April 2, 2026 News
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News · April 2, 2026
Landscape design vision for Utrecht Science Park!
We are proud to design the public space for Utrecht Science Park, working in parallel with the urban development of this evolving campus. As a landscape practice rooted in Utrecht, contributing to the future of the Netherlands’ largest science park and one of its most important academic environments for research, education, healthcare, and innovation marks a landmark moment for us!
At 322 hectares, the Science Park surpasses Utrecht’s entire historic inner city (271 ha), offering a unique opportunity to bring together spatial ambitions, ecological insights, mobility planning, and design principles into one integrated framework, developed with the Municipality of Utrecht and Utrecht University.
The campus is embedded in a richly layered landscape, from the UNESCO-listed New Dutch Waterline and the historic Fort Hoofddijk to OMA’s original densification strategy for De Uithof and the renowned Botanic Gardens. Our design envisions a cohesive park landscape where ecology, cultural heritage, high-rise development, education and scientific progress merge uniquely. The vision is guided by five ambitions: identity, connectivity, quality of place, circular and climate-adaptive innovation, and a biodiverse, living landscape.
“On this vibrant location, the history and future of Utrecht meet. Heritage, scientific progress, and nature development go hand in hand at Utrecht Science Park.”
— Bas Heessels, Associate, OKRA
Photography by Dick Boetekees
We strengthen the campus as a leading hub of innovation within Utrecht; a concentrated urban cluster embedded in an expansive open landscape where densification and ecology reinforce one another and where grazing sheep and world-class research coexist.
We are excited to contribute to a project of this scale and ambition, and look forward to shaping a significant future for Utrecht, yet again!
