Rhythm, uniformity, simplicity and texture: four words to bring the face of a 62-home building up to date. Edificio Terra is a proposal for a multi-family building in Benalmádena, in the Santangelo neighbourhood, and the site did not arrive as a blank slate. A 2005 detailed planning study (Estudio de Detalle) had already set the layout, the building lines, the sections and the elevations for this plot, and the proposal was worked up within that framework.
The starting point: a 2005 detailed planning study
The starting point was a planning document that was already seventeen years old. The documentation received from the Town Hall in August 2022 — explanatory report, layout, site plan, building lines, sections and elevations — described the residential scheme according to the criteria of 2005. The plot covers 8,580 m² (8,515 m² according to the Cadastre), with a maximum buildable floor area of 5,832.68 m², the result of a plot ratio of 0.6798 m²/m². That was the framework.
The September 2022 proposal is titled, quite plainly, “proposal to modify the elevations”. It was presented to the client on the 13th as a direct comparison: the south-east elevation from the 2005 detailed planning study on one side and the proposed south-east elevation on the other, on the same board. The stated aim was to modernise the external appearance of a 62-home building.
Rhythm, uniformity, simplicity, texture
The proposed elevation steps down across six levels that follow the fall of the land: +00.00, +01.60, +04.50, +07.40, +10.30 and +13.20. These are the levels shown in the title block of the elevation drawing, and they are what orders the whole scheme.
On that basis, the September 2022 presentation made the case for the façade design on four criteria: rhythm, uniformity, simplicity and texture. The pitched roof is resolved with terraces and a continuous façade, rather than appearing as an object added on top. The materials are solid and textured, with shutters integrated into the plane of the façade. The balconies lose their ornament and gain alignment: one rhythm, one line, right across the elevation. Fewer things, better placed.
The elevation comparison board was finalised in September. The images followed four months later.
Where the project stands today
The move into three dimensions came in January 2023, and it was done in-house. The base drawings were prepared between the 17th and the 19th; on the 23rd two separate 3D models were completed, one for the building and one for the topography; and on the 24th the render scene was set up and the three final views were produced, with their technical render passes and compositing.
Edificio Terra is still a proposal today: it has not been built. In July 2022, when the plot was being studied, the Cadastre still described it as undeveloped land.
Gallery
Project data
- Typology: Multi-family building · collective housing with communal pool
- Use: Residential, multi-family
- Location: Santangelo neighbourhood, Benalmádena (Costa del Sol, Málaga)
- Design year: 2022–2023
- Status: Proposal. Not built
- Units: 62 homes
- Plot area: 8,580 m² (8,515 m² according to the Cadastre)
- Buildable area: 5,832.68 m² of floor area (plot ratio 0.6798 m²/m²), according to the plot’s zoning ordinance sheet
- Client: Private developer
- Klic services: Architectural design, construction supervision, permit management
- Team: Juan A. Goñi Uriarte (COA Málaga no. 1206) and Ruth Buján Varela (COA Málaga no. 1333)
- Modelling and visualisation: Klic Arquitectos, in-house
Other projects in and around Benalmádena
If you are interested in residential architecture in the area, take a look at Casa Maravillas in Benalmádena Costa, Casa Caliza in Benalmádena Pueblo, Casa Leala in Arroyo de la Miel or Casa Olivia in Benalmádena. For more context on the area, read our guide to architecture and housing in Benalmádena.
