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Contest: VHL students to design a knowledge campus

Attending class in an estate partly designed by you. This can be a dream come true for third and fourth year students at Van Hall Larenstein and Helicon in Velp. VHL is organizing a contest to fill the 'empty spot in Larenstein Estate'.

In November last year, the old monastery located on the VHL campus was pulled down. There was a desire to develop the estate into a ‘green knowledge campus’ not just for teaching but also research and other activities. But there was no concrete plan for the bare sandy area then. Things may soon change. ‘The students are well acquainted with the estate; they come here every day to learn about their plants. They now have a really good opportunity to express themselves more in it,’ says Marianne van Lidth de Jeude, chairperson of the jury which will judge the entries. The students can let their creativity run wild, adds this ex-lecturer of the applied sciences university, as long as their designs fall within the context of the present park and bear a social theme (such as urban agriculture or nature experience). ‘To start with, the basis is cooperation. Each little group must have a student of Garden and Landscape Design, a student of Forest and Nature Management and/or a student from Helicon. We want them to inspire one another.’ The students have up to Friday 23 November to submit their designs. Besides Van Lidth de Jeude, the jury comprises the commissioner Rien Komen and lecturers Marius Christaans, Brechtje Horsten and Jan van Merriënboer. Van Lidth de Jeude: ‘I have been asked because I have often set and supervised contests in the past. I was always involved in getting students interested in similar challenges because I feel it is important to look beyond your own doorstep. I don’t know how popular this contest will be among the students. We’ll just wait and see.’ The demolished monastery building had housed a monastery and a reformatory up to 1973. Afterwards, it was occupied by a vocational school (VMBO). The property was vacant for one and a half years before it was finally pulled down.

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