New campus square for Leiden Bio Science Park, also for culture and sports fans
A large new campus square on the Leiden Bio Science Park will be used for a range of activities for students, staff and Leiden residents, a knowledge festival, shows and sporting activities, for instance.
Large lawn
Leiden University wants the campus square, the heart of the park, to be a green meeting space with a pond and seating, but above all a large lawn for sunbathing. The square will primarily be used as a meeting place for the students and staff from the Science Campus (the Faculty of Science), a place where they can study and work. But the city’s residents will also be welcome: not only local residents (there will be housing in the area) but also culture and sports fans.
Knowledge festival or yoga clinic
The University has hired West 8 architect firm to come up with a design for the campus square. The square, the heart of Leiden Bio Science Park, will stretch between the buildings. Diverse target groups and users will be able to give their opinion on how the square should be used. Students and staff, for instance, but also local residents and the University Sports Centre. A festival, an open-air cinema or a yoga clinic are among the many options.
Completion in 2023
The future users of the square are represented in a consultative group that is offering its opinions on the design. Alongside various University organisations and the management of Leiden Bio Science Park, students are also being given a say. The design of the campus square will be drawn up in further detail in the coming period. The square will be realised in two phases due to the many other construction projects in the area. The entire square will be completed in 2023.
Green bike park
The lower stories of the former Gorlaeus high-rise have been saved from demolition. They will be turned into a new, green bike park. There will be bike parking in the basement and on the ground floor and a pleasant rooftop garden on the first floor. Part of the old steel construction will be turned into a plant-clad pergola.
Transformation of Leiden Bio Science Park.
Over the coming years, Leiden Bio Science Park will be transformed from an industrial estate into an innovation district. The campus square will be the heart of this area. It will be located between the large-scale housing development in the entrance area on Plesmanlaan, the new sports and exam centre, which is yet to be realised, the buiding housing the lecture halls and the second phase of the Gorlaeus Building for the Faculty of Science.
Image credits: West 8
