Exploring the different vernacular architecture in nigeria. Sep 19, 2018 a legacy of distinctive traditional building practice known as kathkhuni construction, survives and thrives in the himalayan hills of india. The construction of a building involves the implementation of. Atlas of vernacular architecture of the world pdf 12 by. Pdf lowincome housing is often studied in a top down approach by experts and researchers. Contemporary architecture has its roots from the vernacular. The concepts of ori and human destiny in traditional yoruba thought. On the basis of comparative studies between the dynastic tradition of the. Innovative and sustainable local material in traditional. From the oral culture of its distant past to its vibrant present and buoyed by its scholarly discourses, yoruba philosophy is best understood as a folk philosophy, a set of narratives and cultural practices that attempt to explain the causes and the nature of things affecting the corporeal and the. The yoruba vernacular as a paradigm for lowincome housing.
Affecting architecture of the yoruba john michael vlach u ntil african architecture is viewed as something more than a technological response to the environmental necessity of shelter, our understanding of house building and city planning acts will remain unclear. Case study of yoruba traditional architecture british journal of. Tradition is opinion, belief, practice, customs etc. Yoruba architecture is the architecture of the yoruba people. History of the yoruba people the history of the yorubas is not yet well established. However, in terms of spatial configuration, there are marked differences. A lesson from vernacular architecture in nig eria joyce lodson 1, john emmanuel ogbeba 2, ugochuk wu kenechi elinwa 3 1 department of architecture, fed eral polytechnic bauchi, bauch i state. Early nineteenthcentury romanticism fed into victorian thinking on architecture, the arts, design and material culture.
Factors shaping vernacular architecture of northern nigeria. Traditional and vernacular buildings are ecological sensitive. Pdf a lesson from vernacular architecture in nigeria. Eighteen years after its original publication, paul olivers encyclopedia of vernacular architecture of the world will be updated, revised, and expanded to include over 30% of new material. A case study of the yoruba southwestern region of nigeria.
The standardisation of yoruba vernacular architecture started when european missionaries arrived, armed with the paraphernalia of change. The concepts of ori and human destiny in traditional yoruba. Oranmiyan the precursor of akogun, the descendant of both ogun the god of iron and oduduwa, the progenitor of the yoruba race. A natural extension to the knowledge of forbidding landscape, harsh climate, availability of local materials and tools, the resultant building practice is deeply rooted to the environment and the cultural practices and traditions of the region. Encyclopedia of vernacular architecture tag archdaily.
The study of yoruba religious tradition in historical. The vernacular architecture of nigeria can be given a description of the building materials, forms and techniques leading to the traditional forms of. As a result vernacular built forms and traditional construction techniques using local materials are disappearing. As such, the paper submits that african architecture should be appraised from the viewpoint of. Upgrading ile ifes vernacular architecture heritage c. Igbo architecture is very similar to that of the yoruba, in terms of material options and construction techniques. This research paper aims to assess and discuss some selected factors hindering the vernacular architecture in the northern part of nigeria dominated by the hausafulani tribe with the view of identifying, evaluating and ranking such factors on how they hinder vann. The exposition universelle of 1889, while better known for its tour erffel, also boasted a largescale exhibition on the bank of the seine river, entitled the evolution of architecture and habitation. Vernacular architecture of nigeria vernacular architecture as described by chukwuali 2004 is an expression of the peoples way of life and traditional values culture. This study therefore examines the vernacular architecture of nigeria with focus on the three major ethnic groups which are the hausas in the northern nigeria having hausa vernacular architecture, the yorubas in the southwestern nigeria having yoruba vernacular architecture and the igbos in the southeastern nigeria having igbo. However, the dominant ethnic groups are hausa, yoruba and igbo. Yoruba language and literature african studies oxford. The hausafulani are diverse but culturally homogeneous group of. Its homeland is in southwestern nigeria and the adjoining parts of benin and togo, a region that has come to be known as yorubaland.
Indigenous architectural solutions have responded well to these natural forces. Factors shaping vernacular architecture of northern nigeria i. It is an indigenous architecture with specific time. The earliest studies of yoruba religious traditions were carried out by mlssionarles, travellers and explorers who were concerned with writng about the. Introduction the three studies of traditional and contemporary domestic units samples presented here are from benin city. Pdf the yoruba vernacular as a paradigm for lowincome. It concludes that in conserving heritage buildings, lielfe has the material to compare favourably with other nations that thrive on architecture based tourism. Characterextinction of yoruba architecture journal of emerging. Every cultural group in the world has its own form of vernacular though the approach may vary from place to place and from people to. Where the yoruba traditional compound favors massing, a typical igbo homestead is composed of discrete units, ranked in importance based on their relative. Nigeria, a country located in the western part of africa has been the site of numerous kingdoms and tribal states over the millennia and is divided in to northern and southern parts. The study of yoruba religious tradition in historical perspective this essay presents an overview of past and recent scholarship in yoruba religion. Vernacular architecture, common domestic architecture of a region, usually far simpler than what the technology of the time is capable of maintaining.
International journal of african society, cultures and. Architecture of nigeria was historically influenced by environmental conditions as well as social and cultural factors. Traditional architecture of himachal pradesh is the outcome of the prevailing topography, extremes of the climate and other natural forces. Hindrances to vernacular architecture of northern nigeria. One of the longstanding debates was over the appropriate way to represent. Moreover the vernacular architecture merges well with the hills at the backdrop. Traditional yoruba settlements were vast cities as evidenced in oyo, ife and their sprawling counterparts whose landuse patterns were confined to residences, markets, palaces, shrines and farmlands. Based to a large extent on the dynastic tradition of the formerly dominant oyo clan, it is presently in the process of reevaluation. Written yoruba was first produced in ajami adapted arabic script but extensive written texts in yoruba began to be produced after the advent of christian missions in the mid19th century and were written in the roman alphabet. Hausa traditional architecture therefore can simply be defined as the art of shaping the environment to serve the requirements of hausa traditions comfortably and efficiently. Bogda prucnalogunsote department of architecture, federal university of technology, akure email. Ewemade department of architecture, obafemi awolowo university, ileife, nigeria abstract ileife is worldfamous for its sculptures, and for the pivotal role it plays in defining black culture.
Space use patterns and building morphology in yoruba and benin 023. Dalibi b, 2 and anvar safarov a, 3 a department of architecture of south east university, nanjing china b business school of hohai university nanjing, china a b s t r a c t. There is a very weak link between the historical style. Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs. Yoruba religion is formed of diverse traditions and has no single founder. Testament to its siting in west africas forest belt, fastgrowing and renewable bamboo is widely grown and available in ghana, supporting 25 identified species including native and introduced kinds.
The country was under british colonial rule, essentially between 1861 and 1960, when it. The transformation of aesthetics in architecture from traditional to. Yoruba architecture includes palaces, walls, compounds, and organizational layout. The yoruba religion comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practices of the yoruba people. This is particularly true of developing economies where the. Oct 11, 2017 yoruba architecture is a family panegyric it shouts the glory or misfortune of a family in clear structural language. It progressed when exslaves returned home from brazil. Igbos in the southeastern nigeria having igbo vernacular.
An introduction to indigenous african architecture labelle. Such thinking took both conservative and radical forms, and could be found equally on the political left as on the right. The coming of missionaries and political changes brought about by colonialism precipitated a change in architectural style and utility of buildings. This paper first examines the characteristics of traditional architecture with particular reference to the. Beyond generic descriptions of nigerian traditional architecture as adobe walls, domes. A softdeterministic interpretation oladele abiodun balogun olabisi onabanjo university, nigeria abstract the debate on the philosophical nature of the beliefs in ori and human destiny in traditional yoruba thought has for sometimes now, been controversial. The ogbere case study in the outskirts of ibadan represents housing built by lowincome people and therefore a context to understand how the poor provides housing. Ewemade department of architecture, obafemi awolowo university, nigeria abstract the importance of vernacular architecture is increasingly being acknowledged worldwide. It portrays the historical style represented by the european, brazilian and north african trends through traditional architecture and the modern style with the international style, the new west african style and the postmodern trend.
236 329 286 1492 524 787 1197 48 773 433 823 120 1411 49 1359 602 507 170 906 225 927 634 179 552 1232 447 217 873 31 348 1395 318 482 90 1460 525 374 269 583 27 939 844 1479 708 989