De Kameleon is located in the formerly dysfunctional Baylmere area, but is now undergoing major renovations. In addition to apartments, the complex includes a shopping center, a fitness club and a garage.
All these functions are housed in an extensive base, on the roof of which there is a garden with an artificial "river". It is protected from street noise and dust by two residential buildings erected on this "stylobate" - 4 and 10 floors high. The facades are faced with brown bricks, which makes the residential complex a typical successor to the traditions of the Amsterdam school, although it does not fit well with its “multi-colored” name. Extensive balconies are another important part of the building's exterior.
The lower part of the building is occupied by a supermarket and shops, each of which faces the street: the architects tried to avoid the traditional “passage” layout. Internal passages, however, are still there, but they do not go in a straight line, but describe the figure eight. The second floor is occupied by another supermarket.
On the opposite side of the shopping center, a fitness club is located in the base, and between them there is a parking lot, hidden behind a permeable wavy facade. This arrangement of the garage turned out to be cheaper than the underground one.
The 4-storey building located above with 168 apartments surrounds the roof of the base from three sides, only from the side of the neighboring park its volume is interrupted, connecting the “home” garden with the greenery nearby. Its inner facade is equipped with balconies and staircases.
The fourth side is occupied by a 10-storey building (58 apartments). Its massive block at the garden level has a "window" that can also be used as a public space. If not for its slanting white pillars, "De Kameleon" could be mistaken for the construction of European late modernism: obviously, this period attracts more and more attention of architects.
N. F.
