Roofing in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia covers most of the Arabian Peninsula and has three very different historic roofing traditions: the mud-brick flat roofs of Najd in the centre, the coral-stone tower houses of the Red Sea coast, and the rock-cut Nabataean tombs of the north-west. Modern buildings are dominated by flat reinforced concrete roofs, now subject to energy-conservation rules in the Saudi Building Code.

Climate and hazards

The interior has extreme summer heat and very little rain, while the Red Sea coast around Jeddah is hot and humid. The national energy code divides the country into three climate zones, each with maximum heat-transfer values for the building envelope, including roofs. Mud roofs and walls are vulnerable to the rare but heavy rains.

Roofing history

Nabataean Hegra. At Hegra (al-Hijr, Madâ'in Sâlih), the largest conserved Nabataean site south of Petra, 111 monumental tombs, 94 with decorated facades, were cut directly into sandstone between about the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. As at Petra, the carved rock forms the roof of each chamber.

Najdi architecture. The Najdi style flourished in central Arabia and is best represented by At-Turaif in ad-Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in the 15th century on the edge of the Diriyah oasis, where adobe was used even for major palace complexes. Roofs and doors were of tamarisk wood; walls were thick mud brick finished with mud plaster. See najdi-mud-roofs.

Red Sea tower houses. In Historic Jeddah, the mercantile elite built tall tower houses in the late 19th century, a development linked to the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. They have large carved wooden roshan bay windows and internal ventilation devices suited to the humid climate; lower houses use coral stone, a tradition shared along the Red Sea coast.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Najdi flat roof: tamarisk timbers carrying earth, behind crenellated parapets (shurfat); bands of incised inverted triangles below the parapet help shed rainwater, and small openings (furjat) ventilate rooms.
• Coral-stone houses: Red Sea coast, including Jeddah.
• Rock-cut chambers: Hegra.

Roofing today

Flat reinforced concrete roofs with waterproofing and insulation are standard.

Codes, standards and regulation

• Saudi Building Code (SBC): a national code family; its 2018 edition is distributed by the International Code Council.
• SBC 602, Energy Conservation Requirements (low-rise residential, 2016): sets maximum overall heat-transfer coefficients (U-values) for building envelopes in three climate zones. A 2019 study found that external insulation (polyurethane, 45-65 mm or about 1.8-2.6 in thick) could cut simulated annual energy use by about two-thirds, with payback in roughly 3-4 years, but noted the code still needed enforcement.

Notable roofs

• At-Turaif, ad-Diriyah (UNESCO): Najdi mud-brick palaces and houses.
• Historic Jeddah (UNESCO): coral-stone and roshan tower houses.
• Hegra (UNESCO): Nabataean rock-cut tombs.
• Riyadh: Najdi buildings including Masmak Fortress and Murabba Palace.

Local roofing terms

• shurfat - crenellated parapets of Najdi buildings
• furjat / luhuj - small ventilation openings
• roshan - projecting wooden window bay (Jeddah)

Sources and gaps

Detailed climate data, national data on roofing materials, roof-specific code provisions and information on manufacturers: published information is limited.