Cardillo
Born in Eryx (Sicily), architect Antonino Cardillo studied classical architecture in Rome. There, from 2007 to 2011, he designed seven Imagined Houses which explore the boundaries between ancient and modern languages, all of which were broadly published worldwide. Afterwards, Antonino Cardillo was selected among the thirty finest architects of 2009 by the British Wallpaper* magazine: “Cardillo is one of the most significant architects of our time”, Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers said of him.
In 2012 he was accused of deception by the German Der Spiegel magazine for his hyper-realistic renderings.
The same year, in Rome, near the Villa Borghese park, he began construction of his aesthetic manifesto, the House of Dust. Lending to the space a classical form through this work, Antonino Cardillo reintroduces the themes of the grotto and the arch in the architecture of the present, experimenting with interrupted valences of past in a cohesive whole, rich in meanings. Chosen as one of the fifty works that recount the history of Italian interior architecture at the XXI Triennale di Milano, curator Beppe Finessi said of it: “There are interior designers who magically sweep away all established practice and make a name for themselves with a project destined to became a landmark. We have seen this recently with House of Dust (Rome, 2013).”
This work has been the first of a series of four grottoes inspired in the classical elements of antiquity: earth, water, air, and fire. The other ones are Crepuscular Green (Rome, 2014), Color as a Narrative (London, 2015) and Specus Corallii (Trapani, 2016).
Antonino Cardillo interprets architecture as faculty to transcend the ordinary and his work has been featured in Rotterdam (Chabot Museum), London (John Foxx’s exhibition, Chelsea College of Art, Victoria & Albert Museum, Architectural Association, Sir John Soane’s Museum), Frankfurt am Main (Deutsche Architekturmuseum) and Milan (Palazzo della Triennale).
Cardillo is an architectural practice based in Trapani, Italy.
www.antoninocardillo.com