A phased array for a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging apparatus is disclosed that includes a plurality of receiver coils arranged to form a staggered hexagonal coil array, with the staggered hexagonal coil array being rectangular in shape. Included in the plurality of receiver coils are a plurality of standard coils and a plurality of filler coils differing in shape from the standard coils. The shape of the filler coils is such that no more than negligible mutual inductance between the filler coils and all adjacent overlapping standard coils is present.