Roof shapes include flat (or

shed A shed is typically a simple, single-story roofed structure that is used for hobbies, or as a workshop in a back garden or on an allotment. Sheds vary considerably in their size and complexity of construction, from simple open-sided ones de ...

), gabled,

hipped In vertebrate anatomy, hip (or "coxa"Latin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) in medical terminology) refers to either an anatomical region or a joint. The hip region ...

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

ed,

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

d, and a wide variety of other configurations detailed below. Roof angles are an integral component of roof shape, and vary from almost flat to steeply pitched. Roof shapes differ greatly from region to region, depending on the climate, materials available, customs, and many other considerations. Roof terminology is not rigidly defined. Usages vary from region to region, nation to nation, and from one builder or architect to another.

Roof shapes

* Flat: These are found in traditional buildings in regions with a low precipitation. Modern materials which are highly impermeable to water make possible the low-pitch roofs found on large commercial buildings. Although referred to as flat they are generally gently pitched. ** Roof terrace (including roof garden) *

Single-pitched roof A shed roof, also known variously as a pent roof, lean-to roof, outshot, catslide, skillion roof (in Australia and New Zealand), and, rarely, a mono-pitched roof,Cowan, Henry J., and Peter R. Smith. ''Dictionary of Architectural and Building T ...

** Shed roof (lean-to, pent roof, skirt roof, outshot, skillion, mono-roof): A roof with one slope, historically attached to a taller wall. **

Saw-tooth The sawtooth wave (or saw wave) is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is so named based on its resemblance to the teeth of a plain-toothed saw with a zero rake angle. A single sawtooth, or an intermittently triggered sawtooth, is called a ...

: Multiple single-pitched roofs arrayed in a row, sometimes seen on factories. * Multi-pitched roof: ** Gable (ridged, dual-pitched, peaked, saddle, pack-saddle, saddleback, span roof): A simple roof design shaped like an inverted V. *** Cross gabled: The result of joining two or more gabled roof sections together, forming a T or L shape for the simplest forms, or any number of more complex shapes. ***See also roof pitch, crow-stepped, corbie stepped, stepped gable: A gable roof with its end parapet walls below extended slightly upwards and shaped to resemble steps. ** A-frame ** Half-hipped (clipped gable, jerkinhead): A combination of a gable and a hip roof (pitched roof without changes to the walls) with the hipped part at the top and the gable section lower down. ** Dutch gable, gablet: A hybrid of hipped and gable with the gable (wall) at the top and hipped lower down; i.e. the opposite arrangement to the ''half-hipped'' roof. Overhanging

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

forming shelter around the building are a consequence where the gable wall is in line with the other walls of the buildings; i.e., unless the upper gable is recessed. ** Saltbox, catslide: A gable roof with one side longer than the other, and thus closer to the ground unless the pitch on one side is altered. ** Bonnet roof: A reversed gambrel or Mansard roof with the lower portion at a lower pitch than the upper portion. ** Monitor roof: A roof with a monitor; 'a raised structure running part or all of the way along the ridge of a double-pitched roof, with its own roof running parallel with the main roof.' **

Butterfly roof A butterfly roof (sometimes called a V roof) is a form of roof characterised by an inversion of a standard roof form, with two roof surfaces sloping down from opposing edges to a valley near the middle of the roof.Karahafu: A type of gable found in some traditional Japanese buildings. ** Hidden roof: A type of Japanese roof construction. ** Hip, hipped: A hipped roof is sloped in two pairs of directions (e.g. N–S and E–W) compared to the one pair of direction (e.g. N–S ''or'' E–W) for a gable roof. ** Cross hipped: The result of joining two or more ''hip'' roof sections together, forming a T or L shape for the simplest forms, or any number of more complex shapes. ** Satari: A Swedish variant on the ''monitor roof''; a double hip roof with a short vertical wall usually with small windows, popular from the 17th century on formal buildings. (''Säteritak'' in Swedish.) ** Mansard (French roof): A roof with the pitch divided into a shallow slope above a steeper slope. The steep slope may be curved. An element of the Second Empire architectural style (Mansard style) in the U.S. ** Gambrel, curb, kerb: A roof similar to a mansard but sloped in one direction rather than both. ** Bell-cast (sprocketed, flared): A roof with the shallow slope below the steeper slope at the eaves. Compare with bell roof. ** East Asian hip-and-gable roof ** Mokoshi: A Japanese decorative pent roof ** Pavilion roof : A low-pitched roof hipped equally on all sides and centered over a square or regular polygonal floor plan. The sloping sides rise to a peak. For steep tower roof variants use ''Pyramid roof''. ** Pyramid roof: A steep hip roof on a square building. ** Pyatthat: A multi-tiered and spired roof commonly found in Burmese royal and Buddhist architecture. ** Tented: A type of polygonal hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak ** Helm roof, Rhenish helm: A pyramidal roof with gable ends; often found on church towers. ** Spiral, a steeply pitched spire which twists as it goes up. ** Barrel, barrel-arched (cradle, wagon): A round roof like a barrel (tunnel) vault. ** Catenary: An arched roof in the form of a catenary curve. ** Arched roof, bow roof,Davies, Nikolas, and Erkki Jokiniemi. Dictionary of architecture and building construction. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Architectural Press, 2008.304 Gothic, Gothic arch, and ship's bottom roof. Historically also called a ''compass roof''. * Circular ** Bell roof (bell-shaped, ogee, Philibert de l'Orme roof): A bell-shaped roof. Compare with ''bell-cast'' eaves. **

Dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

d ** Onion dome or rather an imperial roof ** Bochka roof ** Conical roof or cone roof *Hyperbolic ** Saddle

Illustrations

Selection criteria

* Climate * Location * Material availability * Material cost * Installation cost * Neighbouring buildings * Building geometry * Aesthetics * Engineering concerns * Functionality * Local customs * restrictive covenants * Building codes

Gallery

File:Winn Barn - Weston Oregon.jpg, Arched roof, also called a Gothic arch, and ship's bottom roof, Weston, Oregon File:TA Moulton Barn HABS1.jpg, A ''bonnet'' roof with lower pitched lower slopes at a lower pitch, as seen on traditional barns in the western United States, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming File:Budapest Keleti teto 1.jpg, Parabolic curved roof,

Keleti Railway Station Budapest Keleti (Eastern) station ( hu, Keleti pályaudvar) is the main international and inter-city railway terminal in Budapest, Hungary. The station stands where Rákóczi út splits to become Kerepesi Avenue and Thököly Avenue. Keleti p ...

, Budapest, Hungary File:SageHallsideview2.jpg,

Collegiate Gothic Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...

style roof of the Sage Hall at Cornell Central Campus Image:Mandurah house.jpg, Flat roof, Western Australia Image:mount-gilead-ohio-jail.jpg, Mansard roof on a county jail, Mount Gilead, Ohio File:Limburger Dom BW 1.jpg, A helm roof on the towers of the

Limburger Dom Limburg Cathedral (german: Limburger Dom, also known as ''Georgsdom'' ("George's Cathedral") after its dedication to Saint George, is located above the old town of Limburg in Hesse, Germany. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Limburg ...

, Germany Image:Thai-roof.jpg, Gable roof with eaves, exposed, decorated rafters and soffits, and stepped ascending apexes, temple in Chang Mai, Thailand. Image:National_Taiwan_Science_Education_Center_Chinese_Roof.jpg, Conical Chinese roof, Nanhai Academy, Taipei File:Trulli-Luberon.jpg, A conical dry-stone roof on a Trullo hut, Apulia, Italy Image:Verla.JPG, Cross gabled roof at the Verla mill village and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kouvola File:Mansard (PSF).png, Basic mansard roof with dormer windows File:Rommersorf roofs.JPG, Curved form of a mansard roof with ''bell-cast eaves'', Rommersdorf Abbey, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany File:Atwood House, Chatham, MA.jpg, A common form of gambrel roof, Captain Joseph Atwood house, 1752; now part of the

Atwood House Museum The Atwood Museum in Chatham, Massachusetts Chatham () is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Chatham is located at the southeast tip of Cape Cod and has historically been a fishing community. First settled by the English ...

, Chatham, Massachusetts, US File:AltnauHaus2.JPG, A less common form of gambrel roof with a curved lower roof slope with supporting curved soffits and thick tiles,

Altnau, Switzerland Altnau is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. History Near the hamlet of Ruderbaum, the remains of a Horgen culture settlement have been discovered. Below the Horgen site, there also may be a ...

File:Montacute Lodge - geograph.org.uk - 395559.jpg, An ogee-curved roof, in both axes, Montacute Lodge, England File:Korea-Gangwon-Woljeongsa Nine Story Stone Pagoda 1723-07.JPG, South Korean Woljeongsa Octagonal Nine Story Pagoda File:The Round House, Finchingfield, Essex - geograph.org.uk - 236275.jpg, A pyramid roof with a chimney exiting the peak, The Round House,

Finchingfield, Essex Finchingfield is a village in the Braintree district in north-west Essex, England, a primarily rural area. It is approximately from Thaxted, farther from the larger towns of Saffron Walden and Braintree. Nearby villages include Great Bardfield ...

, England File:Traditional adobe beehive architecture of Syria.jpg, Beehive roof, a traditional Syrian form File:Großriedenthal Scheune GstNr 733 Detail.jpg, A pent roof is a lower roof attached to a wall File:Stola herrgård.jpg, A Swedish Sateri is hipped and pent-hipped with two layers of eaves File:Palpara Temple - Nadia 2011-10-05 050410.JPG, Rounded pyramidal roof on a charchala style temple in India File:Puiseaux clocher tors.jpg, A spiraled church tower roof, cloister, Loiret, France

References

External links

* {{Roofs Structural engineering Structural system roof shapes