EDDEA celebrates its 30th anniversary at a major event with leaders from the real estate sector and public institutions
EDDEA celebrated its 30th anniversary at a well-attended event that brought together leading business figures and executives from Spain’s real estate and construction sectors, as well as many institutional representatives, among them the president of the Port of Seville, Rafael Carmona; the Andalusian Regional Government’s deputy minister for Economy, Finance and European Funds, Amelia Martínez; the president of the CES, Miguel Rus; the dean of the Seville Association of Architects, Nuria Canivell; the managing director of Ceacop, Arturo Coloma; the director of the Higher Technical School of Architecture, Ramón Pico; and the head of Seville City Council’s Urban Planning Department, Fernando Vázquez.
Vázquez himself spoke during the event, explaining that “I do so not in my capacity as head of Urban Planning, but because I have the honour of having been EDDEA’s very first intern”. In a speech peppered with humour, he recalled the studio’s early days: “The office was in a damp basement, with a team that aspired to build a leading firm but had very limited means.”
“Over time,” he added, “we grew and, little by little, EDDEA became what it is today: an internationally recognised firm that is, and has been, home to many of the finest professionals in our country.”
Journalist Simón Onrubia, managing director of the business association ProSevillaPort, then took the floor, describing EDDEA as a pioneer in fields such as internationalisation, industrialised construction, new technologies applied to architecture, new models of city and urban planning, and port–city integration.
As examples, he pointed to the development of a range of software programmes and innovative tools, and the creation of the think tank Citythinking together with Galia. Among the most emblematic projects outside Spain, he cited the ‘Pop City’ in Taiwan and the so-called New Moscow, a neighbourhood built from scratch in the Russian capital that now has thousands of homes.
Closer to home, EDDEA’s professionals are the authors of Seville’s future New Port District (Nuevo Distrito Portuario), the Museo Íbero, Casa Forestier and Galia Puerto, as well as large residential schemes, housing estates and luxury homes – but also of subsidised housing developments “with a level of architecture and quality rarely seen in schemes of this kind”, he noted.
EDDEA’s beginnings
To close the event – held at the firm’s premises in Seville – its two co-founders, José María de Cárdenas and Luis Ybarra, looked back on their first steps together after meeting at the School of Architecture.
In his remarks, De Cárdenas stressed that “reaching these 30 years has been possible thanks to the four pillars that have guided our work: what they don’t teach you at the School of Architecture, doing the opposite of everyone else, working harder than the rest, and surrounding ourselves with the best professionals, clients and suppliers”.
Ybarra, for his part, recalled the studio’s first projects outside Spain and paid tribute to EDDEA’s “huge and excellent” team, as well as to the former colleagues and partners who have at some point been part of the firm’s history. He also thanked clients for their trust over the years, and their families, present at the event, for their support. “Our most sincere thanks. It is an honour and a source of pride that you have accompanied us on this long journey,” he concluded.
Several media outlets, including ABC and the specialist magazine ‘Andalucía Inmobiliaria’, covered the firm’s anniversary celebration. The links to the articles are available here:
‘Andalucía Inmobiliaria’ (online edition)
The EDDEA team
Thirty years on, the studio is made up of more than forty professionals. Meet the EDDEA team.