ABSTRACT
Tropical design is no longer seen as a separate entity, but as good design that is attuned to specific variations in climate, construction industry structure, culture and socio-economic conditions. This chapter provides prompts and checklists to enable the building designer working in an unfamiliar region to carry out a detailed desk study, having first identified those issues that require detailed research. Desk study is essential that a wide range of issues be investigated in a thorough desk study before detailed design work begins. The absence of ground frost frees foundation design from some of the constraints that operate in cold climates, but other factors, such as soil type and seasonal cycles of saturation and desiccation, may present other problems. High-tech buildings in temperate climates now use design strategies that originated in the tropics. Risk of terrorism, abduction, mugging, desecration or petty theft may be unfamiliar problems that constrain design.
