House Name Top Reality: Chinese Architecture · Roof

Author: Tang Deliang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: A traditional Chinese building structure, its main components can be divided into three parts: the platform base, the column-and-beam section, and the roof section. The "roof" refers to the part of the building that covers the walls, columns, and other supporting systems. From the perspective of the basic human need for shelter from wind and rain, the roof should be the most essential part of the three. The Book of Changes·Appendix to the Changes states: "In ancient times, people lived in caves and moved about in the wilderness. Later, sages replaced this with houses and palaces, with upper beams and lower eaves, to shelter from wind and rain." Archaeology provides reliable evidence for the view that the function of architecture began with the roof. In nest-dwelling cultures, ancestors primarily relied on large trees for shelter, making full use of their broad canopies to create roofs made of branches and to avoid rain and block sunlight. In cave-dwelling cultures, the upper soil layer of caves could also serve as the prototype of a roof designed "to shelter from wind and rain." The roof is the largest, most prominent, and most striking part of Chinese architecture, exhibiting both a dignified and elegant morphology. Therefore, the "large roof" has become a hallmark of Chinese architectural style.