VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE IN GLOBAL

CONTEXT SETTLEMENTS OF AFRICA

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 INTRODUCTION
Every country has its own
uniqueness. Vernacular architecture
is composed of local materials and
derived from local customs,
techniques that have been passed on
from generation to generation.
Africa has never laid claim to a
homogenous indigenous style of
architecture; rather, its
architectural styles are as varied as
the numerous influences that had
inspired them.
Each traditional tribal state in pre-colonial Africa had its unique
architectural morphology, iconography and construction methodology,
each one influenced and shaped by its own peculiar socio-cultural
narratives.

In northern Nigeria, for instance, the traditional Hausa architecture (Tubali)

was chiefly inspired by Sudano-Sahelian architecture of the ancient Songhai
Empire.

The southern tribal states, like ancient Oyo, Benin or Nri Kingdoms in the
south, were also shaped by their own peculiar cultural influences.

These pieces of indigenous architecture both highlighted the individuality of

each of these tribal states and reflected their social structures, cultural
heritage, religious and ethnic values, and local customs.

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 VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE OF AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS
 African architectural heritage is a socio-cultural emergency, as traditional
architecture remains an indispensable aspect of history, cultural heritage—
defining who are they as Africans. While some states like Mali, Sudan and Niger
Republic, have done better than most in the preservation and propagation of
indigenous architecture, most countries have no stated policy towards the
protection and promotion of traditional African architecture.

Much of the indigenous traditions and architecture of Africa have been long

shrouded in mystery. The richness of myriad cultures originating from the
diverse African communities is astounding, to say the least.
Many consider the act of building sacred and perform elaborate rituals as
part of the process. Yet others treat their walls as canvases to depict
stories, immortalizing their beliefs and ways of life. Simple materials are
used in ingenious ways that today’s urban architects are yet to discover. The
harsh climes of the continent have paved the way for innovative climate-
responsive strategies.  

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 VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE OF NIGERIA
Vernacular architecture is influenced by diverse features of human behavior
and environment which leads to differing building forms for almost every
different context; even neighboring villages may have subtly different
approaches to the construction and use of their dwellings with significant
similarities in structural forms. The way of life of building occupants and the
usage of shelters greatly influences building forms. The size of family units,
spatial usage, and preparation of food, interaction of people and many other
cultural considerations affects the layout and size of dwellings.

The important role vernacular architecture plays towards the understanding of

the traditional architectural settings of every society. So far, there has been
little discussion with regards to the vernacular architecture of Nigeria
especially with respect to the three main ethnic groups of Nigeria with very
few studies which seeks to compare the different vernacular architecture of
Nigeria.
Objectives

i. To study vernacular architecture

and its features.
ii. To study the various vernacular
architecture majorly found in
Nigeria
iii. To compare the various
vernacular architecture
predominantly found in Nigeria

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Einführung

Location: West Africa

Area: 923 Sq Kilometers
Population: Estimated at 110
million
Political: Federation of 36 states
and a federal capital
Vegetation: Varies from equatorial
forest in the south to Savannah in
the north

Social and Cultural

More than 250 ethnic groupings,

but three main tribes, Hausa,
Yoruba & Ibo
Main languages- English (official),
Hausa, Yoruba & Ibo
Capital- Abuja
Main Economic Resources
Petroleum- Main source of
revenue accounting for almost
85%, 6th Largest producer of oil in
the world
Minerals- tin, coal, and steel
Agriculture- rubber, wood, cocoa

The vernacular architecture of Nigeria can be given a description of the

building materials, forms and techniques leading to the traditional forms
of architecture especially with respect to the architecture of the three
major ethnic groups which are namely

Hausa’s in the Northern region of Nigeria,

Yoruba’s in the South western region of Nigeria and
Igbo’s in the South eastern region of Nigeria.

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 NORTHERN NIGERIA ARCHITECTURE (Hausa Vernacular Architecture)
Hausa Vernacular Architecture can simply be
defined as the art of shaping the environment
to serve the requirements of Hausa traditions
comfortably and efficiently.

The Hausas are one of the prominent ethnic

group in West Africa and are among the three
largest in Nigeria. Hausa Land is located in
Nigeria between latitude 3.5° east to latitude
11.0° east, and from longitude 10.5° north to
longitude 14.0°.

The Hausa’s predominantly believe in Islam as their religion. Their religion has
significant influence on them and permeates almost every aspect of their life
and culture such as their dressing, social interactions and even architecture.

Trans Sahara trade coupled with the new religion of Islam had the most
enormous impact on the settlement pattern and local building practices of
Hausa land in Northern Nigeria. Some of the effects can be seen reflected in
the facades of their buildings as a number of the designs employed were
borrowed from other parts of the Islamic world.

Hausa vernacular architecture is significantly influenced by religion, socio-

cultural practices, available material as well as climate.

The layout patterns of settlements as well as family compounds are affected by

the culture and social practices.

There are three important focal points within the settlement.

These are the emir’s palace, mosque and market.

The emir’s palace serves as the administration Centre of the community while
the market draws people from within and around the community once a week
for trade and social interactions.

.
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Construction and Architecture

Diverse materials of construction reflecting location and status All types of

modern materials including concrete, stone, glass, marble, granite, steel etc are
commonly available.

For people in traditional and rural areas and also poor people, the most common
materials of construction is mud or adobe.

Adobe construction is carried out in the form of sun dried block construction,
wattle and daub or the use of a special brick called tubali reinforced with palm
branches.

Example of the use of sun dried brick in construction.

Northern Nigeria – Urban Vernacular Architecture

Urban vernacular architecture is rooted in old city states existing since the 15th
century.
Most prominent are the Hausa city states organized as a caliphate
The architecture is mainly in mud, reinforced with palm stems.
Master craftsmen evolved a structural systems using mud to its structural limits
Also evolved a practice of decoration using abstract arts.
Layout of cities has as a focus, the emirs palace, market and Friday mosque.

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 Hausa cities were usually walled with gates leading to a central area
containing the emirs palace, Friday mosque and market

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   The Hausa’s build family compounds
around these three focal points. A typical
Hausa compound as maybe found in some
major cities in Northern Nigeria displays a
high degree of complexity and marked
hierarchy of spatial privacy as one moves
from the outside to the inside.

It is often surrounded by a mud wall, a grass

matting fence called “Zana” or more
recently, by a concrete block wall.

The main entrance hall opening to the

street is known as the “Zaure” which
creates a separation between an outside
public zone and a private inside zone for the
extended family.

Zaure is an important space due to the security and control measures it offers to
the compound.

After the zaure, is the first courtyard of the house known as “kofar gida”.
It is an ‘opening’ or ‘space’ through which one accesses the interior of the
compound, this is a semi-public domain often enclosed by buildings and parts of
the compound wall.

The space defines the access limit adult male visitors have to the compound
except for close relatives and intimate friends of the household head.

An inner reception hall known as “Shigifa” opens into this outer courtyard as is
of the opinion that, the “shigifa” is a smaller inner zaure used as a more private
male social space where the house head (Turaka) can relax in private with
intimate friends and members of his family.

The “shigifa” opens into the inner courtyard (cikin gida) of the compound and
adjacent to the ‘shigifa’, is the domain or private sleeping quarter of the
household head which often opens into the inner courtyard.

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 In other words, the “shigifa” is a transitional space between the outer
courtyard (Kofar gida) and the inner courtyard (cikin gida).

In a more prosperous compound, it is observed that the head may have a

section of the “shigifa” consisting of a room and parlour, with the parlour
having two external doors, one opening to the outer courtyard (Kofar gida) and
the other opening to the inner courtyard (cikin gida).

This gives the head the vantage position of viewing and controlling the goings
on between the outer courtyard and the inner courtyard.

Traditionally, the “cikin gida” is considered as the women quarters and

constitute the major part of the compound.

The married women spend most of their day within this part of the house
especially.

In this part of the compound, facilities that will help in the wellbeing of the
women are located there. For instance, sleeping quarters (for the women,
their young children and female visitors or relatives), children play area,
kitchens, storage, granaries, chicken coops, bath rooms and toilets, and a
number of other functional spaces.

The materials of construction of the traditional Hausa compound are mud,

thatch and split palm trunks known as “Azara”.

These materials are reusable thereby allowing evolutionary changes in the

compound in response to changes in family size and structure to be reflected
in architectural space.
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Development of a number of compounds in Hausa land revealed the
physical space growth dynamics of the compounds, the evolution of spaces
within the compound, changes in architectural forms and preferences.

Initially, residential buildings mainly consisted of mud round huts with

thatch roofs but gradually through natural decay and changes in taste and
forces of urbanization which made thatch more scarce, these architecture
forms had to be changed to rectangular structures of conical shaped sun
dried bricks (Tubali) to be roofed with “Azara” as well as reinforced mud
roofs in the form of domes or flat roofs.

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SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA ARCHITECTURE (Yoruba Vernacular Architecture)
The Yoruba vernacular architecture is
an architecture owned by the Yoruba’s,
one of the principal ethnic group in
Nigeria occupying the south-western
part of the country which lies within
the tropical rain forest.

The south-western land consists of a

Plateau of Yoruba land as well as the
lower Niger and the western coastal
lowlands.

Their land is one of the most densely

parts of Nigeria with a land area of
about 142,114 square kilometers.

The Yoruba’s are homogenous in their

culture, religion and language though
with variants of dialect.

Their population spread over the entire

south western part of Nigeria.

Yoruba’s are the second largest ethnic group next to Hausa of the Northern
Nigeria.

The progenitor of the Yoruba race was believed to be the Oduduwa Olofin.

Their several years of existence have fostered a culture that is unique to

the tribe, yet intriguing.

In spite of this integration of modern culture, the Yoruba’s still maintain

their strong ties with tradition. This is for example the case with their
vernacular architecture maintained that Yoruba hardly build magnificent
temple for their divinities.

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The Yoruba’s build courtyard architecture having the basic cuboidal form with
a rectangular impluvial courtyard, placed in the rectilinear compound.

A typical Yoruba compound has only one entrance (Enu Ilo, Ilo) into the
compound which leads to the colonnaded courtyard.

The rooms are rectangular or square and arranged in a linear pattern to

surround the courtyard, which acts as the Centre of activities or point of focus.

The head of the family occupies the room near the entrance to provide
surveillance and security, and show hierarchy from the eldest to the youngest.

The elder ones also occupy the corner rooms because they are bigger than the
other rooms, which are allocated to the wives and their children.

These rooms have small windows and doors, which open to the veranda and
the immediate courtyard.

The wall plane is made of courses of

mud materials, which are readily
available and are usually mixed with
vegetative materials such as straw,
as additives and adhesives in order
to enhance bonding having a small
window openings which are usually
above the door lintel-level.

A little above the small window

openings, the wall plane is
germinated and a ceiling made of
mat from palm fronds or split-
bamboo is placed on wood beams
(lowering room and veranda) acting
as reinforcement; mud is then
placed on the mat as a decking
material.

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Construction of buildings usually takes place mostly in the dry season to
accelerate dryness and curing.

The buildings have a pitched pyramidal wood structure placed to cover the
ceiling (locally known as ‘Aja’ using rope fibres as a tying-member.

The ceiling space usually serve as a storage area for items such as valuables
like clothes and other preserved foods such as yam flour, beans, dried corn,
pepper etc.

Woven thatched-mat is then used to cover the structural roof frames.

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SOUTH EASTERN NIGERIA ARCHITECTURE (Igbo Vernacular Architecture)
The Igbo’s are found in the South-eastern
part of Nigeria located on both sides of the
lower parts of the River Niger, with the
bigger portion lying on the Eastern side of
the river.

This portion covers major states like

Enugu, Abia, Anambra, Enugu and Imo.
They live in scattered towns and villages
speaking the common Igbo language.

Igbo people are very industrious and

engage in a wide range of commercial
activities.
communality is an important aspect of Igbo cultural life and is ingrained into
the layout of the settlement pattern with their buildings seeking to integrate
spiritual, cultural and lifestyle values into their architecture.

Settlements typically have community spaces at the centre with these

spaces being places for public gatherings, discussions and meetings as well as
other community interactions.

Some important activities in the Igbo community are the festivals and
displays by masquerades which are done in the village squares.

A typical family compound contains a number of huts or building units, each

having a separate building.

The Igbo compounds are built having a single entrance gateway and
surrounded with an earthen wall.

entrance gateway indicates the status and power of the family and the
importance of the head of the compound. The Igbo building forms are usually
of two types: the rectangular and the circular.

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Roof forms are also built in accordance with the building form, thus, rectangular
buildings had hipped roofing while circular buildings had conical roofing with
few windows and having the veranda in front of the houses.

A typical Igbo compound have the men’s section usually separated from that
the women, and the children section usually grouped together.

Clay, grasses and bamboo are the predominant building materials used for
construction.

These are used to address local weather conditions, clay is used for building
adobe walls in order to sufficiently regulate temperature between the indoors
and outdoors because of the hot humid conditions prevalent in south-eastern
Nigeria.

The hot humid climate of Igbo land and its tropical rainfall dictate the use of
steeply pitched roofs which are thatched with palm leaf fronds and grasses
commonly available in that part of the country.

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COMPARITIVE STUDY ON NIGERIAN VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

DESCRIOTION Hausa Yoruba Igbo

COMMUNITY The Emir’s palace, The Oba's palace The Village

Market and Mosque and the Market square and
are the 3 Focal are the 2 Focal Shrines are the 2
points in the points in the Focal points in
community community the community
DECORATIONS The Entrance is The Entrance, The Entrance,
highly decorated Windows, doors, doors, pillars and
with reliefs, pillars and posts posts are highly
murals and are highly decorated with
engraved decorated with reliefs, murals
decorations. reliefs, murals, and carvings
pebbles, seashells,
cowries and
carvings

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COMPARITIVE STUDY ON NIGERIAN VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

DESCRIOTION Hausa Yoruba Igbo

COMPOUND The buildings are The buildings are The buildings are
in round or square rectangular or in round or
shaped huts and square in shape square shaped
are built having and arranged in a huts and are built
different functions linear pattern to having different
which are surround the functions which
repeated courtyard, which are repeated
throughout the acts as the Centre throughout the
compound. Privacy of activities or compound. Little
and gender point of focus. No gender
separation are gender separation. separation. Inner
highly emphasized. Inner compound is compound is
Non male members accessible to both accessible to
of the family are male and female both male and
not allow to have visitors. female visitors.
access into the
inner compound.

SIZE OF FAMILY They have large The have large They have large
family size due to family size due to family size due to
extended family extended family extended family
practice and practice and the practice and
influence of practice of socio-economic
religion which multihabitation. reasons.
permits up to four
wives marriage

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COMPARITIVE STUDY ON NIGERIAN VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

DESCRIOTION Hausa Yoruba Igbo

COURTYARDS The have open They have open They have open
spaces within the spaces within the spaces within the
compound which courtyard which compound which
make up the are used for make up the
courtyard.. various activities. courtyard.

OPENINGS They have few and They have few and They have very
small size windows small size few and small size
windows windows

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COMPARITIVE STUDY ON NIGERIAN VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

DESCRIOTION Hausa Yoruba Igbo

BUILDING Mud, Grass, Mud, Grass, Palm Mud, Grass,

MATERIALS Cornstalks, Timber fronds, Thatch Bamboo, Raffia
materials palms

ROOFING Flat mud roof Pitched thatched Hip thatched roof

ADOPTED Conical thatched roof Pitched thatch
roof roof

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