Top 47 Pergola Designs

According to Collins dictionary, a pergola, also known as a patio, is a roofed structure which can serve as an anchor for crawling plants. It is also defined as a horizontally built frame, standing on posts, that supports crawling plants and can serve as a covered shed for people walking by. A pergola is not merely a lifeless structure made of wood, metal or concrete. It can provide meaningful and enjoyable experiences. Historically speaking, cultural practices have always been associated with pergola structures all over the world – from the Romans, to the Chinese and Japanese civilizations, even extending to Southeast Asian islanders. In this article, we take a look at various pergola designs inspired by cultures around the world. The pergola designs featured here span those for domestic residences as well as those intended for public places such as parks. We hope to be able to provide you with ideas on how you want your dream pergola to be built.

FOREST PERGOLA
This pergola design is suitable in a place where evergreen trees and plants abound. If you live near a forest and you appreciate the beauty of intertwined crawling plants and carpets of leaves falling on the ground as you sit on the bench and listen to relaxing music, then go ahead and have this style built by a pergola builder. This patio is also suitable for elderly persons in care facilities.
TUNNEL PERGOLA
The elongated shape of the rafters of this pergola gives the impression of a tunnel. This style is suitable for clients who want a wide area of their property to be covered. During very hot days, this can be an area of relief especially with a house where a lot of people live and want to avoid congestion inside the house.
LAKESIDE PERGOLA
This is a suitable pergola design for individuals who love spending their mornings reading books. For residence owners who live near a lake where hanging willows are planted, this lakeside pergola model provides a perfect match. You can easily immerse in the novel you are reading while sitting at your pergola that is shaded by ancient willow trees.
FUTURISTIC PERGOLA
This chunky pergola design takes a bit of inspiration from brutalist architecture. The materials are positioned in strong and blocky angles. This design is perfect for a bachelor or a career woman who lives in a hilly area overlooking a buzzling city. It gives off a feeling of power and accomplishment.
BACHELOR’S PAD PERGOLA
If you are a bachelor who wants to add more character to your flat, this style would work for you. It basically provides a canopy to the entire building which allows you to host parties at your balcony area without having to worry about the rain. Add in some crawling plants to the posts and rafters of the pergola and your pad becomes even better.
JAPANESE PERGOLA
This design takes inspiration from Japanese architecture. Aside from the horizontal beams, there are also triangular or slanted rafters that provide a distinct. sloping appearance. The beams and rafters provide a smooth and clean texture like a samurai blade while the pillars are rough, textured, and grippy-looking like a sword hilt.
BACKYARD PERGOLA
Your outdoor patio should be the perfect spot for relaxing after a hard day’s work. A long bench with a comfortable cushion and lots of throw pillows would surely do the trick.
FORTRESS PERGOLA
This is a heavy-set design composed of entire logs but other durable materials can be used as well. Perfect to be integrated as a main support for fencing structures. The best thing about this is that it can carry a whole lot of crawling plants, even for vines that carry heavy fruits and vegetables like passion fruit or chayote.
WEDDING PERGOLA
This is perfect for beach weddings! Fragrant flowers like roses can be intertwined in the pergola posts and beams to give that romantic feeling. Since this is made of wood, it is faster to assemble. We, at Urban Exteriors, can take up rush projects so if you’re looking for the best pergola builders to create your wedding altar pergola, give us a call on 02 982 7716.
WOVEN PERGOLA
Great for booklovers to spend their time at! Woven materials like rattan grass can be integrated into this pergola to provide more aesthetics. As you can see, the woven pattern has been applied all throughout the pergola’s parts making it look similar to traditional Southeast Asian huts which parts are made from weaving as well.
SKATING LANE PERGOLA
Friends who are into roller skating do not have to compete for space at a cramped skating park. They can cruise through an area like this while enjoying fresh air from all the flowers and vines. When you need to take a rest from skating, you can sit on the benches positioned under the pergola and take in the oxygen from the crawling plants.
OBSERVATORY PERGOLA
This design is perfect for birdwatchers, stargazers, fishing hobbyists. The dome-shaped roof mimics the roofing styles of observatories and planetariums. This pergola is ideal to be constructed near still waters and quiet forests.
DINER’S PERGOLA
If you own a hotel or restaurant and are thinking of spicing up your outdoor dining area, the diner’s pergola is one design to seriously consider. Its canopy allows customers to enjoy their meals without having to worry about too much sunlight or sudden rain. Include hanging plants and string lights and the only thing lacking is a good musical band to really add to the diners’ food experience!
CORRIDOR PERGOLA
This design transforms an otherwise boring corridor into a smooth-looking pergola structure that serves both to connect buildings and as a seating area for people passing through.
CAVE PERGOLA
If you have a dense garden and you prefer to partially hide your pergola from plain sight, this design works for you. The post, beams, and rafters, provide an outline for a cave-like structure that allows for your plants to provide a nice cover.
BEACH PERGOLA
Perfect for skyline viewing, sunset viewing, with your loved ones. This pergola design is ideal to integrate with a light tower so that persons who await their loved ones coming from sea voyages can have a spot to wait on. The patio deck will serve as the receiving area.
CAMPING PERGOLA
This design is inspired by the custom of middle-aged European royal families who are provided with resting open tents while they are traveling. Families or groups who go on camping trips can request the concerned government authorities to fund the building of permanent camp pergolas on popular hiking grounds. They can be made with a combination of wood, metal, and concrete. Campers can just bring their own curtains and foldable furniture to achieve that royal camp look!
GRANNY PERGOLA
This patio design takes you back to the time when you were a kid and you used to visit your granny’s house and see her sitting on her porch and weaving a sweater for you! The hand-woven brown rattan chairs and table really give off a traditional look. As well, the hanging weave-pattern screens on the pergola complement the furniture and also serve as anchors for climbing plants.
CHINESE PERGOLA
Doesn’t this pergola look like a mini-version of The Forbidden Palace in Beijing? Couple this with an astounding background of autumn colors and you get this awesome feeling when looking at it. Doing exercises like Tai Chi or Kung Fu at this pergola while the winds blow away the fallen leaves, would be a rejuvenating experience.
WISTERIA PERGOLA
This design transforms an otherwise boring corridor into a smooth-looking pergola structure that serves both to connect buildings and as a seating area for people passing through.
MATRIX PERGOLA
The horizontal rafters have an interlocking geometric design. The pillars have stripes. The awesome geometric design even gets reflected on the shadows.
ROMAN PERGOLA
This patio design takes you back to the Roman times when they used to relax and eat grapes and have drinking fountains. This is a more elaborate design because of the curved angles, etched carvings, and the combination of concrete posts and beams, and metal rafters. It’s going to be more expensive to have this pergola built but the aesthetic pleasure that you can get once it is finished will be worth the cost!
CHRISTMAS PERGOLA
Cold winter nights don’t have to prevent you from staying outdoors. If you hire a patio builder to make a customized Christmas pergola, you’ll have a centerpiece outdoor structure at your residence during the holiday season. Since crawling plants are hard to grow during winter, you can substitute them with Christmas lights which you can wrap around the posts and beams of your pergola.
YOGA PERGOLA
Ideal as a workout space for doing meditation, pilates, or yoga. If you live in a densely-populated neighborhood but you have a small space for gardening and landscaping, you can have this pergola constructed to give you a complementary breathing space. Plugin your headphones, close your eyes, and meditate underneath by this zen-like pergola.
LEGO PERGOLA
There are lots of layers to this design, similar to lego blocks. Therefore, it can also have multiple functions. Persons strolling in the park can take a seat by this pergola. Tired individuals wanting to take a rest can lie down on its benches. People who love working out can hang on the beams and rafters and do some gymnastic moves. This is truly a multi-purpose design. Watch out! This pergola might transform into an autobot robot!
GREEK PERGOLA
This patio design takes inspiration from the architectural style of the Greek civilization. Because of the massive build, this pergola will require more materials and manpower, and thus is more expensive. However, it will also stand for decades as is probably the case with the pergola in this picture. This pergola structure is suitable for huge buildings like government facilities, universities, or hospitals. If you are an owner of a huge building and considering to have a huge pergola, the function, aesthetics, and durability that you can get from this built structure will be totally worth it.
COASTLINE PERGOLA
This design complements the outline of a beach coast. Awesome place to be alone and relax while looking at the blue ocean. As you can see on the image, this patio can also be used as a totem-like structure where banners can be hung. For persons who periodically go to the coastline to wait for the return of their seafaring loved ones who work on ships, this pergola design can act as a symbolic structure.
AUTUMN PERGOLA
If you like to have an autumn-like atmosphere all year-round, you can have this pergola built and place plants that have fiery colors. Autumn season gives off a romantic and passionate feel. You can actually request your local government to contract a good pergola builder and have this made at a public spot.
MAZE PERGOLA
This design transforms an otherwise boring corridor into a smooth-looking pergola structure that serves both to connect buildings and as a seating area for people passing through.
ISLAND PERGOLA
This small-sized pergola variation is suitable for owners of hotels or apartment buildings who want to renovate the common-use areas in their property. It gives a sense of individuality while still in an open environment. The pergola compartments look like tiny tropical islands surrounded by palm trees – thus the name.
CAFE PERGOLA
This is an attachable design that allows minimal amounts of sunlight to pass through the rafters and is therefore ideal to be used for outdoor cafe seats where friends would wish to huddle and merrily chat without feeling uncomfortable.
BOAT PERGOLA
The beams and rafters of this pergola look similar to the appearance of long boats used by Pacific islanders in their sea voyages. The widely-set design of this patio provides shade to people who wish to take a rest from sunlit activities. So after taking long walks under the sun, or playing catch with your dog on the grass, you can enjoy some cool refreshments while being sat on this lovely pergola.
CHURCH PERGOLA
Perfect for religious spots, for those people who go into pilgrims. This patio design has a more sober feel to it. For local authorities who want to develop religious spots in their location for tourism, hiring a pergola builder to build this kind of design would surely help your cause.
NUTS AND BOLTS PERGOLA
This design is for those people who prefer a very minimalistic but sturdy design. The straight-line attachments of the posts, beams, and rafters allow for a faster and at the same time, sturdier build to be implemented. There are practically no aesthetics involved so it’s basically a “nuts-and-bolts” job which is easier to repair as well. The sturdy positioning of the wooden materials coupled with the application of protective paint allows for this patio design to survive nature’s elements.
GREENHOUSE PERGOLA
This design is a contrast to the autumn pergola which was discussed earlier. Whereas the autumn pergola was fiery and passionate, the greenhouse pergola is cooler and more subtle. Even non-flowering green plants which are considered by some people to be boring, can take the spotlight in this pergola design. This is awesome to be placed in public parks where kids can take a break from running around in the heat of the sun, and take a cool break under this pergola. As a side note, psychologists have found that looking at the color green contributes to creativity and relaxation!
TEMPLE PERGOLA
This looks similar to Eastern Asian and several Southeast Asian architectural styles. There are detailed engravings from the foot of the pillars to the edge of the pointed roof. This type of patio design is perfect as a stage or centerpiece in holding events like traditional dances.
BALCONY PERGOLA
A multi-layered style that is suited to individuals living in a warm climate. This pergola allows them to feel relief from some breeze without having to worry about excessive sun exposure.
BRUTALIST STYLE PERGOLA
This style is inspired by the Brutalist architecture which emerged in the 1950s and had been commonly used in government buildings and universities. It gives off a strong and monolithic impression which is suitable for buildings of authority. We, at Urban Exteriors, are very willing to work with government agencies and universities in building their pergolas.
TERRACE PERGOLA
The open-spaced design of this pergola is perfect in creating a balcony-like structure in an elevated, and windy location. Perfect for romantic movie scenes. If you are a dancer, you can invite your dance partner to a pergola structure like this and practice your moves while playing a fast Spanish beat and allowing the winds to rush through your movements.
MIDDLE EASTERN PERGOLA
This design looks similar to Middle Eastern architectural structures. If you desire the luminous aura of the outdoors but you don’t want to be bothered by flies and mosquitoes, this pergola design will enable you to have an indoor area which allows sunlight to pass through the roof.
CURTAIN PERGOLA
If you prefer your pergola to be covered with flowing curtains, then go ahead with this design. Add in some hanging yellow lights and you now have a romantic spot that you and your partner can enjoy during evenings.
RUINS PERGOLA
If you own a property that contains ruins of old, heritage-like structures, don’t give up on them! You can hire an expert pergola builder to construct a patio that can match the antique aura of your property. The builder would be likely to give an initial recommendation of placing lighter materials for the beams and rafters on an existing old pillar in order not to compromise its structural integrity.
COTTAGE PERGOLA
This is the ideal pergola for a vacation house in a mountain resort. The rich-brown wooden posts and beams complement the forest cover. If you love hunting as a hobby and are looking to improve your vacation house by adding a pergola where you can sit and enjoy the sunset after a successful hunt – contact a pergola builder who can refine your property.
RENAISSANCE PERGOLA
Just look at the amount of detail that went into every part of this pergola! The posts are not massive but have this sleek, elegant feel to them. It kinda takes you back to the Renaissance period when people started to add more sophistication to arts and crafts. Any person who would see a pergola like this set up at a park would be able to imagine how Renaissance people used to play music, dance, and speak poetry at pergola structures.
ANTEBELLUM PERGOLA
If you have a nostalgia for the home architectural designs of the US southern states before the civil war, the antebellum pergola is a perfect match for you. The southern states had a distinct charm when it comes to their culture, language and music and these traits are all embedded in their earlier patios where people used to huddle together to share stories and play musical instruments.
TROPICAL PERGOLA
This pergola gives off the impression of it being like an island surrounded by coconut trees, garland-type flowers, and a light blue horizon that turns majestic gold during sunset! The cool, marble-like look and feel of the white posts and beams is a complement to the passionate tropical weather. So if you live in a place where there is constant warm weather, you might as well make your home more cozy by adding in this tropical pergola.
SPA PERGOLA
If you own a massage spa, this type of pergola would be a nice addition to your business. Just by the picture, it looks so cozy that any exhausted person who saw this would gladly call you up for your service. Your client might actually end up feeling too comfortable that he would probably end up sleeping like a baby at this pergola!

These are the top 47 pergola designs that you can choose to be constructed at your property. If you are looking for highly-qualifed pergola builders to create your dream pergola, call us on 02 9872 7716.