Lammenschans

Lammenschans lies south of the centre of Leiden. In the coming years, the area will be redeveloped into a campus with student housing, starter homes, and urban facilities. In early 2010, the municipality of Leiden asked three different teams to develop a concept, an urban development plan, and a visual quality plan for the Lammenschans Triangle. The team of Karres en Brands and Studioninedots was inspired by the typical Leiden block—and visualised a dynamic part of the city through characteristic ‘intensive city plots’.

The core of the assignment consists of housing for between 1,000 to 2,000 students. The team, however, deliberately focused on a broader programme. By striking a balance between student housing, starter homes, cultural programmes, and hospitality, rather than a mono-functional student campus, a dynamic part of the city is created where different environments are interconnected. In this way, Lammenschanspark becomes a socially sustainable neighbourhood that can be incorporated in the future as part of an open urban network.

Inspiration for the design is the ‘typical Leiden block’. The size of the block makes it possible to densify within the structure, wherein emerge the intimate, semi-public squares and private courtyards that give Leiden’s city centre its characteristic spatial structure. The new Lammenschanspark is of the ‘Leiden scale’, making possible an average of 4–5 layers of very rigorous densification within the so-called ‘intensive city plots’. Crucial to the design is the gradual transition from public to private. This ranges from a fully public network of streets and collective outdoor spaces within the courtyards, to private gardens for the ground-level dwellings.

In this plan, therefore, a great deal of attention is not only paid to the phasing of the housing, but also the periods in between these phases is taken into account. An inner-urban development in an area of approximately 5 hectares takes time. Space is purposefully reserved for creative initiatives in existing buildings and the public space. In this way, Lammenschanspark can gradually put itself on the map and flourish as a new and vibrant part of the city—and take advantage of its potential to the fullest.