Siheyuan Roof

A siheyuan is a traditional Chinese courtyard house in which four buildings enclose a central yard. It is most closely associated with Beijing and northern China. Each of the four buildings has its own pitched, ridged roof, and together the roofs frame the courtyard.

Layout and orientation

The four buildings are aligned on north-south and east-west axes. The principal hall stands on the north side facing south, so its roof and eaves receive winter sun while shading the rooms in summer. The entrance gate is usually at the south-east corner.

Roof form

Siheyuan roofs are gabled and ridged. Gabled roofs are the common type in Chinese domestic building, while hip roofs, with all four sides sloping, were historically reserved for the emperor. Roof form signalled rank: straight, single-slope roofs were the cheapest and common on commoners' houses, multi-slope roofs appeared on higher-status buildings, and dramatically upswept roofs were mostly found on temples, palaces and wealthy homes.

The ridged roof of a siheyuan helps provide shade in summer and keep warmth in during winter. The eaves curve downward at the edges, so rainwater runs along the curve and drops clear of the walls rather than falling straight down.

Materials and colour

Domestic roofs used unglazed clay tiles. Glazed yellow tiles, the imperial colour, were reserved for imperial buildings such as those of the Forbidden City, while blue was used at the Temple of Heaven to represent the sky. Ridges on larger halls were weighted with tiles and decorative figures, which both ornamented the roof and held the tiles down.

Decline and conservation

Since the 1990s many siheyuan have been demolished and replaced by apartment blocks, and many of the survivors are overcrowded with poor facilities. Conservation of Beijing's remaining courtyard houses includes repairing and relaying traditional tile roofs, which are sensitive to leaks and slipped tiles.

Related forms

Courtyard houses with similar tile roofs are found throughout China, varying with climate: the large, enclosed Fujian tulou of the south-east are one dramatic variant.