In general, Americans think of the roof as mostly something to protect the building.
However, in some countries, roof style, color, and ornament is a distinctive part of architecture and culture.
Here are some examples of beautiful and unique roofs from around the world:
An ancient architectural style is the terrace roof on a multi-storied building like a pagoda. Each story of a terrace roofed building has a roof overhang, which functions to protect that story but also adds to the overall beauty of the building. Some Tai buildings were used as observatories, or as military beacon towers. The Great Wall of China has square Tai buildings that were used for watchtowers.
Some of the most famous tiled roofs belong to Asian buildings and temples. Chinese curved roofs display their beautiful red, green, or yellow porcelain tiles in their up swept curves. Dramatic gold adornments are added to the tiled roof of the palace of the king of Thailand.
Rare pavilions in China have roofs built from bronze. One of the most celebrated is the Baoyunge Pavilion of Precious Clouds in the Summer Palace of the Chinese Emperors.
Ready to try some of these fantastic roofing styles on your building? Maybe bronze roofs or gold adornments may be a bit too extravagant for most locals. However, if you are hoping to use your roofing space to create a more interesting architectural style, you might want to consider the newer dimensional roofing tiles or painted metal roofing.
Thanks for reading this feature post from Longhorn Roofing. We enjoy the continuous challenge of making our area both more beautiful and more unique!