Australian Roof Styles

The australian modernist pavilion is well suited to the the australian climate and lifestyle and its low pitched roof is even reminiscent of the white sails that fill our harbours and blue waters on sunny days.

Australian roof styles. Hip roofs also often have shady eaves and offer strength and excellent resistance to strong winds. The difference between the two is that the gambrel only has two sides while the mansard has four. The perfect roof for your house should be functional and stable thought it can also be decorative and pleasing to the eye adding to the look of your home. A gambrel or a barn roof is much like mansard in a sense that it has two different slopes.

Similar to mansard the lower side of the gambrel roof has an almost vertical steep slope while the upper slope is much lower. Australian residential architectural styles have evolved significantly over time from the early days of structures made from relatively cheap and imported corrugated iron which can still be seen in the roofing of historic homes to more sophisticated styles borrowed from other countries such as the victorian style from the united kingdom the georgian style from north america and europe and the californian bungalow from the united states. The pavilion style hails from ludwig mies van der rohe s famous farnsworth house 1951. This type of roof is the most popular in australia.

Here are some of the more common roof shapes. A helm roof on the two towers. Mansard roof on a county jail. Hip roofs or hipped roofs are very popular in australia.

Hip a hipped roof has three four or more pitched planes depending on the shape of the house and all planes slope downwards from a ridge at the top of the roof. Below are australia s five most well known styles of roof. It s also known as a cross gable roof since the home has a cross footprint. A hipped roof has 3 or more planes angles in the roof structure.

Depending on your area s climate and topography here are the australian roof types that you can choose from. Hipped roofs often offer shady eaves and great strength which makes them good for high wind rated areas. A gable has two roof planes with a centre ridge line and is known as a pitched or peaked roof. Gable roof with eaves exposed decorated rafters and soffits and stepped incrementally ascending apexes.

Hip depending on the shape of the house a hipped roof has three four or more pitched planes and all planes slope downwards from a ridge at the top of the roof. These are good all weather. Collegiate gothic style roof of the sage hall at cornell central campus.