Maria Lopez Diaz, architect with the Construction Department of the INTI, Buenos Aires, Argentina has collaborated with the Roof Division of the CSTB Research Centre, Mame‐la‐Vallée, France, where Alain Chaize is the head of the Centre and a member of CIB W83. The study classifies the performance of various roofing materials and demonstrates that traditional rural structures cannot be transposed into an urban environment.