Selected Bibliography Architecture - Form Space and Order | Page 41

PL ANAR ELEMENTS

The roof plane is the essential sheltering element that protects
the interior of a building from the climatic elements. The form
and geometry of its structure is established by the manner in
which it spans across space to bear on its supports and slopes to
shed rain and melting snow. As a design element, the roof plane
is significant because of the impact it can have on the form and
silhouette of a building within its setting.
Dolmen, a prehistoric monument consisting of two or more large upright
stones supporting a horizontal stone slab, found especially in Britain and
France and usually regarded as a burial place for an important person.

The roof plane can be hidden from view by the exterior walls of a
building or merge with the walls to emphasize the volume of the
building mass. It can be expressed as a single sheltering form that
encompasses a variety of spaces beneath its canopy, or comprise
a number of hats that articulate a series of spaces within a single
building.

A roof plane can extend outward to form overhangs that shield
door and window openings from sun or rain, or continue downward
further still to relate itself more closely to the ground plane. In
warm climates, it can be elevated to allow cooling breezes to flow
across and through the interior spaces of a building.
Robie House, Chicago,1909, Frank Lloyd Wright.
The low sloping roof planes and broad overhangs are characteristic
of the Prairie School of Architecture.

Shodhan House, Ahmedabad, India, 1956, Le Corbusier.
A grid of columns elevates the reinforced concrete roof slab above the
main volume of the house.

26 / A R C H I TE C TU R E : F O R M , S PA C E , & O R D E R