Roofing in Taiwan

Taiwan's roofs record waves of settlement: Austronesian Indigenous houses of stone, wood, bamboo and thatch; Hokkien and Hakka houses and temples brought by settlers from Fujian and Guangdong; Japanese colonial building from 1895 to 1945; and post-war concrete cities. A distinctive feature of today's skyline is the light steel rooftop addition built on top of flat concrete roofs.

Climate and hazards

Taiwan lies in the path of western Pacific typhoons and has a hot, humid climate with heavy summer rain. Wind is a recurring threat to lightweight roof cladding: during Typhoon Soudelor in August 2015, metal roof panels about 1 by 8 m (3 by 26 ft) were torn from the unfinished Taipei Dome. The island is also highly seismic, a factor in the shift from heavy tile to concrete and light steel.

Roofing history

Indigenous building. Prehistoric shelters included caves, stilt houses and stone masonry, mainly of Austronesian origin. The Paiwan and Bunun built stone-walled houses with thatched roofs; Paiwan stone-slab houses used layered slate laid like the scales of the hundred-pacer snake, which the Paiwan revere. The Atayal and Saisiyat built in wood and bamboo, and the Tao of Orchid Island set their houses partly into the ground to resist typhoons.

Dutch and Spanish forts. In the 17th century the Dutch built in red brick, including Fort Zeelandia (1624, now Anping Fort), and the Spanish built Fort Santo Domingo (1628).

Hokkien and Hakka tradition. Minnan (southern Fujian) architecture was introduced during the Kingdom of Tungning in the later 17th century and flourished under Qing rule. Its hallmark is the swallowtail ridge, an upswept, forked ridge end that originated in the 16th century among wealthy Hoklo traders and is common on Taiwanese temples, mansions and ancestral halls. Ridges are encrusted with cut-porcelain figures made from fragments of coloured ceramic.

Japanese era (1895-1945). Colonial architecture mixed Minnan, Japanese and Western influences and introduced reinforced concrete, seen in buildings such as the Tainan Railway Station (1936).

Post-war. After 1945, government buildings often adopted Chinese classical forms with tiled hip and hip-and-gable roofs, such as the Dacheng Hall of the Taichung Confucius Temple, while housing and offices adopted reinforced concrete and the International Style.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Paiwan stone-slab houses - layered slate building in the southern mountains.
• Bunun and Paiwan thatch - thatched roofs over stone walls.
• Minnan houses - clay-tiled roofs, with swallowtail ridges on wealthier mansions and ancestral halls.
• Temples - curved ridges with swallowtails, dragons and cut-porcelain decoration; ridge-end beasts (chiwen) appear on buildings such as the Taiwan Confucian Temple and Fort Provintia in Tainan.

Roofing today

Most buildings are reinforced concrete with flat roofs. Light gauge steel roof structures added to these roofs are widespread in both cities and the countryside, often built without permits and with little attention to detailing. Illegal rooftop additions, known as dinglou jiagai (頂樓加蓋), have been common since the Japanese era; Taipei has tightened enforcement and usually demolishes non-compliant additions.

Codes, standards and regulation

Construction is governed by the Building Act (建築法), with detailed technical rules in subsidiary regulations. Site safety during construction is also a legal duty under the Act, as shown in enforcement against the Taipei Dome developer after Typhoon Soudelor.

Notable roofs

• Beipu Citian Temple, Hsinchu County - cut-porcelain ridge decoration.
• Fengtian Temple, Chiayi - Minnan-style Mazu temple.
• Taichung Confucius Temple - post-war hip-and-gable roof in classical style.
• Anping Fort (Fort Zeelandia), Tainan - 1624 Dutch fort.

Local roofing terms

• ìnn-bé-tsiah (燕尾脊, Mandarin yanwei ji) - swallowtail ridge
• tsián-huî-tiau (剪瓷雕) - cut-porcelain decoration
• dinglou jiagai (頂樓加蓋) - rooftop addition

Sources and gaps

Roofing-material statistics, detailed code provisions on roofs and industry data: published information is limited.