Roofing in Gabon

Gabon is a heavily forested equatorial country on the Atlantic coast, with its capital at Libreville. Rural building has traditionally been light and impermanent. The most economical village houses are made of mud and covered with palm fronds; others are built of wood, bark or brick, and brick houses are usually plastered with cement and roofed with corrugated metal. Cement and concrete block are associated with wealth and with government buildings.

Climate and hazards

Gabon has a hot, humid equatorial climate with heavy rainfall and a short dry season. Roofs must shed frequent downpours, and organic materials decay rapidly; metal roofs gain heat in the strong sun and corrode in the salty air of the coast.

Roofing history

Baka forest people build dome-shaped leaf huts (móngulu) in forest camps. Village architecture traditionally centred on family houses, separate kitchen huts and men's meeting houses. Cement is regarded as a sign of wealth and is used for government buildings, while mud, bark and palm fronds remain in use for cheaper homes.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Mud house with palm-frond roof: the most economical rural dwelling.
• Wood and bark houses in forest villages.
• Kitchen hut (cuisine): a separate building for each wife, built by men, lined with bamboo beds.
• Men's meeting house (corps de garde): an open structure with walls only waist-high, open to the roof, with benches around a central fire.
• Móngulu: Baka leaf dome (see Mongulu).

Roofing today

Brick houses are often coated with cement and roofed with corrugated metal, and wealthier families build with cinder (concrete) blocks. In Libreville, buildings designed by Gabonese architects are considered distinguishable from those by foreign architects.

Local roofing terms

• corps de garde (French, local usage): open-sided men's meeting house.
• cuisine (French, local usage): kitchen hut.

Sources and gaps

Published histories of Gabonese roofing are scarce. No national roof-material figures were found in published sources. No individually documented landmark roofs were identified.

Fang house construction and roofing, national survey data, codes and industry are not documented in published sources.