Glass Brick Renovation in Cagliari Reimagines Domestic Space

Federico Cartamantiglia, with Fabrizio Carboni and Enrico Manca, renovated a mid-century apartment in Cagliari, Sardinia, using glass brick walls instead of open-plan demolition. The project, Casa Terra e Vidru, uses lime plaster tinted with local red earth, custom ash wood furniture, and glass bricks that diffuse light and maintain privacy. The design avoids nostalgia, treating glass brick as a structural and atmospheric filter. The terracotta envelope shifts color with daylight, while the monochrome interior is balanced by ash wood cabinetry. The apartment turns inward, building geography from Sardinian materials rather than views. Cartamantiglia's approach resists the heavy-light binary, maintaining tension between mass and transparency. The project is compared to Punto Zero's Casa Alkymia in Rome for similar material opposition.