Holding up the Roof

According to my art history classes, architecture developed along a timeline of styles: Classical, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Eclectic & Modern. Those nine categories summed up western architecture. For most of those styles, tombs, temples, palaces and cathedrals appear to be the only structures classified as architecture --- the humble house is out of the picture.

Looking at architecture on the most basic level, all structures consist of mechanisms for supporting a roof over some form of enclosure. How that roof is formed and supported is what defines the differences between Classical, Romanesque, Gothic, etc.

My interest is in the absent pieces; homes of common people, and, more significantly, the people who do not or cannot have a roof overhead.

Holding Up the Roof explores how different architectural styles developed ways to support a roof and compares them with how we view and speak about the homeless.