Michele De Lucchi
A New Vision
In 2022, Italian publisher Adriano Salani Editore unveiled a new edition of the Harry Potter series unlike any before it. Gone were the traditional character-focused covers—this time, the spotlight shifted to the settings, the architecture, and the atmospheres that shape the magical world. Behind this bold reinterpretation stood Michele De Lucchi, one of Italy’s most celebrated architects and designers, working in collaboration with his studio, AMDL CIRCLE.
Together with illustrator Andreas Rocha and type designers from the Swiss firm Dinamo, De Lucchi created covers that reimagined key Harry Potter locations as visionary architectural icons. For De Lucchi, the Harry Potter saga was nothing less than an "exemplary architecture of words," and his task was to build the physical spaces that reflected its emotional and thematic depth.
A Hogwarts of Stone and Sky
For Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, De Lucchi and his team selected the iconic Hogwarts castle as their architectural focus. Rather than drawing inspiration from the films, they looked to real-world Gothic abbeys of Tuscany and central Italy.
The result was a sculptural vision: a massive, grounded structure with spires that soar into the sky—solid, majestic, and ancient. In this reinterpretation, Hogwarts feels both fantastical and grounded, embodying the stability and aspiration of the magical school where it all begins.
The Stacked Wonder of the Burrow
In Chamber of Secrets, the setting shifts to the Burrow, home of the Weasley family. Described in the books as a jumbled patchwork of additions, De Lucchi reimagined it as a totem-like stack of timber volumes, balanced by magic and love.
The design drew on the rustic imagery of Cataste—woodpiles that symbolize both warmth and impermanence. The Burrow became a protective, nurturing tower, defying gravity and architectural logic, just like the family that lives within.
The Monolith of Azkaban
For Prisoner of Azkaban, De Lucchi took on the forbidding fortress of Azkaban. His version, stark and geometric, was inspired by the real-life Medea Hotel in Batumi. The monolithic tower rises with brutal precision, its cuboid volumes stacked in jagged succession.
Here, the architecture becomes a psychological metaphor. Cold, isolating, and inescapable, Azkaban is no longer a background—it's a character, one whose presence radiates through the cover in shadow and stone.
A Stadium of Trees
With Goblet of Fire, the narrative exploded into international spectacle, and De Lucchi responded in kind. The Quidditch World Cup stadium graces the cover, imagined as a travelling pavilion inspired by the Zero Pavilion created for Expo 2015 in Milan.
Delicate yet dramatic, the slender towers evoke a forest of totems—light, flexible, and impermanent. The stadium can be disassembled, moved, and reassembled, reflecting a more sustainable future for architecture, even in the magical world.
A Hut in Harmony
In Order of the Phoenix, the cover takes us to the edges of the Forbidden Forest and to the home of a gentle giant. Hagrid’s hut becomes a tribute to simplicity, nature, and manual craftsmanship.
Thatched and modest, it’s inspired by De Lucchi’s own Pagliai—haystack structures made by layering natural materials. It’s not a grand piece of architecture, but it is essential: humble, grounded, and full of heart.
A Tower of Wind
For Half-Blood Prince, De Lucchi chose the Astronomy Tower—site of one of the series’ most pivotal and tragic moments. His design took inspiration from the Air Tower, a pavilion created for the Milan Triennale’s Arch&Art project.
Slender, narrowing, and ethereal, the structure becomes a symbol of transience and reflection. Just as Dumbledore falls from its height, the tower lifts the viewer’s gaze skyward—a contemplative space built of silence and air.
A Bridge Between Worlds
The final book, Deathly Hallows, closes with a battle—but De Lucchi’s focus is not on combat. Instead, it’s on the bridge that connects Hogwarts to the Forbidden Forest, a passage crossed by heroes and villains alike.
Inspired by his own Bridge of Peace in Tbilisi, the cover features a gently arched span, topped with a sinuous, translucent roof. In this image, the bridge becomes a metaphor—not just for connection, but for transition. From life to death, childhood to adulthood, reader to believer.
A World Beyond Characters
For De Lucchi and AMDL CIRCLE, the true magic of Harry Potter lies not in individual faces, but in the spaces they inhabit. In choosing to place architecture at the center of each cover, they offered readers something profound: room to imagine.
By stepping away from iconic characters and focusing on the built world of Rowling’s saga, they gave long-time fans something new and expansive, and newcomers a unique entry point into the magic. Their designs ask readers not just to look—but to dwell, to explore, and to dream.
And perhaps that’s the greatest spell of all.