Does Nigeria Have an Architecture Identity Crisis?
French castles, English cathedrals, Chinese temples, all expressions of architecture peculiar to certain countries, the core fabrics of the countries’ rich history. While learning the history and evolution of Architecture in different countries in school, my friends and I wondered if we had or could develop an Architecture indigenous to Nigeria drawing from our culture and history.
Architecture and Identity
You can tell a lot about a people and their history from their music, food, art and Architecture. One of the biggest pointers to the value system of a people is their buildings, it gives a strong indication to their way of life. The Greek and Egyptian eras indicated they were religious people, shown by massive temples built in honour of their gods and rulers. However, the Romans were more political, and their Architecture reflected it. The presence of numerous administrative and public buildings mirrored the Roman empire. The discovery of cement also had a major impact, it allowed for the construction of structures previously unimaginable.
Housing perhaps gives the most insight on the lifestyle of the people. It is often shaped by a person’s cultural beliefs and activities. Cultural shifts and trends are first noticed in the homes, a house is a microcosm of society.
Nigeria’s Architecture History
“The form of housing chosen or built offers a direct insight into the study of various cultures and societies of the people. Nigeria as a nation, for example, is a heterogeneous society comprising of ethnic-geographical regions like the north, middle belt, east, west and south. Each of these regions has its own culture and as such exhibits peculiar housing form. Consequently, the Nigerian traditional architecture differs not only temporarily but also spatially and from one period to another”
A countries history is intertwined with the dominant architecture of the era. The major influences on Nigeria’s Architecture are slavery, colonialism and religion. The most prominent eras are before the arrival of the British, during the colonial rule, shortly after and 1970- 2000, then 2010s till now.
Pre-colonial
The most prominent Architectural symbols of the pre-colonial era are from pre-industrial cities, seats of power and economy. Spiritual and cultural bases serving as the centres of large empires in the country. Examples are Ife and Kano, the centres of the Yoruba and Daura empires respectively. The buildings in the Yoruba empire were mainly large compounds with big square shaped houses bounded by high walls and thatched roofs, many of the houses had courtyards as communal spaces.
The tubali method of construction which involves building with bricks made of mud, water and in some cases palm fronds to give a monolithic look. There are arguments on whether the courtyard style of housing was traditionally Hausa or influenced by Islam. However, Islam undoubtedly had a strong influence on the Architecture, especially how the houses were segmented, the famous intricate wall paintings and murals were influenced by the religion. The standard housing units were circular with thatched roofs or domes but not as popular today.
The Igbos had rectangular dwellings without windows, verandahs in front of their houses and forked posts to carry the roofs. The shrines, meeting houses could be two or three storeys high, the texture from the palm ribs and grass on the roof makes the roofs the most interesting part of their buildings.
Colonial + Afro — Brazilian
When the missionaries came in the 18th century, they brought their religion, culture and Architecture The result was a culture shift evident not only in the way of life but primarily in urban planning and Architecture. The British countryside style buildings with deep verandahs and overhanging eaves quickly filled the streets of Lagos and other cities in Nigeria. Administrative and public buildings, but there were house types which evolved over time to adapt to the tropical climate. New building materials and techniques also contributed to the change in the Architecture landscape, most notably in the north; traditional circular houses were converted to rectilinear structures due to the difficulty of zinc and aluminium corrugated roofing circular spaces and forming domes. Some of these relics still stand today but unfortunately have not been preserved well enough.
In the 19th century when some Brazilian slaves of Yoruba cultural heritage revolted, they were repatriated to Nigeria, their desire to have an individual style birthed the Afro-Brazilian style Architecture, they were often two-storey houses built with cement and adorned with ornamental columns and balustrades. As time went on the buildings became less ornate and more affordable, this low cost led to the proliferation of these buildings mainly in the southern part of the country. There were colonial relics in the north but not enough to change the landscape.
International style
The international style was a global ‘phenomenon’ developed in the 1930s heavily influenced by the aesthetics of the De Stijl movement. The movement was characterized by a new conception of architecture as volume rather than mass, making use of regularity and a complete rejection of ornamentation. The movement led to an architecture that was simple, celebrating structure and materials but unadorned and stripped of cultural influences. it coincided with the discovery of new building materials and techniques. This era was also notorious for mass production. All these caused a shift in the way Architects viewed buildings, they stopped catering primarily to people’s needs but as spaces designed to perform functions, humans became objects in these spaces, unconnected from the ‘spaces’ they inhabited. This movement found its way to Nigeria and many institutional and commercial buildings were designed without reference to anything local but to replicate the architecture of the west.
Vernacular Architecture
Vernacular Architecture unlike Traditional Architecture which involves the transfer of building methods and ethos from one generation to another, vernacular architecture is influenced by external forces, these factors are mostly socio-cultural and technological, it involves consciously borrowing elements from various sources to develop a style one that is suited to the cultural and physical landscape of the area.
The period after the allure of the Afro-Brazilian type buildings started fading was an interesting time, many Architects experimented with different building typologies. In this time, it was clear to see there was a distinction between regular housing and the houses of the rich.
Demas Nwoko in Benin tried to draw inspiration from Benin culture and history to design numerous buildings commissioned by the state and other clients, buildings like the Dominican Chapel in Ibadan and the Cultural Centre in Benin embody this. Other architects in the country were more concerned with designing buildings that were climate friendly.
The most common feature of most traditional architecture was the presence of a communal space either as a courtyard in a house or a compound; but with the influence of the British and globalization, this started disappearing from the buildings as our lifestyle became less and less communal. While many people might say Nigeria does not have an Architecture indigenous to them I think it’s a bit more complex than that. If you showed a typical Nigerian a house with the columns in front, hipped roof, large windows with copings and concrete fascia or a block of flats with gable or hipped roofs, balconies and in some cases exterior wall tiling, the chances are he/she would tell you they are from Nigeria. However, whether having a slightly recognizable residential building typology (and I use that term loosely) is enough to be labelled as Nigerian Architecture in the same breath as Chinese, Moroccan or even British is very much up for debate.
Globalization v Localization
The concept of Globalization is considered as creating a common global culture and homogenizing identities and lifestyles, due to advances in communication technology. Culture has become a commodity that can be produced, marketed and transferred. The world is becoming a single space with merely symbolic borders, where the transport of culture and distinct forms are quite easy.
This global culture influences us and our lifestyles, it is only natural that the Architecture is affected too. The impact of globalization on Architecture is easy to spot, you just need to look at a multi-national company’s building and the chances are you’ll see the exact building in another country. The effect is more prominent in some countries than others, for example, without signage or registration plates, it is very difficult to identify the location of parts of San Francisco, Osaka, Brussels and Berlin.
“The sociological, political and economic impact of region and identity is a powerful force in the globalised world. Dislocated identity can lead to fundamentalism and terrorism. Regional revival can lead to civil war and national fragmentation.”
The problem with globalization is that it raises questions of identity, what do the buildings say about the people? What are they? Are they aliens we have to interact with?
Conclusion
Architecture is a lot about identity, Architects often try to link design symbolically to convey a particular analysis of society and its future direction, it is this identity the people buy into. Nigeria for a long time has struggled to define itself since the British came and forced people of different interests, culture and ideologies to live together, it is no surprise that the country’ does not have a unified Architectural identity.
The questions we need to ask moving forward are: are we going to move back to being communal people? Are we going back to our values before the British landed on our shores? What are our values? Do they still exist? And if they do, is the process going to be organic or forced? Evolution is important, we could draw from the past, taking our current needs and make a culturally relevant architecture or we could scratch that entirely and just continue on the current path. With the pace of globalization and the way, the future looks, we might never develop an Architecture unique to Nigeria, I think the more important question is, do we need to?
