high-grade health care at the edge of the city
On the south-western periphery of ’s-Hertogenbosch, bordering directly onto the nature conservation area of De Gement, a large, innovative and welcoming hospital complex is being developed. Three existing Den Bosch hospitals are being merged within the Jeroen Bosch Hospital. The main urban design set-up of the hospital can be described as a few north-south oriented building strips which, at right angles to the bypass, have most of its orientation directed towards the adjoining landscape. In close cooperation with the agency EGM architecten, MTD landschapsarchitecten was commissioned in 2003 to draw up a landscape and urban development plan for the structure and layout of the grounds of the Jeroen Bosch Hospital. The main purpose of the assignment was to design the area where the city and Gement meet on a structural level, and to provide an attractive and alternating care landscape for the layout, both as an ornamental garden looking from within the hospital building as well as a garden to be used by patients, visitors and personnel. For the latter, particular attention would have to be paid to the organisation and the handling of the complex traffic flows, parking, deliveries and ambulance services of the hospital.
In this MTD landschapsarchitecten is responsible for the entire process from the design, implementation preparation and tendering procedure, to the monitoring of the landscape and civil engineering layout as well as the underground facilities and infrastructure.

the design
The first strategic aim of the plans was to direct the access to and the orientation of the main entrance of the Jeroen Bosch Hospital towards the city and the bypass; the Paleiskwartier and the Willemspoort. This will be designed as an entrance square with lots of space for greenery. The necessary amenities for flows of vehicles, public transport, taxis and pedestrians from and to the parking garage has been well-fitted into the design in a safe and effective manner, without being detrimental to the desired image and habitation quality of the square. This will come about by way of introducing a series of grass islands with trees of heaven (genus Ailanthus altissima), fancy designer seating and lighting columns, a fountain and a number of artistic objects.

The second strategic aim of the plans for the Jeroen Bosch Hospital is the way in which the positioning in the transition from the city to the landscape is enhanced and becomes recognizable. In order to achieve this on the southern side of the hospital grounds, a natural park landscape with flower meadows, a water feature, undulating reed banks and footpaths have been designed to link up with De Gement. The areas between the building strips which link up with this nature reserve all have differing themes of plants. Hence there are differing seasonal experiences and new orientation opportunities inside the large buildings complex.
The coherence and own identity of the entire hospital landscape is elaborated in a clear, sustainable choice of materials and in the careful detailing.