Altana residential complex, Espartinas, Seville
Four blocks that embrace the slope around a shared garden
How can collective housing settle on a hillside that falls some six metres?
The proposal takes up the difference in level through a sequence of stepped platforms, linked by ramps and banks with a maximum gradient of 8%. Between them, a central garden absorbs the topography, orders the four blocks and gives every home an equal relationship with the landscape.
Espartinas grows across the low hills of the Aljarafe, and the plot on Calle Almanzor makes this plain: some six metres separate its highest and lowest points. On this ground EDDEA has designed and supervised the construction of Residencial Altana, 64 apartments in four blocks around a shared garden, for a company of Grupo Galia. The project was drawn up in 2022, the building permit was granted in May 2023 and construction was completed in 2026.
The slope decides where the blocks stand, how the shared space steps down and how each home looks out over the landscape.
The hillside as the basis of the layout
The plot slopes steeply. EDDEA takes the ground itself as the basis for the layout: the position of the blocks and of the open space both derive from the shape of the hillside.
Residencial Altana also forms part of a long-standing relationship with Espartinas, where the studio has carried out the urban planning, infrastructure design and land readjustment of sector CG-4 and the 75 single-family houses of its block R-2, and with Grupo Galia itself, for which it has designed the homes in Castilleja de Guzmán and the Galia Puerto offices in Seville and Galia Center in Málaga.
Stepped platforms and four blocks
The layout is resolved through stepped platforms that follow the shape of the land: a sequence of planes at different levels linked by gently sloping ramps and banks that never exceed 8%. On this base, four independent blocks are set around the perimeter of a large central void, which structures the whole scheme and towards which every home is oriented, with equivalent views and relationship to the outdoors.
The gaps between the four blocks let air and light pass through the complex, while the central garden keeps the shared space whole. Highly economical in its layout, the scheme concentrates its quality on the relationship between inside and outside.
A garden that absorbs the slope
The central garden takes up the stepping of the ground and holds the development’s shared amenities—clubhouse, swimming pool and children’s play area—reachable from every entrance core. The four blocks are organised into eight entrance cores, with an average of eight homes each.
The access system distinguishes two separate pedestrian entrances, a vehicle entrance and a dedicated ramp to the basement, keeping pedestrians and vehicles apart. The basement adds 3,968 m² built, with 112 parking spaces and storage rooms, compared with 11,170 m² above ground. The landscaping and infrastructure works cover nearly 7,900 m² of the plot.
