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 desi ...

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aest ...

d, hipped,

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 vau ...

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 A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of t ...

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 ...

Shed 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 ...

(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 A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

. * Multi-pitched roof: **

Gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aest ...

(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 Roof pitch is the steepness of a roof expressed as a ratio of inch(es) rise per horizontal foot (or their metric equivalent), or as the angle in degrees its surface deviates from the horizontal. A flat roof has a pitch of zero in either insta ...

, 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 An A-frame is a basic structure designed to bear a load in a lightweight economical manner. The simplest form of an A-frame is two similarly sized beams, arranged in an angle of 45 degrees or less, attached at the top, like an uppercase lette ...

** 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 A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a woode ...

, 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 (V-roof, London roof): A V-shaped roof resembling an open book. A kink separates the roof into two parts running towards each other at an obtuse angle. **

Karahafu is a type of curved gable found in Japanese architecture. It is used on Japanese castles, Buddhist temples, and Shinto shrines. Roofing materials such as tile and bark may be used as coverings. The face beneath the gable may be flush with the wa ...

: 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 A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

(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 The East Asian hip-and-gable roof (''Xiēshān'' (歇山) in Chinese, ''Irimoya'' (入母屋) in Japanese, and ''Paljakjibung'' (팔작지붕) in Korean) also known as 'resting hill roof', consists of a hip roof that slopes down on all four sid ...

Mokoshi In Japanese architecture , literally "skirt storey" or "cuff storey", is a decorative pent roof surrounding a building below the true roof. Since it does not correspond to any internal division, the ''mokoshi'' gives the impression of there being ...

: 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 The Rhenish helm is a type of spire typical of Romanesque architecture, Romanesque church architecture of the historic Rhineland. It is a pyramidal roof on towers of square plan. Each of the four sides of the roof is rhomboid in form, with the lo ...

: 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 In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superfici ...

: 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 A bochka roof or simply bochka (russian: бочка, barrel) is a type of roof in traditional Russian church architecture that has the form of a half- cylinder with an elevated and pointed upper part, resembling a pointed kokoshnik. In English the ...

Conical roof A conical roof or cone roof is a cone-shaped roof that is circular at its base and terminates in a point. Distribution Conical roofs are frequently found on top of towers in medieval town fortifications and castles, where they may either si ...

or cone roof *Hyperbolic **

Saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

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 Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately , the park includes the major peaks of the Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton ...

, 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 Sage Hall was built in 1875 at Cornell University's Ithaca, New York campus. Originally designed as a residential building, it currently houses the Johnson Graduate School of Management. Conception Although women had previously enrolled in Cor ...

at Cornell Central Campus Image:Mandurah house.jpg, Flat roof,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

Image:mount-gilead-ohio-jail.jpg, Mansard roof on a county jail,

Mount Gilead, Ohio Mount Gilead is a village and the county seat of Morrow County, Ohio, United States. It is located 41 miles (66 km) northeast of Columbus. The population was 3,660 at the 2010 census. It is the center of population of Ohio. The village was esta ...

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 Limb ...

, Germany Image:Thai-roof.jpg, Gable roof with eaves, exposed, decorated rafters and soffits, and stepped ascending apexes, temple in Chang Mai,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. Image:National_Taiwan_Science_Education_Center_Chinese_Roof.jpg, Conical Chinese roof,

Nanhai Academy The Nanhai Academy () is a collection of cultural and educational facilities located on Nanhai Road in the Zhongzheng District of Taipei, Taiwan. History After the Republic of China Government relocated to Taiwan following the Chinese Civil War, ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

File:Trulli-Luberon.jpg, A conical dry-stone roof on a Trullo hut,

Apulia, Italy it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

Image:Verla.JPG, Cross gabled roof at the Verla mill village and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in

Kouvola Kouvola () is a city and municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located along the Kymijoki River in the region of Kymenlaakso, kilometers east of Lahti, west of Lappeenranta and northeast of the capital, Helsinki. With Kotka, Kouvola is ...

File:Mansard (PSF).png, Basic mansard roof with

dormer window A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

s File:Rommersorf roofs.JPG, Curved form of a mansard roof with ''bell-cast eaves'', Rommersdorf Abbey,

Rheinland-Pfalz Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

, 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 b ...

File:Montacute Lodge - geograph.org.uk - 395559.jpg, An

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...

-curved roof, in both axes,

Montacute Lodge Montacute is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, west of Yeovil. The village has a population of 831 (2011 census). The name Montacute is thought by some to derive from the Latin "Mons Acutus", referring to the conically acut ...

, 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 Bardfiel ...

, 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 The architecture of Bengal, which comprises the modern country of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley, has a long and rich history, blending indigenous elements from the Indian subcontinent, with in ...

style temple in India File:Puiseaux clocher tors.jpg, A spiraled church tower roof, cloister,

Loiret, France Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434.

References

External links

* {{Roofs Structural engineering Structural system roof shapes