The residential building is based on a parametric design by Koschuch Architects and involved ARUP comparing hundreds of different tower variants to ensure optimal sunlight conditions and the best possible wind climate at street level, in the park, in the courtyard garden and on the roof garden. These are elements which you feel, see and experience everywhere due to inclusive living and biodiversity which are being added to the city as a new ecosystem. The deconstructed building design of Elements is largely made up of natural and recyclable materials of known origin and a low carbon footprint. The plinth is made entirely of wood and the floors within the tower are made alternately of wood and concrete. Elements generates energy literally and figuratively. The building consumes less energy than the quantity of energy generated by the PV panels on the roof and in the façades.

Elements is a unique multifunctional building offering different types of apartments, as well as communal/public spaces. The building is to house 70 owner-occupied and 70 rental homes. In the plinth there are also going to be co-working, communal and hospitality spaces.

‘Bar Seasons’ will give Elements a wonderful hospitality facility in the transparent top end of the building. The use of accordion doors means the façade can be completely opened allowing the outside in (partial patio) and optimising the fantastic views across the water (Amstel river) and green areas (the park). Residents can use the co-working spaces and communal spaces in what is going to be called the Common Lab. This area will also be used for all kinds of programme-based activities to create a link with the local area and synergy between the residents.

The plinth on the park side is green, transparent and accessible. The park runs, as it were, through the building. Special green areas have been added, such as the roof park on the plinth, a visible, green set of stairs leading from the entrance which acts as a winter garden and a secluded courtyard garden. In this way Elements forms a green entrance to the Amstelscheg rural buffer zone.

For the substructure of the residential tower, Boom Landscape has designed a roof park and an inner garden with lots of greenery and trees in the open ground. On top of that, the entrance on the Bella Vista Park side will be equipped with a winter garden with subtropical plants. This should really become a meeting place for the residents of the building and the neighbourhood.
On the park side of the building, there will also be space for a commercial program, such as coworking, which can change color in the evening to a more social program. At the top of the building will be ‘Bar Seasons’, the facade of which can be completely opened in good weather. Elements thus responds optimally to the environment by respecting the neighbors and opting for a good relationship.

It was partly thanks to the green aspects that the jury was so positive about the submission. The jury referred in its assessment to the dual-storey homes in the tower as pioneering, daring and valuable in terms of quality of use. Elements contains a number of extremely innovative components, including a method of integrating the solar panels into the façade which has never been seen before in the Netherlands. The main feature of the landscape architect’s design is the roof park and trees. The entrance on the park side opens onto the winter garden with subtropical plants and also acts as a shared living area. The sheltered open-air courtyard garden is a quiet place which residents can retreat to.