Tropical rainforests have a type of tropical in which there is no dry season—all months have an average precipitation value of at least 60 mm. On the other hand, tropical savannas have a pronounced dry season with the driest month having precipitation less than 60 mm.
All the Pacific islands can be classified in the same categories based on their climate and, even though the Pacific architecture is highly diverse, there are regular patterns of architecture not only concerning the space organization but also concerning their thermal comfort. The reason for this is that main consideration when addressing the architecture of the tropics is the climate and the prevailing conditions that define the habitation in the region. The climate has dictated the types of materials available and the building techniques which have been developed and refined over hundreds of years. Regarding the materials, due to the lush vegetation of the region, the common are the organic ones. As for the building response to thermal comfort, while it has adapted to contemporary techniques, during its primitive era it was succeeded through natural conditioning and it was significantly successful in terms of energy conservation and thermal regulation.
In the picture below, it can be observed that, despite the differences of the various types of traditional buildings in the Pacific islands, there are indisputable similarities among them. The need of a shelter for the inhabitants of the Pacific islands, led to a more unified type of construction with a lot of common characteristics. Thick walls, wide roof overhangs, high ceilings, limited fenestration and open fireplace are some of the characteristics that stand out mostly for all the six aforementioned shelters that prevail due to the similar climate of the regions. Furthermore, the technique for the construction of the traditional hales as well as the most preferable materials used for their implementation, where common for all the island simplex. In the next chapter, the case of the Hawaiian traditional architecture is going to be analyzed thoroughly but it should be acknowledged that the same principals apply to the Pacific architecture.