Antonino Cardillo

Antonino Cardillo (born 1975) is an Italian architect whose work explores the relationship between material form, atmosphere and psychological depth. Critics have noted how his interiors use colour, texture and light to construct spaces that oscillate between the real and the imagined. His projects have been discussed in international architectural and academic publications, and he has presented his research in institutions including the Architectural Association, the Royal College of Art and the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich.

Body of work Born in Sicily, Cardillo studied architecture at the University of Palermo under the critic and historian Antonietta Iolanda Lima, graduating before establishing his practice in Rome in 2004. His early architectural projects – including a proposal for the regeneration of Birnbeck Island in Somerset – were covered in international design media. His work gained broader visibility with his inclusion in the Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2009.

Public projects Since 2009, Cardillo has created temporary installations and commercial interiors for Wallpaper*, in collaboration with editor-at-large Suzanne Trocmé. These include a boutique for Sergio Rossi (2010) in Milan, centred on a timber‑and‑velvet, cathedral‑like structure within the existing store; the installation was later featured in Thames & Hudson's Art/Fashion in the 21st Century. The Postmodern Cafe (2011) for the London Design Festival formed part of the Victoria & Albert Museum exhibition Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–1990. The Illuminum perfumery flagship shop (2015) in Mayfair, London, was described by Dezeen as an "Apollonian and Dionysian grotto" coated in volcanic‑ash plaster and conceived as a neutral backdrop for the brand's fragrances; the project is also discussed in Jieling Xiao's monograph Scented Spaces, where it is presented as a case study in olfactory architecture, highlighting its grotto‑like metaphor, the use of volcanic‑ash plaster, and its passive scentonics strategy integrating materiality and smell into the spatial narrative.

Crepuscular Green (2014), a monochromatic gallery interior in Rome, was interpreted by Ana Araujo as evoking ancient ritual settings and emotional archetypes. Pierre Yovanovitch described the project as marked by a distinctive tension and atmospheric intensity, calling it his favourite among Cardillo's interiors in his 2016 selection for the Brazilian magazine Bamboo.

Specus Corallii (2016), the transformation of the historic Sala Laurentina in Trapani Cathedral, was described by Dezeen as drawing on shell and coral imagery. It also noted that the result evokes a "mysterious underwater dimension". A review in BauNetz Interior Design by Jeanette Kunsmann characterised Cardillo as an "architect of the classical school", noting how the project continues his cycle of elemental interiors and how its introverted spaces construct a self‑contained narrative world. She highlighted the role of symmetry, the contrast between coral‑coloured stone and textured plaster, and the way light and shadow structure the spatial experience. Abitare la Terra interpreted the space as a "haven of memory", situating it within local traditions of coral craftsmanship and rupestrian architecture.

Paradiso (2018), the restaurant Off Club in Rome, was described by Wallpaper* as a cosmopolitan environment combining ancient and modern geometries, rough plaster surfaces and monolithic forms. Sight Unseen highlighted its "golden shadows and black mirrors", noting the recurring textures characteristic of Cardillo's work. The project was later included in The Architectural Review typology on nightclubs. The architectural guide Architekturführer Rom, published by Edition Axel Menges, presented Off Club as one of the representative interior works of contemporary Rome, noting how the city's millennia‑old stratification has shaped interior architecture into a distinctive and historically rooted discipline within its urban fabric.

Residential projects Nomura House (2010), a two‑storey timber residence built on a hillside plot in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, was noted by critic Massimo Locci for its early exploration of Cardillo's interest in geometric experimentation and in the dialogue between Japanese domestic traditions and Mediterranean spatial themes.

House of Dust (2013), a domestic interior in Rome, was described by Dezeen as featuring a rough, grotto-like vaulted ceiling and a sequence of arches creating a cavernous spatial atmosphere, noting that its horizontal division was designed using the geometric ratio of the golden section. Architects' Journal characterised it as an essay in "design as theatre", while the Architectural Association highlighted its immersive use of pozzolana-based plasters and modulated light. The project was later included in the XXI Triennale di Milano exhibition Rooms. Novel Living Concepts.

Elogio del grigio (2023), a house in Castiglione delle Stiviere conceived as a miniature palazzo articulated through chiaroscuro spaces, was described by Dezeen as a "miniature palazzo" shaped by textured surfaces and calibrated light. Yellowtrace emphasised its psychological thresholds of colour, mass and void. A review in BauNetz noted that the building's austere exterior recalls the Haus Wittgenstein in Vienna, adding a further layer to its play of ambiguity.

Themes Several critics, including Ana Araujo, have linked Cardillo's work to themes of ritual, myth, atmosphere and psychological depth. In an essay for The Journal of Architecture, Araujo analysed House of Dust through the lens of haptic perception, drawing on Alois Riegl's notion of Nahsicht to describe how the project intensifies material proximity and blurs the boundary between seeing and touching. She argues that this produces an embodied, tactile mode of visual experience rooted in phenomenology. In a subsequent essay, she also interpreted several of his interiors in terms of ritual and the "poetics of everyday enchantment", suggesting that their atmospheres evoke archetypal settings where images lose historical specificity to become emotional deposits in the unconscious, drawing on modes of spatial symbolism.

According to the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich, Cardillo has engaged with Analytical Psychology and Jungian ideas in academic seminars, including a lecture titled "Depth Architecture – The Aesthetic Nature of the Psyche", where he discussed the relationship between architecture, depth and the psyche, drawing in part on the archetypal psychology of James Hillman. In a conversation published in L'Arca International, Paolo Portoghesi noted parallels between Carl Gustav Jung's notion of "primordial images" and themes he identified in Cardillo's work.

Institutions such as the Royal College of Art and the Rome Video Game Lab have discussed his work in relation to the narrative structures of video games: a lecture at the Royal College of Art referenced Grand Theft Auto IV, while at the Rome Video Game Lab he took part in a panel discussion at the Cinecittà Studios exploring the relationship between architecture, video games and digital narrative forms.

Exhibitions Cardillo has presented his work in academic and cultural institutions. In 2015 his sculptural series Min was exhibited at the Sir John Soane's Museum in London, where Ana Araujo discussed its exploration of ritual, materiality and everyday enchantment.

He delivered lectures at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, the Rome Video Game Lab, held at the Cinecittà Studios, and at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich. and Wallpaper*'s Future 30 show at the Chabot Museum during the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (2009).

His works were also featured in the architecture festival Open House Roma. House of Dust was included in the 2021 and 2023 editions, while Off Club – later renamed Anima Restaurant and Club – was selected for the 2024 edition.

Reception Cardillo's work has been discussed in architectural, design and academic publications. Casabella devoted an essay by Francesco Dal Co to his work, characterising his architecture as operating "in the interval where the improbable becomes verisimilar" and proposing domestic spaces where appearance and form coincide. Architects' Journal described House of Dust as an essay in "design as theatre", while the XXI Triennale di Milano situated the project within broader histories of interior architecture.

In the 2025 edition of the architectural guide Architekturführer Rom, Stefan Grundmann situated Off Club within a lineage running from Le Corbusier to Carlo Scarpa, emphasising its sharply modelled plaster surfaces, autonomous geometric fragments, theatrical staging and psychological resonance. Designer Lara Bohinc has also mentioned Cardillo as one of the architects, alongside figures such as Carlo Scarpa, whose work informs her creative research.

Pierre Yovanovitch also cited Cardillo as the most radical architect in his selection of four emerging international designers for the Brazilian magazine Bamboo, noting the narrative coherence and expressive force of his interiors, particularly Crepuscular Green. while LS:N Global discussed it within the design‑direction study Anti‑Materials. Texworld's Spring/Summer 2015 trend book featured the project in the section "Architectural Cocoon", and the Noroo Pantone Colour Institute, a colour‑forecasting institute affiliated with Pantone, included it in the "Floating & Ambiguity" chapter of its colour‑forecasting volume Cover All 2018–2019.

Selected works The following projects represent a selection of Cardillo's built works. House of Dust (2013), Rome Colour as a Narrative (2015), London Specus Corallii (2016), Trapani Off Club (2018), Rome Elogio del grigio (2023), Castiglione delle Stiviere