EL PAÍS - Behind the metal mask

In Seville had to be. Very close to the Betis football stadium. In the district of Heliopolis, created to celebrate the Universal Exhibition of 1929 with its parks, avenues, grid bourgeois mansions, and cottages, away from the hot environment of La Giralda cathedral. There was where executive Carmen Ortega Sastre went to live, aware that the Andalusian capital deserved a date with the contemporary. Thus began her quest for everything -holos, Greek- starting with a blind trust in the architecture studio MGM (Jose Morales, Sara de Giles and Juan Gonzalez Mariscal). Although the result is already the subject of many articles in design magazines, the owner does not relinquish the effort to cross boundaries with her little hotel of intelligiblework and the discreet charm of domesticity. It is obvious that with seven rooms and a conservatory dining pergola, Holos is a unique hotel in Seville. True to the tenets of Le Corbusier, the exterior of the old mansion has been arched by a “ promenade” sheet of anodized aluminum, very inspiring to walk through and to reside in the freshness of the cascades of striped light it provides. In fact, in this shade of fractal geometry breakfast is served “a la carte” commencing the pampering of Ortega and her small brigade. A flower bed of white pebbles reinforces the Zen atmosphere one breathes. This intelligent violation of regionalist architectural order which identifies the neighborhood grows quiter in the interior of the building. There have not been requests put to MGM to invent another way to enjoy the hotel. Except the boxed stairwell in first metal and then wood, the interior follows a law of minimalism: minima, very careful decor, birch and beech paneling on the walls and floors, signature furniture, mattresses and white tempting bedding, all intended to radiate tranquility. The outside light interferes, however, in the serenity of the bedroom. It enters in torrents, but at times unexpectedly, violently or weak because of inadequate placement of the windows. Upstairs a nice terrace with sun loungers overlooking the residential minarets of Heliopolis awaits. At night when the moon passes over Seville on the palm trees of Maria Luisa Park and the bars on the avenue regain their bustle, this vantage point becomes an Eden for liturgical snacks and conversation with Mrs. Ortega. Fernando Gallardo.