You’ve probably noticed. Most new buildings, the so-called “contemporary” ones, are topped not with elegant pitched roofs or intricate slate work, but with something much simpler. A flat lid. Sometimes dressed up as a “roof terrace.” Sometimes not even trying.
It’s the default look of modern construction.
But the question is: why?
Is it good design? Or just the easiest way to squeeze the last square meter of profit from a plot of land?
Just look around in any village or town in Luxembourg and you will see a parade of these flat-topped boxes, each one claiming to be "contemporary design" while really just maximising the developer's return.
The Origins of the Flat Roof: High Ideals, Low Maintenance
The flat roof wasn’t always a developer’s shortcut. Historically, flat roofs have been entirely sensible: in hot, dry climates, where rainfall is minimal and roofs could double as living space. Ancient Mesopotamia had flat roofs long before anyone called it modern.
But here in central Europe, flat roofs didn’t really make an architectural debut until the early 20th century. Enter Bauhaus. Enter Le Corbusier and his famous “Five Points of Architecture,” one of which was, you guessed it, the flat roof.
Back then, the flat roof was a radical idea. A rejection of ornament, of tradition, of pitched roofs and bourgeois pretension. It was meant to be social, functional, even utopian. Roofs were imagined as communal spaces, gardens in the sky, playgrounds for a new era of urban living.
But fast forward a hundred years and here we are in a landscape of hastily built apartment blocks and cookie-cutter duplexes, their flat roofs not utopian, not social, just… flat.
Why Developers Love a Flat Roof
The answer is as old as capitalism itself: it’s cheaper.
It is less material, a simpler structure, no fiddly angles to work out and best of all (from a developer’s perspective): you can build right up to the legal height limit without “wasting” space on a roof shape.
Pitched roofs? Those eat into your floor plans. They make the top-floor apartments a little less square. Flat roofs? You can stack your boxes, fill your cubic meters, and call it modern architecture.
And if anyone asks about design? Just drop the word Bauhaus into the conversation and hope nobody notices the lack of rooftop gardens.
But Does It Make Sense?
In dry climates? Sure.
In central Europe, where rain happens sideways and winter likes to stick around? Not so much.
Flat roofs are notorious for their drainage issues. They require precise engineering, perfect execution, and regular maintenance, three things not exactly famous for being top priorities on tight construction budgets.
Leaky membranes, pooling water, sagging structures. Sound familiar?
The irony, of course, is that the so-called “cheap option” often turns out expensive after all - just not for the developer. For the buyer. For the tenant. For the person stuck with the repair bills when the roof starts misbehaving.
A Design Decision - or Just Cutting Corners?
There’s a world of difference between a flat roof designed with care, and a flat roof slapped on top of a box because it was the cheapest option on the menu.
And here’s the thing: good architecture isn’t just about the look. It’s about how a building works. Over time. In its environment.
So next time someone calls the flat roof “modern,” it’s worth asking:
Is it modern or just maximally profitable?
When we faced our own roofing decisions, the easy path of flat modernism did not beckon as our house is 150 years old. The old solutions, pitched angles, proper drainage, materials tested by centuries, not quarterly profits, were our choice.
Read the story of our own roof project: slate, angles, history and a few hard-earned lessons here!
written by Helen M. Krauss