Homes, Santa Bárbara, Seville
Four industrialised buildings around a communal garden in Seville's future Aerospace District
How do you industrialise a 313-home scheme while keeping the variety and quality of every home?
The proposal opens the block up into four buildings around a communal garden and reduces the whole scheme to two types of entrance core. That standardisation makes the prefabricated timber-panel façades and prefabricated bathrooms possible, and leaves room for every home to have a terrace, a good orientation and a clear separation between day and night areas.
East of Seville, between Sevilla Este and the airport, Santa Bárbara is one of the city's major growth areas and the core of the future Aerospace District.
The project returns to land the practice itself planned. In 2006 EDDEA drew up the urban plan for the district, recognised at the 2007 ASPRIMA awards, with a large park along the canal and green strips reaching right up to the homes.
Beside one of those strips, facing the main avenue, EDDEA is designing 313 homes around a large communal garden, with repeated, workshop-made components put at the service of the quality of each home.
A block opened up into four buildings
The planning rules limit the length of façades and require almost every home to face the sun. The project responds by opening the block into four independent buildings, two linear and two on the corners, around a central garden with a swimming pool, children's play area, gym and gourmet room.
The gaps between the volumes bring light and air to the whole plot, open diagonal views towards the surrounding green spaces and give most homes a dual aspect. Shops occupy the ground floors facing the avenue. On the corners, professional offices and homes with private gardens complete the programme. A single basement houses the parking and storage rooms, with access from the secondary streets to keep the avenue clear.
Two core types and timber façades
The whole scheme is resolved with just two types of entrance core, one linear and one for the corners, each serving four homes per floor, most of them with a dual aspect. That repetition orders the structure and prepares the building for industrialisation: the façades are built from prefabricated timber-frame panels and the bathrooms arrive on site already finished.
The homes, with two to four bedrooms, all have a terrace or private outdoor space and separate day and night areas. In the penthouses, the kitchen is integrated into the living room and the terraces become more generous.
