Mansard roof

The gambrel roof shape ( in Austria also mansard roof ), the roof surfaces are bent in the lower part, so that the lower roof surface has a much steeper slope than the upper. This creates additional living space for one or more attic. This can be a kinked (front ), two ( Mansardgiebeldach ) or all four sides of the roof ( Mansardwalmdach ). The latter is often the case with solitary baroque buildings and the 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 roofing technology in its many magnificent buildings in Paris popular. As the inventor applies, however, the architect of the Louvre, Pierre Lescot, who realized this space-saving idea already about 100 years earlier.

To spread this roof shape also resulted in tax reasons, as the property tax was levied on the number of full floors. With a mansard one or more residential floors could be accommodated in the roof without these apartments had noticeable sloping roofs and were measured for tax purposes.

Particularly frequently joined this roof form from 18th to the early 20th century. Constructed it is usually as a rafter roof with standing or lying in the chair and simple mansard roof rafter ( with collar beams ) about it.

In Germany you will find the roof form as an expression of bourgeois Baroque mainly in the former Kingdom of Prussia. In the eighties and nineties of the 20th century, the roof shape experienced a renaissance, particularly in suburban belt of large cities. As an advantage, the roof type, the improved usability of attics can be called in houses with more than two floors. A disadvantage of mansard roofs, however, the more complex and more vulnerable roof structures and the limited usefulness for solar energy ( photovoltaic and solar thermal) apply.

Pictures

Removed mansard roofs in Paris

Orangery of Charlottenburg Palace

Mansard roof on the Pagodenburg in Rastatt

Mansard roof with hipped at the castle Hutten Altengronau