Paris Architecture Roof

A rooftop garden on paris s rue vieille du temple that arnaud casaus designed.

Paris architecture roof.

Made of metal mesh it looks as if a veil billowing in the wind became frozen in time. A century later the french architect françois mansart 1598 1666 used double sloped roofs so extensively that they were coined mansard a derivation of mansart s. Yet one of the capital s most impressive features is invisible at street level. A mansard roof on the château de dampierre by jules hardouin mansart great nephew of françois mansart a mansard or mansard roof also called a french roof or curb roof is a four sided gambrel style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope punctured by dormer windows at a steeper angle than the upper.

From cathedrals to government buildings the roofs of paris are unrivaled in beauty and ingenuity. Visit notre dame s iconic frame with 210 tons of lead or the dome of the invalides covered by 500 000 gold leaves. During the renaissance in italy and france many buildings had steep double sloped roofs. The domed churches began as a weapon of the counter reformation against the architectural austerity of the protestants.

The lack of major pillars supporting the massive roof furthers the sensation that the structure is floating. The most dramatic new feature of paris religious architecture in the 17th century was the dome which was first imported from italy in about 1630 and began to change the paris skyline which hitherto had been entirely dominated by church spires and bell towers.