Monitor Roof Designs

Historical Designs

• The use of monitor roof designs that incorporate clerestory windows dates back many centuries. According to the University of Memphis' Hypostyle Hall Project, the hypostyle hall of the ancient Egyptian temple at Karnak, constructed at the end of the 13th century B.C., featured a central roof that rose 30 feet higher than the roofs that flanked it. The upper walls of this central part of the hall were perforated with large windows that let light into a space that would otherwise have been very dark. As a 17th-century reconstruction of Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, which was built in the fourth century A.D., shows, the building used a monitor roof design to illuminate its cavernous interior.

Barns

• Monitor roof designs are commonly used in barns because their windows allow sunlight to reach into spaces that would otherwise be difficult and costly to light and because the higher roof height of the building's central section provides clearance for large vehicles and equipment. Horse barns often use the design, tucking stalls into the low-roofed wings. Other applications of the design use the wings for office space while reserving the central section for work or storage.

Public Buildings

• Monitor roofs have become an option for the design of public buildings such as libraries. The design admits sunlight deep into the interior of the building, providing lighting that is both psychologically appealing to patrons and it is energy-efficient. Roof designs in these types of buildings must be carefully considered to limit glare from sunlight, undesirable variability of the natural light source and excessive heating caused by additional exposure to solar energy.

Diners

• Monitor roofs were commonly used in prefabricated diner buildings before the 1950s. In this case, the roof design refers to the roofs of early railroad cars and trolleys that used raised central rooflines and clerestory windows to illuminate their interiors and provide ventilation. Monitor-roof diners were typically situated in downtown business districts and near major automobile routes and were often constructed from stainless steel or aluminum.