The Corrugated Iron Roof: Avant-Garde or Unaesthetic?

The Corrugated Iron Roof: Avant-Garde or Unaesthetic?

It’s an essential architectural element, one we tend to immediately take note of when we look at buildings new to us – the roof. The roofs that shelter the buildings we see in our cities today are diverse in their typology. Flat roofs are a common sight in the city centers of urban metropolises, hip roofs are a popular choice for dwellings around the world, and the gable roof is arguably the most common of all, a roof type popular in stylized depictions of what a standard house looks like.

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Within these categorizations, however, are the many materials that roofs are made from. One material is particularly prevalent, its affordability and convenience enhancing its popularity – corrugated iron. In Zanzibar, interspersed with the coral stone architecture emblematic of Stone Town are Swahili-style houses topped with corrugated iron roofs. In the informal settlements of Dharavi in Mumbai and Orangi Town in Karachi, salvaged sheets of corrugated iron provide respite from the elements. At the same time, this roofing material has also proved popular as a chic, avant-garde architectural material.

In certain contexts, the material is lauded for going against the grain, while in some, it is derided for being a blot on the landscape. These polarizing characterizations are a reflection of how social landscapes play a key part in shaping how we view certain materials.

The origins of corrugated iron lie in the Industrial Revolution. Patented in the United Kingdom around 1830, it quickly became popular on the island, finding use in factories and train stations – structures requiring long-span roofs. From these origins came a worldwide adoption, mostly due to empire as corrugated iron was exported to colonies in Africa, India, and Australia.

As the material continued to make up the buildings that would supplant colonial economies, it found a home in South Africa – a settler colony that would later institute an apartheid system demarcated by the built environment. This is also where interesting attitudes towards corrugated iron can be seen in the early 20^th century – particularly in Cape Town.

It was an era where the Arts and Crafts style was widespread as an architectural approach. The president of the Cape Institute of Architects in 1914, Frank Kendall, slated the material, citing its inappropriateness for building permanent structures. Another president of the Cape Institute of Architects similarly criticized the material, describing corrugated iron as a material “of a transient era” and forcefully calling for “deleting the mean roofs that menace our civic and individual pride.” It’s an attitude that would perhaps underpin how the apartheid government viewed the segregated townships they instituted for South Africa’s non-white population.

Alternatively, corrugated iron has found appreciation when employed by “traditional” architects. Australian architect Glenn Murcutt is perhaps one of the more well-known steadfast users of this material. The private houses he has designed – a majority of his portfolio – feature extensive use of the material. Another influential architect, Jean Prouvé, found great acclaim in his deployment of corrugated iron, the designs developed from a factory and executed most frequently as prefabricated, demountable homes.

The Case Study Program – a program intended to provide easy-to-manufacture Modernist houses for returning servicemen, had the iconic Case Study House 22. Corrugated steel features prominently in the dwelling, with its prominence especially interesting as it would in effect become the symbol of a luxury house. A 2015 estimate put the cost of the property at $2,531,800 – an interesting case study on how viewpoints on materials can change depending on the context they are deployed in.

The UK, despite being where corrugated iron was invented, only features rare examples of corrugated iron houses in recent decades. A three-bedroom house in Scotland built entirely out of corrugated iron came into the market for £175,000 in 2007, marketed as a luxury house in the countryside. A point of discussion is the fact that this original corrugated iron – from the end of the 20^th century – was thicker than contemporary iterations of corrugated iron and was also substantially more galvanized. It’s a reflection of how empire and industrial capitalism, perhaps, would result in a decline in the quality of the material as concessions were made in the production process to prioritize profits.

As corrugated iron roofs, and corrugated iron structures in general, continue to be a part of our urban landscapes, it’s important that the visual appearance of dwellings made from corrugated iron is not used as a medium for exclusion and othering.

This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Aesthetics, proudly presented by Vitrocsa the original minimalist windows since 1992. The aim of Vitrocsa is to merge the interior and exterior with creativity.

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