Located in the south west of Nijmegen, the Noviotech Campus emerged on the production site of microchip manufacturer NXP, as successive companies spun off from the parent and began to congregate in the buildings on the east of the campus. With the only greenery in the current Noviotech Campus being found in the form of broad grass lawns and a handful of small trees, the area stands in stark contrast to the neighbouring Goffertpark, one of the largest parks in Nijmegen. With this upgrade, Noviotech Campus aims to correct this imbalance. MVRDV’s masterplan design links to the city’s own biodiversity strategy, turning the campus into a nature-inclusive landscape that connects the Goffertpark and adjacent Jonkerbos to designated green corridors nearby, including with green roofs and façades on the buildings of the campus.

The campus is united by the landscape strategy, which sees a “hyper-mix” of trees, shrubs, and flowers planted in overlapping circular patches. This results in a “landscape of a million dots” that not only gives the campus a recognisable and unifying identity, but also a new mixed landscape strategy that brings together various functions.

MVRDV worked with ecological advisors Faunest to ensure this dotted landscape lives up to its expectations as a nature hotspot, developing a strategy based on five “ambassador species” that are chosen to represent all aspects of a healthy environment. In this way, the campus becomes a powerful biotope in which everything works together – from berries to flowers, from leaves to branches, from small plants to large.