Zuidpoort Canopy

The Delft bus and tram stop roof has been designed using the maximum possibilities of cold warping in vision, resulting in a continuously warped roof which has such a size in length and height to be in harmony with the adjacent shopping centre complex Zuidpoort. The twisted glass canopy has been designed by Mick Eekhout and employs the ‘theory of Staaks’ for the cold twisting of glass panels.
The main structure is a tubular steel frame, suspended from 7 conical masts. On the undulating roof plane of round tubular members the glass planes have been fixed and clamped by point supports. The cold twisting of the roof panels sized 1,5 x 3.0 m is 100 mm per panel. The distortion however is minimal.
Most of the glass panels could be produced rectangular, however some panels had to be non-rectangular in order to obtain sufficiently parallel seams between the distorted panes. The glass panes are fully tempered and laminated, and have a greenish color.
Specific for this application Octatube developed a template to predict the behavior of the glass. The maximum possibility to deform the cold bent glass in torsion has determined the wave shape of the canopy. The wave itself is inspired by the waves in the coat of arms in the city of Delft. In the evening a waving blue neon line is illuminating the front side of the canopy.