Roofing in Bolivia

Bolivia covers the high Andean altiplano, deep valleys and broad tropical lowlands. Its roofs include grass thatch on the altiplano, clay tile in colonial towns and on the Jesuit mission churches of the lowlands, and corrugated metal sheet, which now covers about half of all homes.

Climate and hazards

• Altiplano: high altitude, cold nights, strong sun and a summer rainy season.
• Lowlands of Santa Cruz and the Beni: heavy tropical rain, which the Chiquitos mission builders met with wide porches and low eaves.
• Earthquakes, addressed by the national seismic standard.

Roofing history

Andean. Andean houses were traditionally of adobe or stone with roofs of grass thatch. The bunchgrass ichu (Jarava ichu), known in Spanish as paja brava, is a common grass of the altiplano. The ancient city of Tiwanaku, near Lake Titicaca, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2000.

Colonial. The colonial cities of Potosí (UNESCO 1987) and Sucre (UNESCO 1991) preserve Spanish colonial buildings.

Jesuit missions. In the eastern lowlands, Jesuits founded missions among the Chiquitos peoples in the 18th century. Their churches have a distinctive structure: a wooden skeleton of columns fixed in the ground carries the tile-covered roof, which was built first, while the adobe walls carry no load. Wide porches and low eaves protect the walls from rain, and roof and floor tiles were made in local tile works. The churches are about 16 to 20 m (52 to 66 ft) wide, 50 to 60 m (164 to 197 ft) long and 10 to 14 m (33 to 46 ft) high. The Swiss Jesuit Martin Schmid designed San Xavier (1749 to 1752), San Rafael (1747 to 1749) and Concepción (1752 to 1756). Restoration began in 1972 under the architect Hans Roth, and six churches were inscribed by UNESCO in 1990: San Xavier, San Rafael de Velasco, San José de Chiquitos, Concepción, San Miguel de Velasco and Santa Ana de Velasco.

Modern. Corrugated metal sheet (calamina) has largely replaced thatch, and reinforced concrete slabs are used in cities.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Ichu thatch on adobe houses of the altiplano (see Andean ichu thatch).
• Mission-style roofs of clay tile on timber columns, with deep galleries, in Chiquitos.
• Roofs of straw, cane, palm or mud, still recorded as a category in household surveys.

Roofing today

The National Statistics Institute's 2015 Household Survey (Encuesta de Hogares) asked about the material most used in roofs. Weighted results, as published in INE's microdata catalogue, were:

• Metal sheet (calamina o plancha): 52.5%
• Tile of cement, clay or fibre-cement (teja): 31.6%
• Reinforced concrete slab (losa de hormigón armado): 9.3%
• Straw, cane, palm or mud: 6.4%
• Other: 0.2%

The 2024 census reported that the share of homes rated high-quality on a combined housing index rose from 39.3% in 2001 to 66.9% in 2024.

Codes, standards and regulation

A 2012 comparative review listed Bolivia's NBDS standard of 2006 as its seismic code.

Notable roofs

• Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos (UNESCO 1990): tiled roofs on timber column frames.

Local roofing terms

• Calamina: corrugated metal sheet.
• Teja: tile (clay, cement or fibre-cement).
• Losa: concrete slab.
• Paja brava: ichu grass.