Rob Irish wrote:
They are really beautiful, although I wonder: is a functional reason for the curved shape of the roofs? That is a lot of extra work to do I would imagine. Then again, not much is really 'straight' in nature so is there a purpose to it? Why does asian vernacular design tend towards arched roofing? I can think of many reasons artistically, or spiritually perhaps mirroring mountains and being one with the landscape, but what about practically?
I know this is an old thread but I wanted to comment in case others are still reading. The reason for the curved roof is to allow solar gain in the winter and block it in the summer. Lower winter sun comes in more horizontally and the higher summer sun gets blocked. If you kept the roof at the same pitch it would block the sun in the winter, resulting in a dark and cold house.
