De-isolation of the scientist and knowledge exchange as well as integration of landscape and building are two of the driving factors behind the design of the campus. A High Tech research center literally built in a new diverse landscape, a river valley, a wet birch forest, a heather field and a big lake. All motor vehicles are parked in garages, which are positioned away from laboratories and offices. All of the restaurants and conference facilities are positioned along the lake. This generates a lot of informal movement and interaction between restaurants, offices and parking garages and results in the establishment of a social community.

The 5 landscapes of HTC

The landscape is designed with the geomorphological characteristics as basic assumption, which has led to 5 different landscape types: the Dommel valley and the transparent wood in the north and the heather fields in the south. In the west the sport forest forms the edge of the campus. At the heart of the campus lies the big pond.

The dommel valley and the sports wood

From an ecological point of view, the Dommel valley is the most interesting part of the Campus. In the sixties, a major part of the Dommel valley was used as a poplar plantation. However, the ecological objectives required a landscape with more variation in appearance and planting. Therefore, the state of affairs from around 1900 is used as an inspiration for the design: a landscape with chambers of shrubs and trees. The design and control of the Dommel valley on Campus does not stand alone, but is part of the complete Dommel area in Eindhoven.

The design for the sports wood is focused on the realization of a sheltered and intimate surrounding for the practice of outdoor sports. The sports facilities are situated in the middle of the area at the location of the former agricultural fields. The planting in the wood is for a large part already existing. New plantation upgrades the existing wooded bank to an attractive ecological zone. Next to that, parts of the fields which are not used for sports, will be turned into wood plots. This will be particularly in the northern area where the wood approaches the Dommel.

Parking garages

The strong natural character can only be realized by using minimum of pavement on ground level and therefore the parking places have to be accommodated in built parking facilities. The car parks in the northern part and central to the pond are built as ‘green boxes’ with an overgrown façade.

Furniture

The furniture and exterior design objects on the High Tech Campus were divided into a number of themes: gates, signage, lighting, seating, two pond bridges, a cycle bridge and bicycle parking. In each case a design solution was chosen that complemented the campus atmosphere: a high-tech look and feel in the middle of a rugged terrain. The gates appear as rugged gabions and the pond bridges were designed as slender metal ramps.

Data

Website: Juurlink [+] Geluk

Other designers involved in the process: INBO/JHK architecten, DHV environment & infrastructure

Project location: High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Design year: 1998-2011

Year Built: 2000-ongoing