NELSON
Cutting Edge Silhouette
A short distance from Arnhem’s city center, on the banks of the Rhine, rises NELSON – a distinctive, diamond-shaped residential tower. It completes a series of buildings along the floodplains, arranged like a subtle ‘string of pearls’ across the dike landscape. With its striking form and prominent sightlines, NELSON serves as a visual landmark, anchoring the view and defining its place in the city’s silhouette.
Expressive Diamond
Expressive Diamond
Defined by its hexagonal layout design, NELSON features sharply beveled façade planes that allow each balcony to offer optimal views of the river, the city, or the surrounding landscape. Its crisp vertical corner faces the Mandela Bridge – a vital urban link – while balconies ripple outward in a dynamic rhythm, giving the building a different appearance from every angle.
The dynamic shift in balconies is possible by varying the floorplans. This flexibility is created by having a diamond-shaped structural core that mirrors the load-bearing façade. The layout is designed to remain flexible, as everything between the core and the façade can be reconfigured, should future demand arise. Adaptability is thus a key part of the design, while always maintaining high-quality floorplans with balconies connected to the living spaces. Comprising 93 units, the apartment configuration varies per floor from affordable housing on the lower levels to open-plan penthouses at the top.
Like a cut gem, NELSON reveals a different face from every angle, with each balcony thoughtfully positioned to capture a unique view of Arnhem and its surroundings.’
Local sources
Local sources
The façade is crafted from bricks made with clay drawn directly from the nearby riverbanks, rooting the building in the landscape and deepening its local identity. Its color palette harmonizes effortlessly with the neighboring structures, reinforcing the visual rhythm of the buildings across the floodplains. Yet, amid this harmony, bold accents in warm, glowing tones catch the light – subtle but striking touches that give NELSON its own unmistakable presence.
The clay used for the bricks was sourced so close by, you could almost point to the exact spot from the building itself – grounding NELSON firmly in its landscape.’
Flexibility
6th Floor
5th Floor
Site plan
Axonometry
Structured for Expression
The building responds to the natural height differences of the dike, integrating both the raised dike and the adjacent lower terrain at the base of the retaining wall.’
