Why is tropical climate a structural subject, not a comfort one?
Because it attacks matter: marine chlorides in reinforcement, swelling of unstabilised timber, mould in unventilated corners. European standards place marine exposure in dedicated classes (XS) that govern concrete cover and mix design — the principle holds at all latitudes: near water, concrete is designed as a barrier.
What are the three reflexes of a well-run tropical site?
Ventilate (roof overhangs, cross-circulation), drain (the local design storm is nothing like a European one — channels, outfalls and falls are engineered), maintain (the tropical maintenance budget is decided at design stage, not after the first rainy season).
Steel frame or concrete in the tropics?
Neither dogma nor fashion: well-designed, well-covered concrete withstands humidity but weighs on foundations; steel allows spans and lightness but demands serious, monitored corrosion protection. The right answer is local — contractor quality, material availability, realistic maintenance — and is decided file by file, with the engineering office. That is how one of our Balinese villas now in operation was built — file by file, precisely.