Pastel-pink bus shelters by Maxwan boast "world's thinnest steel roofs"
These three Rotterdam bus shelters were designed by Dutch studio Maxwan with concave and convex "razor-thin" rooftops reminiscent of billowing fabric (+ slideshow).
![m237 Canopy in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Maxwan](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/m237-Canopy-Rotterdam-Netherlands-by-Maxwan_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
According to Maxwan, the three 5-by-10-metre canopies, which measure just 9.5 millimetres in thickness, are the "world's thinnest steel roofs".
The pastel-pink Bus Station Canopies are located on a patch of tarmac outside a new bus terminus in Rotterdam Central District, providing seated shelters for 40 waiting passengers.
![m237 Canopy in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Maxwan](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/m237-Canopy-Rotterdam-Netherlands-by-Maxwan_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
The canopies are raised up on four flat-steel columns. One arches upwards in the centre, while another bows downward – both are intended to look like fabric moving in the wind.
![m237 Canopy in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Maxwan](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/m237-Canopy-Rotterdam-Netherlands-by-Maxwan_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
"The caving helps makes the canopies structurally sound, allows for a thinner roof, and is beautiful," said the studio, which nicknamed the shelters Pillow and Hammock after these forms.
![m237 Canopy in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Maxwan](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/m237-Canopy-Rotterdam-Netherlands-by-Maxwan_dezeen_468_7.jpg)
Produced by Dutch firm Studio Metalix, the curving surfaces are finished with glossy pastel-pink paintwork.
![m237 Canopy in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Maxwan](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/m237-Canopy-Rotterdam-Netherlands-by-Maxwan_dezeen_468_10.jpg)
"The tables, treated with a skin-tone finish, are warped silk-gloss surfaces that conjure up images of suspended cloth and wind-blown sails, despite their weighing five tonnes each," said Maxwan.
![m237 Canopy in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Maxwan](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/m237-Canopy-Rotterdam-Netherlands-by-Maxwan_dezeen_468_9.jpg)
According to studio founder Rients Dijkstra, the pink paintwork was "a purely emotional choice".
![m237 Canopy in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Maxwan](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/m237-Canopy-Rotterdam-Netherlands-by-Maxwan_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
"I have a lifelong obsession with colours," he told Dezeen. "When working on a design I see the colours that need to be used."
![m237 Canopy in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Maxwan](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/m237-Canopy-Rotterdam-Netherlands-by-Maxwan_dezeen_468_4.jpg)
Pillow and Hammock are part of a major overhaul of the Dutch railway system, including upgrading stations in Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Rotterdam.
![m237 Canopy in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Maxwan](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/m237-Canopy-Rotterdam-Netherlands-by-Maxwan_dezeen_468_5.jpg)
An original brief from the City of Rotterdam outlined the need for 16 standard-issue bus shelters to serve a newly opened bus station. Maxwan instead created just two that fitted the same brief – to shelter 40 people sitting and more standing – for the same budget.
![m237 Canopy in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Maxwan](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/m237-Canopy-Rotterdam-Netherlands-by-Maxwan_dezeen_468_6.jpg)
"The efforts at creating quality environments related to public transport should not be limited to the station building itself," said the studio. "We pleaded with the city to allow us a chance to design custom-built 'canopies', if we could do it for the same budget."
Photography is by Filip Dujardin.
Project credits:
Design team: Rients Dijkstra and Hiroki Matsuura with Artur Boresjo, Nobuki Ogasahara Rene Sangers, Harm te Velde, Aleksandar Hrib.
Steel manufacturing: IHC Studio Metalix (forming), Van der Zalm (welding)
Contractor: Wallaard