Ellipse 1501 House

Image, courtesy of Antonino Cardillo.

Project details

• Project Name: Ellipse 1501 House
• Client: Private
• Project Type: Single family house
• Principal Designer/s: Antonino Cardillo
• Date of commencement of project: March 2007
• Location of site: Hills near Rome, Italy
• Built-up Area: 220 m2

Image, courtesy of Antonino Cardillo.

Near a rocky slope behind a thick blanket of pines lives a house in the shape of a tower. It's not round but its geometric set-up dilates toward east and west to welcome in the low, warm extended light of the sun at dawn and dusk.

A double wall made from progressive monolithic castings of lightweight concrete develops the perimeter of an ellipse, supporting, above it, a stretched out slanting cover. In the internal space between the two walls an ample interspace comprises the accessory area (stairs to the bedroom, bathroom, boiler, storerooms, cupboard) serving the occupants of the house and contributing to stabilising the temperature of the large central hall.

Image, courtesy of Antonino Cardillo.

Inside, the original compositional set-up is reinterpreted by means of a cross-sectional system, rotated in plan relative to the largest axes of the ellipse. It co-ordinates several stereo metric spaces including the guest bedroom on the ground floor and the open plan bedroom on the first floor.

Image, courtesy of Antonino Cardillo.

All around, deep excavations in the outside wall suggest unexpected fleeting routes towards the rocks and the wood on the outside breaking up the sky into a multitude of quadrants. Over the course of days, nights and seasons the thick reveals of the windows register the changing colours of the celestial hemisphere. Thus the light of the sky makes a mutable architecture articulating the passing of time, so the light colours the space and changes with itself. In supporting these changes, the fabric remains in its original essence: colourless or tending to grey.

Image, courtesy of Antonino Cardillo.

From a large window - almost a gate on the sky over the southerly entrance - the night can be perceived, desiring; the moon dilated and enlarged.

Credits

• Text and Images, courtesy of Antonino Cardillo