Janskerkhofpanels
Specifically designed for Janskerkhof 2/3 in Utrecht (NL) Driessen+Van Deijne developed a series of acoustic wallpanels throughout the extensive building as well as wallcoverings in two ‘period rooms’. The large inner city Janskerkhofcomplex serves as an educational center for Utrecht Law School as well as the dean’s office and staff of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance.

Wall Panels
Within numerous spaces the acoustic panels have been developed and mounted in series varying in number from two to fourteen. Colours of the panels are loosely coded to signify spatial uses and functions. Stairwells and corridors have yellow coloured panels. Lecture rooms generally have blue panels while grey has predominantly been applied to panels in meeting rooms, reception and the homebase of student research association Aletheia. Acoustic needs dictated the absorption surface for each space. Starting from this figure, the requirements were distributed over a composition of panels for each room. This led to series of similarly coloured panels of varying dimensions being mounted in horizontal, vertical or staggered arrays.

At first glance the panels appear to be abstract compositions, but on closer inspection they reveal to be photographic images of concrete objects. As part of a larger narrative throughout the building referring to its numerous historical uses as monastery, seat of provincial and national government, anatomical- zoological laboratory and library of University Utrecht's lawfaculty, these designers refer to the period of Governance this building fulfilled from late sixteenth century until early nineteenth century.

Images associated with this historical use, such as rolled lead ties holding stained glass windows in place, stacks of legislative books, bunches of contracts and deeds, sealed and tied with hempstring, calligraphies and ink stains were collected and constructed into assemblages which were subsequently photographed in a studio. These compositions were then printed onto fireproof acoustic covering fabric in extremely high resolution.

When looking at the panels closely one can discern woven structures and bindings, knotted strands of thread, unfinished edges and stacked cloth. What also draws attention is the textural richness and layering: in and out of focus, flatness and an illusion of depth, absorption and reflection as well as smudged and saturated, nearly moist bodies of colour. And when the attention widens to arrays of panels beside or above each other, new atmospheric compositions appear, suggesting movement and even landscapes.

The panels offer an adventurous and varied sensual experience; one will suddenly recognize a strand of untwined string in de image, while in other locations it is the undulating movement the prints suggest which is most prominent or the coincidence of rhythms in image and historical wall paneling or banisters. Driessen+Van Deijne allowed themselves to be led by the spatial idiosyncracies when defining the compositions. Through variation in colour, texture, dimensions, composition and placing throughout the building these panels add a layer of articulation and orientation to this labyrinthine complex.
 
Rooms 001 and 002
When considering the wall coverings in Room 001 however, there is little space for free compositions. The late 18th century period rooms have a strongly symmetrical disposition of tracings and panelling whereby certain wall surfaces were left open to be finished with textile wall coverings. The photographic images of material assemblages which Driessen+Van Deijne had used before were used here as well. The difference being that for these prominent and highly representative rooms the images were first woven into a Jacquard fabric which was then photographed and printed onto the wall covering cloths. These were sewn, tensioned and mounted into the recesses of the wood wallpanelling. And so here, on close inspection one sees weaving ties and threads appearing as an extra overlay. This added layer of representation offers these tapestries a still more abstract and suggestive quality than the acoustic panels.

The expressive dynamics of the capricious shapes is controlled and framed by picking up the rigid symmetry of neoclassicist wallpanelling. A Series of mirrored patterns and rhythms, created by a symmetric distribution of panels ensure a static form of dynamism in the room so that one is not overwhelmed by de highly expressive prints. The yellow hue in the photographed fabric compliments beautifully the goldleaf ornaments in the space. Sweeping and curling lines in the coverings seem to extend the gold garlands over the central ornamental mirror.

Room 002, which is situated adjacent to Room 001, has a similar symmetrically distributed framing and paneling. Where ornaments in the former room were goldcoloured and had a floral motif, ornaments in this one are more geometrical and painted in a modest pale blue. This room received wallcoverings in warmer and darker colours which seem to be dominated by a bronze-ish hue. For the prints on these coverings Driessen+Van Deijne photographed the reverse of the Jacquard fabric they used in Room 001. As opposed to the tight imagery of the front, the reverse reveals loops and sags, draped in between the tightly woven sections. These floating conductive threads are distributed haphazardly, crossing and ducking over the surface, adding wonderfully rich textures, shadows and shines which imbue the image with yet an extra depth.

Where in Room 001 colouring of textile and paneling were complimentary, here the light paintwork and the darker coverings form a contrast. It suggests a form of transparency which appears to reveal the adjacent more abstract, ethereal and atmospheric room.

For both the panels and the wallcoverings a set of just 20 images was used. The resulting unity in thematics and imagery laid down a foundation through which Driessen+Van Deijne have managed to bond the highly diverse spaces of Janskerkhof 2/3.
 
Text:         Miegiel Loeffen,     Translation:    Adrian Steketee,      Photography:       Maarten Noordijk
In collaborator with, among others,  Marx & Steketee architecten, Michiel Vijselaar, DPA Cauberg Huygen, Print Unlimited, Oostendorp Interieur en Meubelstoffering.