HOUSING, ARCHITECTURAL THEORY AND PRACTICE: EXPLORING THE UNIQUE ADEQUACY APPROACH IN HOUSING RESEARCH FOR COMMUNITIES IN NIGERIA

摘要

In response to the demand for housing units which will cater to an increase in population, housing research in Nigeria has generally benefitted from studies related to housing finance, mortgage, land acquisition, appropriate building materials and technology. Comparatively less attention has been paid design and spatial requirements for future housing units, leading to the dearth of appropriate theories to inform future housing policies. This is an area academia through architecture education needs to adequately address. This paper explores the Unique Adequacy approach from Construction Management Research through interdisciplinary methods from Anthropology, Sociology, Behavioral studies and Architecture in two stages. The approach was explored in Tangale land, northeast Nigeria to generate appropriate architectural theories and offer practical suggestions towards improving future housing policies. Northeast Nigeria is a region which has received little by way of intense architectural research in part due to mountainous terrain and a rise in insecurity and insurgency in the last four years. Results from the first stage, an ethnographical survey reveals that external influences on the culture influenced the basic lifestyle of the community. Architecturally, this is expressed in changing housing typologies. Architecture conforms and reflects dynamic culture in a passive capacity. The second, a demographic and measured survey was instrumental in establishing the sustainability of cultural values in community-produced compounds. Architecture serves as a mechanism of cultural resistance in an active capacity within the study area. An implication of findings from this paper is that architecture education plays an important role in training and equipping future architects to generate appropriate theories and data necessary to improve design and practice. This can be achieved through reviving awareness for original research during undergraduate training as well as pro-active interdisciplinary collaboration with allied disciplines of the built environment in postgraduate programs.