We have been working on the design of the Leiden Bio Science Park as master planners since 2004 and this makes it the longest running project and collaboration of Studio Hartzema. Over the years our role has grown with the campus, we went from merely master planners, to designers, supervisors, and advisors. We are the most senior party involved in the development of the campus and it is our pride to hold this position and all the knowledge that comes with it.
Located on the A44 highway between Leiden station and Oude Rijn, the LBSP extends over 130 hectares, it is one of the largest campuses in our country, by far the largest bio and life science cluster and is one of the top five most successful parks in Europe.
With the delivery of 300,000 m2 for businesses and education, 1.500 homes and the opening of the renewed Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the first contours of a vibrant and multifunctional urban environment have become visible in the last decade. The campus is slowly, but clearly becoming a powerful innovation district. The LBSP is a hub for progress where academia and business work together. Its community counts more than 21,000 innovators and 22.500 students, 180 companies and institutions in the park, with a total of more than 18,000 employees.
Because of its extension, many parties are involved: from the Municipality and University of Leiden, as the main share holders of the campus, to all the third parties. We have been the pivoting between all of them and are the ones overviewing necessities of such a complex enterprise.
One of the main ambitions of the LBSP is to maintain that leading position as a knowledge cluster and to strengthen the national and regional economy. In parallel, it aims to transform an industrial estate into a campus, the Dutch Campus. The buildings are surrounded by greenery and their position contributes to the feeling of openness and long lines of the campus. Dutch landscape of water, roads and willows. Richness in biodiversity and climate adaptation. Larger recreational areas are also realized within the framework.
These are arranged thematically: as an ecological garden at Naturalis, as a residential park in Schilperoort, as a bank landscape around the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and as a sports and recreation park for the University Sports Centre. A special feature of the LBSP is its elongated shape with a length:width ratio of 5:1. The resulting lack of a self-evident center is compensated by several focal areas along a Green Heart Line of slow traffic and public transport running through the campus from East to West. Two green arteries run across the campus, connectors to the Endegeest estate and the Bos van Bosman.
The Leiden Bio Science Park, with all its challenges and always changing needs, is our flagship and the proof that long lasting relationships are worth the efforts when they lead to this level of trust and commitment.
