The shape of roofs differs greatly from region to region. The main factors which influence the shape of roof

Roof

A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....

s are the climate and the materials available for roof structure and the outer covering.

Roofs vary from almost flat to steeply pitched. They can be arched or dome. They can be a single flat sheet or a complex arrangement of slopes, gables and hips.

Roof shapes

• Flat roof
  Flat roof
  A flat roof is a type of covering of a building. In contrast to the sloped form of a roof, a flat roof is horizontal or nearly horizontal. Materials that cover flat roofs typically allow the water to run off freely from a very slight inclination....
  
  s are found in the traditional buildings in regions with a low precipitation, but modern materials which are highly impermeable to water make possible the very large roofs of low pitch that are found on large commercial buildings.
  • Terrace
    Terrace (building)
    A terrace is an outdoor, occupiable extension of a building above ground level. Although its physical characteristics may vary to a great degree, a terrace will generally be larger than a balcony and will have an "open-top" facing the sky...
    
     - a flat roof with balustrade, used as a living space
• Skillion roof
  Skillion roof
  A skillion roof is normally a single sloping roof surface, not attached to another roof surface. Skillion roofs are sometimes called a shed roof, a flat roof, in Australia or a lean-to in the UK....
  
   single-sloped or shed roof
  • Lean-to
    Lean-to
    A lean-to is a term used to describe a roof with a single slope. The term also applies to a variety of structures that are built using a lean-to roof....
    
    
• Saw-tooth
  Saw-tooth roof
  A roof comprising a series of skillion roofs with vertical surfaces glazed and facing away from the equator. The sloping surfaces are opaque, shielding the workers and machinery from direct sunlight...
  
   - a roof comprising a series of skillion roofs with vertical surfaces glazed and facing away from the equator
  Equator
  An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
  
  . The sloping surfaces are opaque, shielding the workers and machinery from direct sunlight
  Sunlight
  Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere, and solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon.When the direct solar radiation is not blocked...
  
  . This sort of roof admits natural light into a factory
  Factory
  A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
  
  .Also known as 'Northlight' in the northern hemisphere.

• Pitched
  Pitched roof
  A pitched roof is a roof for which one or more roof surfaces is pitched more than 10 degrees, and alternately a roof with two slopes that meet at a central ridge. Some definitions are even more general, including any roof with a sloping surface or surfaces....
  
  , peaked, or gable
  Gable
  A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
  
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  • Asian traditional style
    Chinese architecture
    Chinese architecture refers to a style of architecture that has taken shape in East Asia over many centuries. The structural principles of Chinese architecture have remained largely unchanged, the main changes being only the decorative details...
    
    
  • Crow-stepped gable
    Crow-stepped gable
    A Stepped gable, Crow-stepped gable, or Corbie step is a stair-step type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building...
    
     (also called corbie step) gable
  • Dutch gable
    Gablet roof
    A gablet roof or Dutch gable is a roof with a small gable at the top of a hip roof. The term Dutch gable is also used to mean a gable with parapets....
    
     – a hybrid of hipped and gable
  • Shaped gable
  • Salt-box
  • Outshot or catslide, a pitched extension of the main roof
  • Saddleback – a gabled roof atop a tower
• Hip roof
  Hip roof
  A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
  
  
  • Half-hipped
  • Dutch gable
• Mansard
  Mansard roof
  A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
  
   – with the pitch divided into a shallow slope above a steeper slope
  • Gambrel
    Gambrel
    A gambrel is a usually-symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, while the lower slope is steep. This design provides the advantages of a sloped roof while maximizing headroom on the building's upper level...
    
     – as a mansard, but on only two sides of the roof
  • Bell-cast – as a mansard, but with the shallow slope below the steeper slope
• Pyramidal
  • Pyatthat
    Pyatthat
    Pyatthat is the name of a multi-tiered and spired roof commonly found in Burmese royal and Buddhist architecture, especially pagoda compounds, monasteries and palace buildings. The pyatthat is made of successive roofs, with a box-like structure between each roof called the lebaw...
    
    
  • Tented roof
    Tented roof
    A tented roof is a type of roof widely used in 16th and 17th century Russian architecture for churches. It is like a polygonal spire but differs in purpose in that it is typically used to roof the main internal space of a church, rather than an auxiliary structure...
    
    
  • Helm Roof - Rhenish helm - a pyramidal roof with gable ends found on church towers
• Arched roof
  • Barrel-arched
  • Catenary
    Catenary
    In physics and geometry, the catenary is the curve that an idealised hanging chain or cable assumes when supported at its ends and acted on only by its own weight. The curve is the graph of the hyperbolic cosine function, and has a U-like shape, superficially similar in appearance to a parabola...
    
    
• Circular
  • Domical
    Dome
    A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
    
    
  • Conical

See also

• Roof
  Roof
  A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....
  
  
• List of commercially available roofing material
• Building construction
• Building insulation
  Building insulation
  building insulation refers broadly to any object in a building used as insulation for any purpose. While the majority of insulation in buildings is for thermal purposes, the term also applies to acoustic insulation, fire insulation, and impact insulation...
  
  
• Building envelope
  Building envelope
  The building envelope is the physical separator between the interior and the exterior environments of a building. Another emerging term is "Building Enclosure". It serves as the outer shell to help maintain the indoor environment and facilitate its climate control...