‘Acanthus’ office building, Amsterdam

Acanthus is designed as a ‘ring-like’ architectural block from which three towers reach skyward. The composition of slabs is geared to the visual axes and the height of other buildings in the environs. There is a car park arranged in terraced levels under the sloping inner garden, which bridges the difference in height with the surrounding ground level. The ‘ring’ floats on one side, with open, column-free corners that project up to 36 metres. These open corners highlight the entrances and provide a view of the courtyard garden from the street. Acanthus is a flexible office complex that can be used in various ways by different tenants. The façade is clad with panels decorated with an acanthus relief. This gives the building an amorphous textural appearance – from champagne sparkle to copper glow – depending on the incidence of light.