antonino cardillo constructs the house of dust in rome

‘house of dust’ by antonino cardillo, rome, italy
image © antonino cardillo
all images courtesy of antonino cardillo

completed in march of 2013, the ‘house of dust’ is the latest completed work by architect antonino cardillo, built in rome, italy. the single family home is divided into two main parts, a public zone characterized by natural earth-toned colors, and private program illuminated by the color pink, both arranged by a classical sense of proportion. the upper portion of the walls and ceiling are rendered in a rough-grain plaster creating a markedly visual texture that serves as an ideal backdrop for natural and artificial light to expose the speckled shadows and highlights until fading away into the space. the envelope’s thick partitions reveal windows and openings, with tapered frames that open daylight into the interior while funneling views out towards the city. the golden ratio dictates the breakdown of each element in the living area at the heart of the project. arches exist over various doorways and in hairline joints embedded in the earthen walls evoking the memory of the renaissance language.

Post by Antonino Cardillo architect.

living room
image © antonino cardillo

‘house of dust’ by antonino cardillo:

‘architecture is dust.
dust that becomes form,
dust transfigured by the mind.

dust is memory so dust is also death.
ancestral memory of death,
dust refers to the beginnings.’

image © antonino cardillo

‘that modernity that disowns sediment,
that shaves walls, that sanitises space;
that modernity that disowns dust,
disowns even death.

a layering of neutral natural tones make up the social areas
image © antonino cardillo

deprived of memory,
and so slave to a credible youth,
ignoring its end, it repeats itself;
without end.’

image © antonino cardillo

‘in this house classical orders
and golden proportions celebrate dust:
angels and choirs have abandoned heaven,
and heaven has adorned itself with earth.’

image © antonino cardillo

the living room is divided by golden ration proportions
image © antonino cardillo

image © antonino cardillo

hallway to the kitchen
image © antonino cardillo

floor plan / level 0

project info:

construction: october 2012 – march 2013
gross floor area: 100 square metres – 1,076 square feet
construction cost: € 150,000 (with furniture)
construction cost per m2: € 1,500/m2 (with furniture)
architect and project manager: antonino cardillo
triumviro tables (in marble and in colours) design: antonino cardillo
client: massimiliano beffa
main contractor: galiani & giorgetti
cement contractor: michele martorana
parquet contractor: style maison
address: rione ludovisi, rome, italy

PRODUCT LIBRARY