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Architects Directory 2009

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Antonino Cardillo

Italy

BIOGRAPHY AND PRACTICE

A born and bred Sicilian with a degree from the Palermo University, studying under architecture critic and historian Iolanda Lima, Antonino Cardillo set up his own office in 2004 in Rome. Hugely influenced by his professor – "I learned that in space, relations between things are more important than the things themselves", he says – he also feels that history is one of his bigger inspirations, believing that without memory it is impossible to build for the present. Additionally he sees good architecture as an element which can unite people, rather than divide them.

THE HOUSE

Inspired by large private garden fences spread across Marrakech's dry plains, Cardillo's residential proposal is called Lime and Limpid Green House. Exploring for his design the history of courtyard houses – from the palaces of Akhenaton, to works by Mies van der Rohe - he was challenged to define the notions of "external" and "internal" as well as the relationship between them. The result was a house with a large patio, which reminds the cities of the pre-modern Mediterranean.

THE FUTURE

He is currently designing a private residence in Melbourne for an Australian client. Cardillo feels that often architecture is too intimate a procedure to share and explain, so he cherry picks his clients and the projects he will work on – even though he admits that his architecture may not be right for everyone. "In my houses the interactions with environmental events such as sun, rain, wind and sounds are more important than objects or furniture" he explains.

www.antoninocardillo.com