Beating heart for the life sciences

Leiden University has been working on the Leiden Bio Science Park since 1984. Until then, this piece of land west of Leiden Station was a business park with a handful of educational buildings. With the creation of the master plan Knoop Leiden West – a collaboration between the university and six municipalities under the direction of the province of South Holland – the Science Park will be a new part of the city with a lot of activity and housing. The Bio Science Park is 110 hectares in size, and extends from the station to just over the A44 in the direction of Oegstgeest. In the area is home to about 130 institutions for production, education and research, such as vaccine manufacturer Janssen. The business park has been heavily densified with buildings designed by cepezed, Wiegerinck and Powerhouse Company, among others. They stand as a collection of blocks in an urban framework of green corridors that mark the car and bicycle roads and connect the Science Park with the city and the countryside. Important in the realization of this Master Plan is the role of urban planner Henk Hartzema. In 2002 he took up the position of supervisor with a unique approach: he has little say in the content of the buildings themselves.

Sharp contrasts

With an image quality plan of just one page, Hartzema creates the framework for the development of the Leiden Bio Science Park. For example, buildings must be unambiguous and all-sided and the minimum density of the buildings has been determined for each plot, ‘to emphasise the need for densification’, says Hartzema. He has a simple message for companies and investors who want to build a building in the area: ‘Make a nice shoebox. The more unambiguous the volume, the sharper the contrast between building and outdoor space.’ Hartzema calls his role for the Bio Science Park ‘clear and at the same time comprehensive’. He works an average of six hours a week on the assignment. For example, he regularly holds an urban planning workshop with the University and the municipality to discuss the progress of the area development. He meets individually with developers and investors to coordinate their wishes with the image quality plan. ‘Everyone wants something different, but the answer is always: you are a guest here. If I explain that from the perspective of a resident, such as a man walking the dog, it is appreciated. That’s what I call urban planning without frills.’

Independent departments

This means a strong focus on public space, to which the surrounding buildings have to relate. This is accentuated by the latest Development of the Bio Science Park: Rosalind Franklin Square as the heart of the campus through a new landscape design by West 8. The campus square is a sunbathing area with seating areas, adjacent to a pavement that curves around the Lecture Hall building towards a new pond. In the coming years, the Park More residential area will be built around the square, with space for eight new residential buildings, an exam centre and sports fields. Part of the new campus square are the renovated Lecture hall building and the new Gorlaeus building. According to Hartzema’s plan, both had to connect to the public space, a process that runs smoothly as long as the supervisor is involved. Sometimes this goes wrong, especially if the university itself commissions is. ‘Area development’ and ‘real estate development’ are two independent departments within the university. For example, Hartzema was involved in the development of the new campus square at an early stage, but was not involved in the plans for the Gorlaeus building until late. Hartzema has ‘done everything in his power’ to ensure that this new home for the Faculty of Science does not come across as ‘a kind of NATO headquarters’. The Voronoi pattern in the arcade in front of the façade, for example, is the result of this. In the renovation and transformation of the Lecture Hall Building, the addition of a concrete staircase is his most important contribution.