Bus shelter with hole in the roof
It is a bus shelter with a hole in the roof – a special hole designed by an architect.
After four years of planning, and $300,000 pumped into the project, Blenheim’s new bus shelter has some people scratching their exposed heads.
A picture of the giant opening in the roof has been seen by more than 200,000 people on Facebook.
Most of the 900-plus commenters were less than impressed. But the Marlborough District Council has leapt to the shelter’s defence.
The hole actually represents the Ma¯ ori name for the Wairau Valley, Kei puta te Wairau, which means ‘‘the place with the hole in the sky’’ or ‘‘the place with the hole in the cloud’’.
The rest of the shelter, designed by architects in Christchurch, is meant to mimic the peaks and valleys of Blenheim’s Wither Hills. It also has a space protected by reinforced glass walls.
But a council spokeswoman said the council had no plans to put up any information signs to explain the design of the shelter.
The hole also made for a good place to sit under on sunnier days, she said.
The Marlborough Friendship Force first campaigned for a new shelter at the Blenheim Railway Station in 2013 after a group of Australian visitors they were hosting spent an hour waiting in the rain for a bus.
Some residents welcomed the unusual look. Blenheim’s Debbie Elsmore said it was ‘‘actually really cool’’. ‘‘A nice place to sit and wait.’’
David Stubbs said the shelter was a ‘‘really cool structure’’.