room, rendering a trilithon schema on the backdrop. Ahead, a rounded altar features a mirror arched bridge and a suspended slab above. On either side, two black flutes emit diffused lighting. Everything is painted in shades of green. Words of the space relate to each other a cohesive narrative, which aims to unfold the imagination of the inhabitants.
Antonino Cardillo, Crepuscular Green, Mondrian Suite Art Gallery, Rome, 2014. Photography: Antonino Cardillo
Data
Time: March‑Apr. 2014
Place: Mondrian Suite, Via dei Piceni, 41, Rome, Italy
Area: 40 m² (one storey)
Typology: art gallery
Credits
Client: Mondrian Suite
Director: Vincenzo Petrone alias Klaus Mondrian
Architecture design and construction management: Antonino Cardillo
Furniture design: Antonino Cardillo
Photography: Antonino Cardillo
Text: Ana Araujo and Antonino Cardillo
Constructor: Grigoriu Cicau
Carpenter: Stefano Coacci
Laminate: Abet laminati
Lamp maker: Armand Darot
Thanks to Ana Araujo, Paolo Bedetti, Andrea Paolo Massara, and Vittorio Valenta
References
Antonino Cardillo, ‘A synchronicity of cultures and civilisations’, paper presented to the Dessauer Gespräche, ed. Johannes Kister, Hochschule Anhalt, Dessau Institute of Architecture, 13 Nov. 2019.
Annie Carroll, ‘Our top three favourite works by architect Antonino Cardillo’, atelierlumira.com, Sydney, 22 Jan. 2018.
Antonino Cardillo, ‘Vaults, grottoes, arches and polychromy’, paper presented to the Heinze ArchitekTOUR Kongress, STATION-Berlin, Berlin, 23 Nov. 2017.
Mrinalini Ghadiok, ‘Elemental’, Mondo*Arc India, no. 15, New Delhi, July 2017, pp. 6, 50‑51, 58‑59.
Jeanette Kunsmann, Stephan Burkoff, ‘Architektur und Wahrheit’, DEAR Magazin, no. 1, Berlin, Apr. 2017, pp. 76.
Monica Khemsurov, ‘Saturday selects: week of April 17, 2017’, sightunseen.com, New York, 17 Apr. 2017.
Alice Morby, ‘Antonino Cardillo bases textured all-green gallery interior on Wagner opera’, dezeen.com, London, 17 Apr. 2017. {tags: antonino cardillo, galleries, green, rome}
Pierre Yovanovitch, ‘Nova geração. Narrativas inusitadas’, Bamboo, no. 61, São Paulo, Aug. 2016, p. 33.
Ana Araujo, ‘Da nobis hodie incantum quotidianum’, Design Exchange, vol. 1, no. 12, London, Aug. 2015, pp. 106‑107, 109.
Jeanette Kunsmann, ‘Götterdämmerung in Rom’, designlines.de, BauNetz, Berlin, 24 Feb. 2015.
Christie Bakker, ‘Crepuscular Green by Antonino Cardillo’, frameweb.com, Amsterdam, 15 Nov. 2014.