- Sometimes called the gingerbread house because of its fancy trim and almost dollhouse character, the Queen Anne Victorian is known for its castle-like tower. The main roof is a collection of angles and lines, but the part covering the tower is gently curved. Sometimes the tower roof is shaped like a hexagon, with definite sections. In the shingle Victorian, similar to the Queen Anne, the towers and their roofs form near perfect circles, the ultimate curve.
- It is a Buddhist belief that evil spirits, which take the form of a straight line, cannot navigate around the gently uplifted edges of an authentic Chinese roof. The tiles, usually shaped to represent bamboo, create their own curved surface, further confusing the evil spirits. Gold or yellow was used for roofing on residences of the imperial family, notably the Forbidden City. Using green roofing material encouraged long life. Roof guardians, often in animal form, were also added as protection against evil spirits.
- Though thatched roofs are more common in places like the United Kingdom and South Africa, the materials and methods used to create them lends itself to curving. Using a combination of straw and reeds held down by willow sticks, a professional thatcher creates a gently curved roof that can easily bend around windows and over entryways. The top of the roof, or the ridge, is also gently curved, tapering slightly to the ends in an exaggerated “U” shape.
- The French country design is distinguished by a sculptured roofline with several sections and a curved roof pitch. The curve in the roof is complemented by arched entryways and windows, sometimes graced by decorative shutters. Some designs combine steeply pitched, straight sections with the curved sections. This type of roofing is used in small cottages and larger, two-story homes. The latter is more likely to combine the straight and curved rooflines. Turrets are used in some designs, creating even more curves and a more interesting roofline.
- The curved domes on a Russian Orthodox Church take the shape of an upside-down onion with the root pointing skyward. They are meant to represent a lit candle, the flame reaching toward the heavens. Perhaps we see an onion because the gently curved shape is often wider than the round turret it sits on. Russian Orthodox churches traditionally have three or five onion domes. Three domes represent the Trinity, and the five symbolize Christ and his four evangelists. A solitary dome signifies Christ alone. Typical colors are gold, blue and green, also reminiscent of the Trinity.
- With geodesic domes, the entire home is one big curve. When these homes were unveiledl in Montreal at the 1967 World’s Fair, the dome shape surprised many. The aerodynamically designed shape makes domes safer in tornadoes and hurricanes: The winds whip around the structure rather than pushing against one side and knocking it over. Snow is not an issue; the shape can handle the weight. In earthquakes, the structure's low center of gravity just lets the dome rock back and forth with the ground’s movement.
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