On The Hague’s Binckhorst, the new Police Headquarters by CEPEZED has reached completion. In the collaborative workspace on the fourth floor, a ten-metre-high felt installation by Petra Vonk forms a striking focal point. Spanning approximately 80 m², the composition introduces colour, rhythm and a sense of landscape between a seating platform and glass partition.
The work began as a studio experiment. Petra Vonk explores felt and paper through cutting, punching, folding and weaving. Five studies informed the commission before, in dialogue with CEPEZED architects Det van Oers and Robbert van de Straat, one concept was developed into the final spatial composition. Its green palette emerged almost by chance, when Vonk began working with leftover strips of green felt. Seven shades are interwoven into a pattern that balances geometric rhythm with organic movement.
Made entirely by hand from 100% wool felt, the installation employs Sprang, an ancient textile technique based on twisting and interlacing stretched threads. Six woven panels are tensioned within demountable bamboo frames and positioned in two rows. Set approximately 15 centimetres from the wall, the panels create a changing interplay of light and shadow while the air gap also supports the acoustic performance of the felt.
What began as a small material experiment has thus become a monumental textile landscape. Rather than blending into the architecture, the work establishes a dialogue between geometry and organic growth, craftsmanship and construction, colour and space.
Photography: Lucas van der Wee
