Graphical Construction Glossary >> Roofs and roofing. >> Roof Types >> barrel roof

Barrel Roof

A roof with a semi-circular cross section or it forms half a cylinder.

Barrel Vault

A semi cylindrical vault.

A showcase renovation of a classic building. The Saigon Central Post Office.

A graceful 1930's roof. Note the clerestory windows and the monitor roof bringing natural daylight into a large space.

A Nissan Hut used as a WW11 ammunition store. Charles Darwin National Park, NT Australia.

The photo above illustrates one of the main features of these roofs. It's high strength. Along the length of the semi-cylinder, these roofs are capable large spans.

These Nissan huts were made out of heavy roll formed corrugated galvanised steel sheets, about three sections to a semicircle and then as many of these half rings could be bolted together for whatever length that was required. A similar structure of the same era were the Quonset huts.

In the photo above the roof was covered with earth for further protection. As an aside to this photo, Darwin received over 240 air raids during WW ll.

Concrete barrel shell roofs are another form and when ganged together side by side they can span large areas.

Of course there are probably far more barrel vaults than roofs. The ancient Romans first used the semicircular arch which was then extended into vault for tunneled aqueducts etc.

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Adam Smith 1723-1790

"When we build, let us think that we build for ever."John Ruskin 1819-1900