Beyond a Mere Living Space: Meaning and Morality in Traditional Yoruba Architecture Before Colonialism

Abstract

Houses are built according to purposes and designs that express the mind of the builder. This was particularly the case with the way the Yoruba people built their homes before the encounter with colonial ideas and the eventual effects of urbanisation. With colonialism came a particular architecture that blended the European (nuclear family) design with master-servant-relationship designs. These new designs obliterated the traditional Yoruba architecture that was embedded with meaning and morality. In Nigeria, at different times and levels, governments have embarked on programmes that adopted European and master-servant–relationship architectural designs in solving housing problems. First, this study examines and compares pre-and post-colonial architectures with the aim of indicating the point of departure from tradition. Next, the study shows how postcolonial housing responses departed from traditional designs, meanings and morality. The discussion section then highlights the implications of the departure from traditional designs on attempts to solve the housing problem in Nigeria. The postcolonial responses to the housing problem have for the most part manifested as mere living spaces lacking traditional meaning. In solving Nigeria’s housing problem, it would be necessary to reflect cultural meaning and morality in architecture.