Instructor
Drew Seyl
Student

ARCH 410 / Spring 2010

Currently, within the United States commercial roof typologies are stagnant, with pitched roofs for residential buildings and flat roofs for commercial buildings dominating the built environment. The suburban strip mall is large predominantly for retail and free to grow endlessly thanks to air-conditioning technologies. If liberated from air-conditioning machines, what other forms and functions could the roof provide? Confronting existing flat roof construction beyond simply “greening” it as proposed in most retrofit strategies and reconsidering the role of flat roof construction through the historic values of occupation, lighting, and ventilation serve as a site of inquiry and point of departure.