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Table 6 Roof-building engineering solutions in traditional architecture in Malta [2, 40, 42]

From: Architectural ruins: geoculture of the anatomy of buildings as illustrated by Casa Ippolito, Malta

Span (s)

Roof building engineering solutions

0.7 m < s ≤ 2.00 m

2.0 m is the maximum span of a xriek without failing in tension

2.0 m < s ≤ 2.75 m

The effective span of the space at roof level is reduced to 2.0 m (and thus can be roofed by a xriek tal-qasab) by: either sloping gently the walls or adding corbelling (Maltese: kileb) below the roofing slabs

s > 2.75 m

At ground floor level, masonry arches are used at circa 1.2 m intervals with xorok spanning from one arch to the other; at upper levels: the masonry arches are replaced by timber beams.