Mansard roof

Mansard gable roof, mansard gable roof

Hipped mansard roof

In the roof form mansard roof , also mansard roof , which roof surfaces bent in the lower region, so that the lower roof surface over a much steeper slope than the upper features. This creates additional living space for one or more attics . One (front side), two (mansard gable roof) or all 4 roof sides (mansard hipped roof ) can be bent. The latter is often found in individual buildings from the Baroque and 1920s.

The name goes back to the French architect François Mansart (1598–1666) and his great-nephew Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646–1708) who made this type of roof construction popular in their numerous magnificent buildings in Paris . However, the architect of the Louvre , Pierre Lescot , is considered to be the inventor , who had already implemented this space-saving idea around 100 years earlier.

Tax reasons also led to the spread of this roof shape when the property tax was levied on the number of full floors. With a mansard roof, one or more residential floors could be accommodated in the roof without these apartments having noticeable sloping ceilings and without being assessed for tax purposes.

This type of roof appeared particularly frequently from the 18th to the early 20th century. It is usually constructed as a rafter roof with a standing or lying chair on the mansard floor and a simple rafter roof (also with collar beams ) above.

In Germany, the roof shape can be found as an expression of the bourgeois Baroque not only in the former Kingdom of Prussia , but also in large parts of southern and western Germany. In the 1980s and 1990s, the roof shape experienced a renaissance, especially in the urban areas of large cities. One advantage of the roof shape is the improved usability of attic storeys in houses with more than two full storeys. Disadvantages of mansard roofs, however, are the more complex and more vulnerable roof structures and the limited usability for solar energy (photovoltaics and solar thermal energy).