About Roofs
Choose either the Single-plane or Multi-plane construction method to create a Roof element. Like other construction elements, a Roof’s essential structure derives from its Building Material, defined in Roof Tool Settings.
The Multi-plane Roof is a single element despite its multiple planes. When you edit one of the planes, the rest of the planes automatically are automatically adjusted to the new geometry. You can edit each plane separately, changing its pitch or surface as needed. A Multi-plane Roof can have more than one level, as in a Gambrel roof, yet such a Roof always remains a single element in ARCHICAD even after you edit its components.
A Multi-plane Roof can be split up into Single-plane Roofs: select the Multi-plane Roof and use the Edit > Reshape > Split into Single-plane Roofs command or Design > Roof Extras > Split into Single-plane Roofs.
Roofs in ARCHICAD (along with Shells) can serve as trimming elements: the Connect commands enable you to use Roofs to trim other construction elements, and then remain connected to those elements even if you edit them later.
The Connect commands let you trim several separate Roof elements to each other, combining them into a more complex structure.
The roof’s elevation is measured by the elevation of the pivot line or pivot polygon, a horizontal non-printing line that you draw when creating the roof. A Roof’s pivot line or pivot polygon can be edited to graphically change Roof geometry, which is especially powerful with Multi-plane Roofs.
In the 3D window, pivot lines are shown with a specific color to make editing easier. You can change this color (“Reference lines in 3D”) in Options > Work Environment > Selection and Element Information.
Note: You can hide all pivot lines on the Floor Plan, by disabling the Roof Pivot Lines option in View > On-Screen View Options.
The Roof Pitch is measured from the pivot line.
For more information on Floor Plan display of roofs, see How to Display Individual Elements on the Floor Plan.
If you prefer to display Single-plane Roofs as they were in ARCHICAD 14 and earlier - that is, in Symbolic mode with their top surface only - you can switch this as a Project Preference: go to Options > Project Preferences > Legacy, and choose “Symbolic” as your preferred display mode. This affects Single-plane Roofs plus any Skylights they contain.
For more information, see Composite Structures and Assign a Composite Structure to a Wall, Slab, Roof or Shell.
If the structure of the Roof is a composite, then the Roof’s thickness is defined in Options > Element Attributes > Composites, and equals the sum of the skins’ thicknesses.