Building Designs
Why are most of the current buildings without any aesthetic’s or flourish?
All over Abuja and where the new private estates spring up, there is hardly any estate you can drive through to visit for the aesthetics. Needless to say there is hardly any provision for soft landscaping.
In the 70s and 80s you could find signature architecture from ABU (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria) and then there were Delta designs that were climate appropriate.
The most disingenuous are the designs of the new Institutions. Some are designed like Nigerian Market Stalls barring two or three universities.
How is it not mandatory for buildings in the North to have at least four trees per housing unit? In all the surrounding villages in front of the walled compound and the centre of it there are trees.
The men rest outside from the sun’s heat and the women gather on their mats and the children play in the shade. It is always the neem tree from the mahogany family (Meliaceae), the mango, moringa or even kuka (Baobab) trees added value as a source of food and medicine.
For the Delta designs, the deep verandas had cooling effect and protection from the heavy rains.
The ABU design was the premier architectural school in the north which modernised the concept of the traditional northern homes characterised by central courtyards that allow for cool air during hot season and dust protection during harmattan.
Of course it was the first sit out shade from the ferocious tropical heat with the obligatory orange, avocado, coconut or mango that most street urchin’s found irresistible.