Matter and surface
Roof tile
housing temple heritage building corredor
It is a piece of fired clay, curved or flat, that overlaps with others to form a roof that sheds water.
What it solves
It drains heavy rain, and its mass dampens heat and noise under the roof. Loose pieces can be replaced one by one.
Today
Respect the minimum slope for each type of tile and tie it down against the wind. Check and replace broken pieces before the rainy season.
Common mistake
Laying it with little slope or a short overlap, which causes leaks.
Tomorrow
Tile reclaimed from demolitions can be laid again. Under the eave, a tile adapted as a nest can invite birds and bats without them entering the house.
Where it comes from
- 1Longshan culture China, Late Neolithic
Fragments of the oldest over-and-under tiles in Asia. - 2Archaic Greece Corinth, Greece, 700 to 650 BC
Fired tiles replaced thatch on temples. - 3Rome Roman Empire, Antiquity
The system of flat tile (tegula) and curved tile (imbrex) spread across Europe. - 4Colonial tile works Cartago and El Tejar, Costa Rica, 17th and 18th centuries
Fired clay tile was produced in Cartago from the 17th century and in El Tejar from the late 18th century.
Masters
- Wang Shu Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China, 2007
He reused millions of bricks and tiles salvaged from demolitions on the roofs and walls of the campus. He teaches that old tile is a resource and a memory worth keeping.
See also
Also in Matter and surface
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.