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Masterplan public space and connecting projects UZ Leuven Campus Gasthuisberg

a design research process and projects on different spatial scales, ranging from furniture to the design of a public reception

UZ Leuven Campus Gasthuisberg was established in the 1970s on the outskirts of Leuven and today comprises more than 200,000 m² of hospital, research and training infrastructure. With the Health & Sciences campus Gasthuisberg, UZ Leuven and KU Leuven are joining forces and centralising all outpatient care on a single hospital site. The necessary expansion of the campus is taking place as a continuous, agile development, framed by a master plan by AWG architects.
Various sub-projects are being developed with a certain degree of autonomy, thus contributing to the urban diversity of the site. As part of the master plan for the public space, NU is investigating the public indoor and outdoor spaces as “welcoming spaces” and, with this, the connecting identity for the hospital. NU defines an intermediate scale between architecture and urbanism, between landscape and architecture, between furniture and architecture, in dialogue with AWG.

The project involves both a design research process and concrete projects on different spatial scales, ranging from furniture to the design of a public reception square East, to wayfinding (i.e. the thought process and behaviour that visitors exhibit when trying to find their way) and a global public space strategy.
In order to safeguard the scale between architecture and public space as a single strong whole in a fragmented development, NU is working continuously on the spatial vision for public space. The core idea of our vision is to distil the characteristics for the connecting projects and elements on the site from the interaction between people and the different scales of the site. NU believes that this will underline the human and public character of the Gasthuisberg campus.

Current sub-projects:

  • Development of canopy for Rode Straat
    NU is designing large steel canopies for Rode Straat that will provide both shelter and cover.
    In collaboration with Studiebureau Mouton (stability) and Erik D’hont (landscape design)
    Realisation: Verhofsté
    More information here
  • Development of furniture
    Realisation: Studio Barabas
    Design of various seating elements for both indoor and outdoor use.
    More information here.
  • Development of wayfinding elements
    The hospital is part of the Gasthuisberg Health Sciences campus and forms, as it were, a neighbourhood within the campus city. Staff, patients and visitors can come from all directions. A new wayfinding system, similar to a metro map, where you can enter and exit at any point without losing your bearings, was essential: you follow a street with a specific colour and “get off” at a gate.
    In collaboration with Claerhout
  • Design of the East reception square and public link Groene straat
    Support for implementation: TM POLO Architects, M4 architects and DETOO architects
    Engineers: SDKE, Riessauw engineering firm
  • Design research for West reception infrastructure
  • client UZ Leuven
  • location Leuven
  • date 2018 - present
  • status execution
  • nominations & awards Staalprijs 2024
  • team NU Olivier Van Calster, Yann Courouble, Timotheus De Beir, Felice Van Tieghem, Jose Ignacio Castellitti, Francesco Mino, Trice Hofkens
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