‘Basil’ residential complex in Amsterdam

Living space stacked between urbanity and tranquillity

In the Amsterdam district of Westerpark West, the “Basil residential project is a new building block created in the process of transforming major bank ING’s former corporate campus. Elephant's design combines a high degree of urban density with open, community-oriented architecture.

Four buildings huddle around a green inner courtyard to create a semi-enclosed block that provides refuge and urban orientation in equal measure. The buildings comprise 96 modular structural units that bear a resemblance to stacked tables.

A notable aspect is the table edge: located at hip height throughout, it functions simultaneously as an inner window sill, an outer parapet and a roof edge. This edge feature also helps to prevent the spread of fire. The table top itself is designed in such a way that these various functions are uniformly and consistently expressed.

The facades are clad in green, custom-designed and prefabricated render elements that create subtle, almost seamless colour gradients between the various shades. Diagonal connections between the tables reinforce the idea of a design comprised of individual elements, while at the same time subtly breaking up the strongly orthogonal character of the overall floor plan.