Some snippets from the Architecture Magazine… Full article here.
WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST MEMORY OF DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE?
Growing up in the north of Nigeria, I remember my family home well. It was large and featured a compound (courtyard) which led to a generous veranda that wrapped across the front of our home. It acted simultaneously as a formal and informal welcome, and due to its orientation and form, protected us from the suns’ intensity and the rains’ ferocity through a large overhang – this architectural response was typical of many homes in this part of West Africa at the time.
While other parts of our home were typical of any home, it was the veranda I loved the most as I felt that it documented well the happenings of real life. Raised about half a meter above the ground to avoid flooding, I’d play with my siblings on its’ large smooth concrete base; I’d stand here in awe and stunned into silence as the downpour of rain that followed the dry harmattan season released the distinctly beautiful scent of the dry sand being beaten; I’d eavesdrop on my parents and their friends as they had a chinwag the on wick chairs that adorned it. Our veranda was complete with 2no. exquisite life-sized bronze leopards (Nigeria is famed for its’ exquisite bronze art) that terrified any guests who weren’t used to our home – it made me chuckle every single time someone screamed upon noticing them. It had all manner of planting surrounding it; from wild purple hibiscus to midsummer nightingales whose velvety red colours attracted butterflies during the day and released the sweetest scents at night. It was this typical west African architecture of the compound and veranda designed as a social terrain that enabled daily life to thrive which formed my early thoughts of defining ‘home’ as beyond the boundaries of the four walls we are so often used to.
