Saw-tooth roof

Last updated
An example of the sawtooth form is this factory built for Morris Engines Ltd., at Gosford Street, Coventry in 1923. Engines branch.jpg
An example of the sawtooth form is this factory built for Morris Engines Ltd., at Gosford Street, Coventry in 1923.

A saw-tooth roof is a roof comprising a series of ridges with dual pitches either side. The steeper surfaces are glazed to admit daylight and face away from the equator to shield workers and machinery from direct sunlight. This kind of roof admits natural light into a deep plan building or factory. It was therefore most commonly built during the Machine Age from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth, when electrification of factories was not yet common.

Contents

KET-hall in Weimar KET-Halle (Weimar) 2.jpg
KET-hall in Weimar

Many factories of the era had little or no electrical wiring; their main power sources for the machinery were often steam engines driving line shafting, and the lighting was chiefly via daylighting through the windows. Work done at night, when necessary, was typically lit by oil lamps and candles, but many factories closed for the night. Their norm of an early working day (for example, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.) was not merely a tradition but a functional decision based on this reliance on daylighting. The same was true of the farmer's workday, for the same reason.

Advantages

Sawtooth roofs have become iconographic of factories and manufacturing, and pictograms representing factories often depict them. Factory.svg
Sawtooth roofs have become iconographic of factories and manufacturing, and pictograms representing factories often depict them.

Before electric light substituted for daylight in the late 19th century, consideration of good daylight strategies was essential. The sawtooth roof, with its glass panels facing away from the equator, blocks the light and heat of direct sun exposure and provides uniform, natural light over a large area. Historically they were used in industrial and manufacturing buildings as the primary light source. Some architects think that sawtooth roofs look best when grouped in rows of three or more. [1]

Sawtooth roofs allow efficient use of headroom and floor space. It is easy to install beams, columns and attractive elevations in the design of the roof. Sawtooth roofs provide for maximum headroom compared to flat roofs. [2]

History

19th century

British engineer and architect William Fairbairn is sometimes credited with the first designs for what he termed the shed principle possibly as early as 1827. In his "Treatise on Mills and Millwork", of 1863, Fairbairn stated that, "Contemporaneous with the architectural improvements in mills [from 1827], the shed principle lighted from the roof, or the "saw-tooth" system, came into operation. It was chiefly adapted for power-weaving..." [3] It was rapidly adopted during the industrial revolution for the many new daylight factories where good natural lighting was essential in the manufacturing process and large areas of enclosed space were required to house the machinery. The first documented example can be found on the Weaving Shed (and perhaps also the Combing Shed) of Titus Salt's Saltaire Mills near Bradford, which were founded in 1851. [4]

Decline and readoption

There was a decline in its use when artificial lighting became prevalent, but the design re-emerged in the last quarter of the 20th century and early 21st century, as architects and designers placed greater importance and value in introducing natural light into buildings for environmental efficiency.

Reasons for the renewed interest in daylighting include the high cost of fossil fuels and the realization that sources of electricity have a finite life. Less tangible aspects of daylighting relate more to the human spirit and quality of life. [5]

The sawtooth design has won praise for its potential for renewable energy. Judges of the British Construction Industry's award recognised that the distinctive shape offers potential for solar panels to be installed. [6]

Sawtooth roofs, in which opaque modular elements are combined with transparent surfaces, whether inclined or in various shapes, have become prevalent again. The exact dimensioning of these roofs is extremely important both in terms of energy savings, due to the reduction in electricity needed for artificial lighting, and as regards vision quality. [7]

Examples

The Central Telephone Exchange, Melbourne, built approximately 1919, provides an early example of a reinforced concrete sawtooth roof. [8]

The Sawtooth Building is located at 930 Dwight Way, Berkeley, California, and also known as the Kawneer Manufacturing plant. [9] Early 20th-century industrial buildings in Japan often feature this design. [10] A sketch of the saw-tooth roof form is available from the Ministry of the Environment in New Zealand. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daylighting (architecture)</span> Practice of placing openings and reflective surfaces so that sunlight can provide internal lighting

Daylighting is the practice of placing windows, skylights, other openings, and reflective surfaces so that direct or indirect sunlight can provide effective internal lighting. Particular attention is given to daylighting while designing a building when the aim is to maximize visual comfort or to reduce energy use. Energy savings can be achieved from the reduced use of artificial (electric) lighting or from passive solar heating. Artificial lighting energy use can be reduced by simply installing fewer electric lights where daylight is present or by automatically dimming or switching off electric lights in response to the presence of daylight – a process known as daylight harvesting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Factory</span> Facility where goods are industrially made, or processed

A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. They are a critical part of modern economic production, with the majority of the world's goods being created or processed within factories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quarry Bank Mill</span> Preserved textile mill in Cheshire, England

Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, Cheshire, England, is one of the best preserved textile factories of the Industrial Revolution. Built in 1784, the cotton mill is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. Quarry Bank Mill was established by Samuel Greg, and was notable for innovations both in machinery and also in its approach to labour relations, the latter largely as a result of the work of Greg's wife, Hannah Lightbody. The family took a somewhat paternalistic attitude toward the workers, providing medical care for all and limited education to the children, but all laboured roughly 72 hours per week until 1847 when a new law shortened the hours.

A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Fairbairn</span> Scottish civil engineer and shipbuilder

Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet of Ardwick was a Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer and shipbuilder. In 1854 he succeeded George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson to become the third president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotton mill</span> Building producing yarn or cloth from cotton

A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Line shaft</span> Rotating shaft historically used for power transmission

A line shaft is a power-driven rotating shaft for power transmission that was used extensively from the Industrial Revolution until the early 20th century. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors small enough to be connected directly to each piece of machinery, line shafting was used to distribute power from a large central power source to machinery throughout a workshop or an industrial complex. The central power source could be a water wheel, turbine, windmill, animal power or a steam engine. Power was distributed from the shaft to the machinery by a system of belts, pulleys and gears known as millwork.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Precision Museum</span> United States historic place

The American Precision Museum is located in the renovated 1846 Robbins & Lawrence factory on South Main Street in Windsor, Vermont. The building is said to be the first U.S. factory at which precision interchangeable parts were made, giving birth to the precision machine tool industry. In recognition of this history, the building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966. In 1987, the building was recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as an International Heritage Site, and the collection was recognized as an International Heritage Collection. For each of these designations, the armory was considered a site where pivotal events occurred in the history of American industry, as well as a place that lends itself to comprehensive interpretation of that history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latur railway station</span> Railway station in Maharashtra, India

Latur railway station is a railway station in Central Railway zone which serves the city of Latur, Maharashtra. It is the start of the Latur–Miraj section of the Solapur (SUR) Division of Central Railway (CR). Latur is well connected to Latur Road Junction, Parli Vaijnath, Purna, Hingoli, Washim, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Nagpur, Nanded, Nizamabad, Osmanabad, Pune, Lonavla, Karjat, Panvel, Thane, Kalyan, Mumbai, Pandharpur, Miraj, Kolhapur, Udgir, Bidar, Vikarabad, Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Yeshwantpur, Bangalore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skylight</span> Window in the ceiling-roof

A skylight is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weaving shed</span> Originally a single storey mill developed in the 1800s

A weaving shed is a distinctive type of mill developed in the early 1800s in Lancashire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire to accommodate the new power looms weaving cotton, silk, woollen and worsted. A weaving shed can be a stand-alone mill, or a component of a combined mill. Power looms cause severe vibrations requiring them to be located on a solid ground floor. In the case of cotton, the weaving shed needs to remain moist. Maximum daylight is achieved, by the sawtooth "north-facing roof lights".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holman & Merriman Machine Shop</span> United States historic place

The Holman & Merriman Machine Shop, also known as the Derby Shop, Goodnow Pail Factory, L. A. Carpenter Machine Shop, and Streeter Shop, is an historic industrial building at 63 Canal Street in Hinsdale, New Hampshire. This three-story brick building, built in 1837, is the only building with a clerestory roof in Hinsdale, and one of only four in the state. It is also distinctive as the only known example in the state of a building purpose-built as a large-scale cooperage. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 2007, and the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places in January 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avondale Mill Historic District</span> Historic district in Alabama, United States

The Avondale Mill Historic District is a former mill village in Pell City, Alabama. Part of the Avondale Mills, the area is architecturally significant for the first sawtooth roofed mill in Alabama, and the mill village represents a relatively intact example of an early 20th century company town. The mill and its village were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. The mill closed in 2006, and burned in 2008 while being dismantled for scrap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defiance Flour Mill, Toowoomba</span> Historic site in Queensland, Australia

Defiance Flour Mill is a heritage-listed mill at 269–291 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Toowoomba architect William Hodgen and built in 1911 by WT Smith. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 26 February 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queensland Woollen Manufacturing Company mill</span> Historic site in Queensland, Australia

Queensland Woollen Manufacturing Company mill is a heritage-listed mill at 42 & 42B The Terrace, North Ipswich, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as Australian Fabric Manufacturers Ltd and Boral Hancock Plywood. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 19 September 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bocholt textile museum</span> Museum in Bocholt

The Bocholt textile museum is a museum in Bocholt, a city in the north-west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, part of the district Borken. It is situated 4 km south of the border with the Netherlands. The museum opened in 1989 as one of the eight locations of the LWL Industrial Museum: it is an Anchor point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cairns Plywood Pty Ltd Sawmill Complex</span> Historic site in Queensland, Australia

Cairns Plywood Pty Ltd Sawmill Complex is a heritage-listed sawmill at 25–33 Eacham Road, Yungaburra, Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1910 to the 1980s. It is also known as Cairns Plywood Limited, Eacham Sawmills, and Williamson Brothers Sawmill. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

The Sawtooth Building is a historic 1913 brick and steel industrial structure in Berkeley, California which was built to serve as the West Coast manufacturing headquarters of the Kawneer Manufacturing Co. It gets its name from the saw-tooth roof form of its design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Mills Web Shop</span> United States historic place

The American Mills Web Shop is a historic industrial complex at Orange Avenue and Front Street in West Haven, Connecticut. Developed between 1903 and 1914, it is an example of industrial development of the period. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British industrial architecture</span> Architecture of industries in UK

British industrial architecture has been created, mainly from 1700 onwards, to house industries of many kinds in Britain, home of the Industrial Revolution in this period. Both the new industrial technologies and industrial architecture soon spread worldwide. As such, the architecture of surviving industrial buildings records part of the history of the modern world.

References

  1. "The Dezeen guide to roof design and architecture". 28 April 2022.
  2. Khatri, Bhadresh (2022-03-20). "What Is a Sawtooth Roof? | Saw tooth Roof Construction". 9To5Civil. Retrieved 2022-07-06.
  3. Fairbairn, Treatise on Mills and Millwork 1863, Book digitized by Google from the library of Harvard University and uploaded to the Internet Archive
  4. Miles Lewis, Australian Building and Investigation, citing Fairbairn 1854,Treatise on the Application of Cast and Wrought Iron to Building Purposes
  5. "Natural Light in Architecture" Derek Phillips FCIBSE
  6. rics.org
  7. Lighting Research and Technology: "Daylighting performance of sawtooth roofs of industrial buildings" (Asdrubali), vol 35, no 4, December 2003
  8. John Monash - Engineering enterprise prior to WW1: "Notes on Building Projects"
  9. sawtoothbuilding.com: "the SAWTOOTH BUILDING also known as the KAWNEER BUILDING - a Berkeley Historic Landmark"
  10. kiea.jp: KIEA OFFICE, KIRYU CITY HALL "Downtown Historical Buildings"
  11. "mfe.govt.nz: Figure: Saw-tooth roof form". 2014-05-22. Archived from the original on 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2019-03-22.