The Leeuwenhoek Park is one of the most important public spaces in the Leiden Bio Science Park and will be realized in the coming years. LOLA landscape architects has won the design tender and has completed the final design. The implementation is scheduled for 2016.
The Leeuwenhoek Park is an important addition to the Bio Science zone and functions as a meeting place for many users. Directly bordering the park is the natural history museum - Naturalis, a college, hospital and many office buildings. A large portion of the potential users consist of students, who pass through the park on their way to school and use it in between their classes. There are also museum visitors, employees and hospital patients who each find their place around a large central water pond.
A new relationship with the Pesthuis
The design of the park acts as the foreground for the Pesthuis, a local historic monument. The park serves as a sort of castle garden for this building with a large water element framed by a formal lane of golden elm trees with spectacular fall foliage. A second smaller building within the park, which has a more modern place in history - the stable- receives a more high profile position within the park in the new design that creates an interesting tension with the older larger building.
A sunny slope for the students
An important element in the plan is a sloping lawn on the edge of the water chamber that gets full sun in the afternoon. This lawn is on the main route used by the students of the college and should become a hangout for them. From the lawn there is a nice view of the water and the Pesthuis. The hill created with soil from the site that was moved to make the various water elements. Various bulbs are planted in the slopes of the water chamber, bringing them to life in early spring.
Rezoning the Stable
The Stable, where the world's first genetically modified Bull ‘Herman’ once lived, has now been converted to cafe. In the new design this historic stable is extended into a restaurant with a large terrace on the water. The facade of the building will become more transparent, making it more inviting and also open to the landscape, with nice views over the park and water.
