A Study Of Selected Indigenous Building Materials And Their Applications In Contemporary Architecture

Description

ABSTRACT

Traditional building materials are resources that are found readily in large quantity across Nigeria. The availability may largely be dependent on geographical location of the area as well as the chemical and physical components of such materials.

In Nigeria, traditional building materials are found in large quantities and varieties, although these materials are dependent upon the geographical location of the area. The most widely used and readily available traditional building materials in Nigeria are adobe, sheep’s wool, clay, bamboo, thatch, stones, timber, coconut tree, and straw bales. These materials have economic advantages compared to the imported and retrofit materials.

Sustainable construction is a form of construction that requires knowledge in use of readily available building materials which have low carbon emission and also reusable and recyclable for other functions, and produced on site or nearby area to ease transportation cost. The rise in the cost of constructing houses has remained a major concern for the government in Nigeria because of the over reliance on the use of imported construction materials. Its high time to look into sustainable traditional building materials as an alternative which would act as a catalyst in the reduction of housing cost. Apart from the economic aspects, most traditional building material are known for their thermal properties which would go a long way in reducing the energy cost and issues of thermal comfort in houses. Energy consumption is a critical environmental factor in the construction sector which is a relevant factor in the processing of building materials in the industrialized process. Sustainable design should utilize traditional building materials because of how readily available it is and its renewable properties. However, some of these traditional materials are produced without any form of standardization. This has greatly affected its development in Nigeria. Hence this paper would be looking into how best traditional buildings materials can used in contemporary form of building construction and techniques. At the end of this paper we should be able to determine why traditional building materials has not been accepted into the contemporary construction sector in Nigeria and proper solutions on how traditional building materials can be reinvigorated back into the Nigerian construction sector.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWELDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

• INTRODUCTION
• BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
• SCOPE OF THE STUDY
• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
• LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
• THESIS ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

• INTRODUCTION
• OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
• HOUSING NEED IN NIGERIA
• LOCAL BUILDING MATERIALS/AFRICAN ARCHITECTURE AS ALTERNATIVE
• A CASE OF SELECTED TRADITIONAL BUILDING
• ADVANTAGES OF TRADITIONAL AFRICAN BUILDING MATERIALS
• THE APPLICATION OF TRADITIONAL BUILDING MATERIALS IN URBAN ENVIRONMENT
• CHALLENGES OF TRADITIONAL AFRICAN ARCHITECTURE AND THEIR BUILDING MATERIALS
• THE WAY FORWARD FOR TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE AND THEIR MATERIALS
• TRADITIONAL MATERIALS AVAILABLE IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

• INTRODUCTION
• STUDY AREA
• RESEARCH DESIGN
• SOURCES OF DATA
• SAMPLING
• DATA ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FOUR

• RESULT AND DISCUSSION

CHAPTER FIVE

• SUMMARY
• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATION
• REFERENCES

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                             INTRODUCTION

Majority of buildings in Northern Nigeria are still constructed using traditional techniques and materials (timber, bamboo). Once again, in the most recent years there has been an increase use of modern techniques for building development, driven by a range of factors including requests for more rapid construction, the sustainability of construction and shortage of skilled labor. Natural building materials, such as stone, wood, straw, sheep’s wool, fibers, hemp, cork and clay are examples of the traditional building materials. But, in the last fifteen years, there has been an upturn of interest in natural and unconventional construction materials. Housing is among the most basic human needs, it is a vital component towards a sustainable environmental development. Sustainability has been characterized as a development of the economy that satisfies the needs of the current generation without compromising the opportunity and the potential the future generations. [Xun, 2011] Generally, sustainability is divided into three sectors, which includes economic, environmental, and social sectors, which represent three pillars of sustainable development [Yonggao, 2007]. In the design world, sustainable construction affects the short and long term economic goals [Jingtang, 2012]. Traditional building materials cut the cost of the overall construction by an easier construction process, low transportation costs and lower economic demands. Social sustainability focuses on the building users. The occupants need (current and future) to influence the building design, which creates a highly-flexible plan that lets the building to be easily re-purposed as needs change by the design. A structure that can be used for a very long time portrays a flexible design, which prevents the negative impact involved in tearing down an existing building and rebuilding a new one [4]. An increase in the efficient energy use of a building addresses its environmental sustainability, therefore, the structure should be designed in such a way that it utilizes the natural energy for both heating and other energy needed activities. It also entails installing water reduction measures, waste management and using green and local building materials. In relation to site context, the location and orientation of a building can make it more environmentally friendly. According to the three pillars of sustainable development, the main advantages of the use of traditional building materials in modern methods of entails the following: [Jingtang, 2012] Economic sustainability; entails construction of buildings by modern building methods using traditional materials have less effect and they can be built quickly. A better standard is provided and quality of design and the process of construction can be zoomed up by mass production of prefabricated components in factories or on site. Social sustainability; dwells on the methods and materials that have fewer accidents and less impact on local residents during construction and as well the reduction in labor intensive activities and establishment of a safer working environment. To help reduce unsuccessful work, Architects and contractors from different places can work closely together in the early design stage. Environmental sustainability; entails less transport of materials, and produce lesser amount of waste, for an efficient energy use throughout the life cycle of the building.

1.1                                                BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

It has become increasingly glaring that most of the urban population live in dehumanising housing   environment while those that have access to average housing do so at abnormal cost (Olugbenga, 2001). In developing countries like Nigeria, a home of one’s own represents a precious refuge. Literature on housing in developing countries often show that housing ranks above education and health services as a priority. Thus households in developing countries value homeownership         more         than households in advanced industrialized countries. In fact in most developing nations when a family does not have a house they can call their own, that family is regarded as the poorest of the poor. Provision of affordable housing for the citizenry has remained the principal focus of every successive government in  Nigeria.

This is because of the pivotal roles played by housing in national development and growth on one hand and its being a necessity in the life of the people, on the other hand.

Sustainable construction requires a critical review of prevailing practices, techniques and sources for raw materials. The rising cost of building is a source of concern to most governments in the world, especially in the developing countries. One possible cause is the rising cost of building materials since greater percentage of the cost of buildings is incurred on the materials (Yalley & Kwan, 2008). In the case of Africa, for example, there is an acute lack of affordable houses which is largely due to the high cost of the conventionally processed construction materials such as steel and Portland cement. The desire generated for these materials has a negative impact, leading to reduced value and perceived inappropriateness of locally available materials. Ideally, building materials for low-cost housing should be produced from locally available raw materials. Furthermore, it would be best if these raw materials were abundantly available or they should be renewable in nature (RICS, 2008). Over- reliance on foreign and imported building materials is not the only contributing factor of rising cost of buildings but also the transportation from urban areas to rural areas and vice versa especially in the face of this current fuel scarcity and hike in Nigeria.

The Nigeria housing question is primarily that of a crisis situation, manifesting and expressing itself in qualitative and quantitative forms. Although the present housing difficulty in Nigeria arises not necessarily because of poverty, but because of the absence of an effective administrative arm to mobilize and organise the country’s natural resources, human, industrial, etc, for housing and urban development. However, the problem of poor co-ordination and ineffectiveness of some public housing agencies in Nigeria is in most cases responsible for the failure of certain laudable housing policies and programmes.

Housing delivery is a highly contentious and politicised issue that is of great concern to administrators, scholars and the public in Nigeria. In the last few decades, the influx of people into urban areas, the natural population increase and inadequate responses by the government have contributed to the worsening housing situation in the country (Afolabi & Oamide 2012). These problems have become more critical in the cities, where huge housing supply deficits, dilapidated housing conditions, high cost of housing as well as proliferation of slums and squatter settlements exist (Ajanlekoko, 2002, Akeju, 2007). As a result, a large majority of urban residents, particularly the low-income earners who constitute about 50% of Nigeria’s 160 million people are forced to live in conditions that constitute an affront to human dignity (Alemayehu, 1999).

The paper appraises the study of selected indigenous building materials and their applications in contemporary architecture.

1.2                                                       PROBLEM STATEMENT

Imported building materials from outside the country are always scares and expensive due to the cost of importation. As a result of this problem, traditional or indigenous materials are used in contemporary architectural design. Some major local building material available in Nigeria such as adobe, bamboo, thatch, stones, timber, coconut tree, grasses etcetera. These materials are cheap relative to the imported materials from outside the country. This study is on a study of selected indigenous building materials and their applications in contemporary architecture

1.3                                                           AIM OF THE STUDY

It is the purpose of this thesis to examine traditional indigenous architecture and investigate possible current and future architectural applications. Indigenous arid land architecture of both the past and present will be examined in several contexts: image, environment, economics, technology, and culture.

1.4                                                         SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Natural building materials are used by modern methods of construction because they have lower embodied energy than conventional materials and they increase the usage of renewable and recyclable materials. The traditional building materials refer to the floorboard of traditional building structure of all materials, including the sintering products (brick and tile), gravel, limestone (lime, gypsum, wood and bamboo). The traditional building materials have the advantages of saving materials, transportation energy consumption, good thermal performance etc. At the same time, the use of traditional materials directly reflects the regionalism, but regional material does not only mean the use of traditional materials. It should focus more on the face of the specific geographical environment, and how traditional materials to reflect the building here.

1.5                                                 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will expose the reader to the advantages of using indigenous building materials in contemporary architecture, such as, In the process of architectural design and construction, the use of traditional building materials can save energy, manpower, and practice the concept of ecological environmental protection.

The study found promotion of cultural heritage, availability and affordability of the materials, energy efficiency, reusability, biodegradability among others as the major advantages of traditional building materials. However, acceptability, durability, deforestation, low strength, frequent maintenance, among other issues were found to be the major challenges associated with houses built with traditional building materials.

1.6                                                   LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

During the process of carrying out this study it was discovered that when compared with the modern building materials, the indigenous or traditional building materials have worse physical and chemical properties. If they want to be widely used in urban buildings, they need to improve their physical and chemical properties.

1.7                                                 THESIS ORGANIZATION

Chapter 1

This chapter presents an introduction of the research work, outlines the problem statement, and gives a scope of the research work and finally the aim and objectives of the work.

Chapter 2

This chapter presents a literature review which reviews recent works related to the study

Chapter 3

This chapter gives the methodology followed in carrying out this research work.

Chapter 4

This chapter presents the results obtained and an analysis and discussion of the same against the objectives of the research.

Chapter 5

This chapter presents a conclusion of the work and gives recommendations and/or gaps for future research.