Building envelope materials, indoor environmental quality and public-health relevance in Kuwait: a narrative review of exposure pathways in a hot-arid climate
- 1College of Engineering and Technology, American University of the Middle East
Abstract
Kuwait’s hot-arid climate, intense solar exposure, dust conditions, and prolonged reliance on air-conditioning create distinctive demands on building-envelope materials and may influence their long-term interaction with indoor environments. This narrative review examines building-envelope and insulation materials investigated in Kuwait or under Kuwait climatic conditions and evaluates their potential indoor environmental and public-health relevance through measurable exposure pathways. Kuwait-focused evidence was identified primarily through Scopus and complemented by international literature where direct Kuwait-specific exposure or health evidence was unavailable. The current review is a source-pathway-measurement synthesis that relates envelope assemblies and transport mechanisms with measurable indoor environmental indicators without drawing Kuwait-specific health conclusions. Environmental and operational factors, including high surface temperatures, solar exposure, dust deposition, thermal cycling, prolonged air-conditioning, moisture gradients, installation, maintenance, and aging, may modify material behavior and the conditions under which exposure pathways become relevant. Accordingly, public-health relevance should be assessed through measurable indicators source-release-transport pathways rather than inferred from material type alone. Additionally, simulation or portable-cabin findings should not be considered functionally similar to occupied-building exposure evidence. Therefore, this review proposes an integrated assembly-transport-IEQ-occupant framework combining thermal performance, material condition and aging, ventilation and moisture assessment, targeted chemical or particulate measurements where relevant pathway exists, and occupant-reported Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). This structured approach underlines the measurements needed to assess the public-health relevance of building-envelope materials under Kuwait’s hot-arid and highly air-conditioned conditions.
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BibTeX
@article{hallak2026building,
title = {{Building envelope materials, indoor environmental quality and public-health relevance in Kuwait: a narrative review of exposure pathways in a hot-arid climate}},
author = {Mohamad Al Hallak and Mohamad Ali-Ahmad and Christina El-Sawda and Hassan Flity and Farjallah Alassaad},
journal = {Frontiers in Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2026.1982898},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1982898/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Building envelope materials, indoor environmental quality and public-health relevance in Kuwait: a narrative review of exposure pathways in a hot-arid climate
AU - Mohamad Al Hallak
AU - Mohamad Ali-Ahmad
AU - Christina El-Sawda
AU - Hassan Flity
AU - Farjallah Alassaad
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
JO - Frontiers in Public Health
DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1982898
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1982898/full
AB - Kuwait’s hot-arid climate, intense solar exposure, dust conditions, and prolonged reliance on air-conditioning create distinctive demands on building-envelope materials and may influence their long-term interaction with indoor environments. This narrative review examines building-envelope and insulation materials investigated in Kuwait or under Kuwait climatic conditions and evaluates their potential indoor environmental and public-health relevance through measurable exposure pathways. Kuwait-focused evidence was identified primarily through Scopus and complemented by international literature where direct Kuwait-specific exposure or health evidence was unavailable. The current review is a source-pathway-measurement synthesis that relates envelope assemblies and transport mechanisms with measurable indoor environmental indicators without drawing Kuwait-specific health conclusions. Environmental and operational factors, including high surface temperatures, solar exposure, dust deposition, thermal cycling, prolonged air-conditioning, moisture gradients, installation, maintenance, and aging, may modify material behavior and the conditions under which exposure pathways become relevant. Accordingly, public-health relevance should be assessed through measurable indicators source-release-transport pathways rather than inferred from material type alone. Additionally, simulation or portable-cabin findings should not be considered functionally similar to occupied-building exposure evidence. Therefore, this review proposes an integrated assembly-transport-IEQ-occupant framework combining thermal performance, material condition and aging, ventilation and moisture assessment, targeted chemical or particulate measurements where relevant pathway exists, and occupant-reported Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). This structured approach underlines the measurements needed to assess the public-health relevance of building-envelope materials under Kuwait’s hot-arid and highly air-conditioned conditions.
SN - 2296-2565
ER -