This being my first editorial blog, I’m a little lost for how to begin. As I have lived in extreme climates like; Toronto, Ontario Canada (43.6532° N, 79.3832° W) that has a semi-continental climate which is modified by its location on the shores of Lake Ontario with a warm, humid summer and a severe cold winter with snow on the ground most days between mid-December and mid-March. Toronto is an extremely cold city;  Tampico, Tamaulipas Mexico (22.2931° N, 97.8847° W) has a Tropical savanna climate reasonably pleasant in spring and autumn, frequent rainfall from May through September and winters are pleasantly cool. Tampico is an extremely humid city; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (36.1699° N, 115.1398° W) is situated within Clark County in a basin on the floor of the Mojave Desert and is surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides. Much of the landscape is rocky and arid with desert vegetation. Las Vegas is an extremely hot city; my education and personal experience has taught me the importance of the materials selection to be used under each unique weather condition.

Environment can be defined as the combined effect of a number of factors that act together with the materials, that is; temperature, moisture, solar radiation and foreign matter. Although these environmental factors can be measured and quantified, their significance to the performance of a material depends in the degree of their interaction with the material that will influence the design of modern buildings contrary to that of standard building practice.  The growth of scientific knowledge has led to great advances in the analysis and rational design of the structural functions of a building.  I will be writing on the environmental factors that interact with the material and the relevant physical science and its application on the forthcoming editorials.