While making a cameo appearance in a piece in his short story collection A FIST FULL OF TALES, Ayodele Arigbabu described himself as a nerdy person with nervous ways. This quality, coupled with a slightly feminine, high pitched voice masks a steely resolve which has helped shape his reputation. He can be credited for reviving architectural journalism in Nigeria in the last decade, consistently publishing articles on the topic in The Guardian newspaper supplement Guardian Life, and in other publications. In addition to interviewing architects, he also spent time and effort interviewing other notable artists including travelling all the way to Jaipur , India to track down and interview Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. He is happily married to Adenike Fagade. One could use the expression “Polymath” to describe him, it sure sounds better than Jack Of all Trades .Amongst other professions he is an Architect, Poet, Playwright and journalist. He also writes short stories with his publishing company DADA books. And o yes, he organizes exhibitions and seminars on Architecture , Art, Literature and most notably the comic book Fair which ran from 2003 till 2008. .He is the co-founder of the Lagos Based Architecture office, Architect’s Collaborative Enterprise (ACE) which specializes in designing residential buildings with unique , memorable forms. Being grown up can be a boring experience. Architects like Ayo Arigbabu seem to have decided against the move.

A brief introduction of his or her academic background
I studied architecture at the University of Lagos.

How would you define architecture?
Architecture is many things, and then, it’s nothing. It’s the ordering of nature for man’s convenience, nature being everything we can perceive around us. That’s a powerful thing to engage in… that’s everything, but then it’s also nothing because many people just don’t care.

Which architects and buildings both local and foreign inspired you when you were young?
It’s stuff I saw in comic books that inspired me when I was a kid, why would I be looking at buildings as a child while there were comics to read and cartoons to watch???

How do you think a practice should be organized?
I don’t know how a practice ‘should’ be organized but I do know how I want my own practice to be organized, I’d like to run a virtual office in every sense of the word virtual, where everything is hosted in the cloud and when the team actually meets in physical space, it’s so much of an event that it’s called a ‘meeting’ but then given how much I hate meetings, it would probably happen once or twice a year. It would take a great deal of organization, would require really responsible people and smart and efficient use of IT tools. If you’re an architect today and your paper trail still rivals your electronic data, you’ve missed something already.

Do you think there is a conflict between the architects and engineers in Nigeria today?
I don’t know if there is a conflict between architects and engineers, (that’s a funny question because architects are engineers, aren’t they?). I don’t think there should be…in fact I don’t think architects have enough time to be in conflict with anybody else nowadays apart from themselves given that architects dropped the ball long ago. For a while, the fixation was with project managers, then with town planners, we’re just chasing our own tail all over the place, the truth is that if we are delivering on our primary vocation which is the creation of value for society, we wouldn’t be in conflict with anyone, because everyone would be trying to please us.

What is your relationship with artisans?
I work very well with artisans. I let them design the solution to every problem that comes up in whatever we’re doing together; I take all the glory when it works out fine and heap the blame on them when it doesn’t.

What do you think of the building regulations in Lagos?
Regulations are a guide towards achieving the common good. If we all lived up to our responsibilities as good corporate citizens of the earth in the first place, most regulations would have been redundant. What I mean is that if we were not all going a-killing with glee then there would have been no need for anyone to say ‘thou shall not kill’ and the gentleman called Moses would have been out of a job. We should strive to put the town planning office out of work in that context. It’s not the regulations that matter; it is the consciousness of the people that matters.

How do you think the approval process can be simplified?
The approval process should be 100% digital. The planning office should be synched to my cad station and once I hit the send button and after firing off a couple of emails to the district officer, the client pays by Paypal and the approval should come out in less than two weeks. It’s the way cities of the future should work, your data capture is centralized for physical and fiscal planning purposes, information flow is seamless and you can actually watch the latest videos trending on Youtube while filing in a drawing for approval. Anything less than that is a criminal waste of time.

What do you think of Lagos as a city?
Lagos is life.

How do you think the city can tackle flooding?
I really don’t know. I do know though that the floods sure know how to tackle us. I have absolute respect for the floods. There should be a religious sect with the storm drain as its insignia shouldn’t there?

Electrical power and water?
Both shouldn’t be stored in the same warehouse.

Where do you think Architecture in Nigeria would be in the next ten years?
Nowhere significantly different from where we are today, because we just aren’t ready. We dropped the ball a long time ago.

Is Architecture art?
Isn’t it?

How much of the architectural expression of Nigerian architects is influenced by Project Managers?
Architects are project managers by the very definition of architecture. If they are unable to express themselves on projects for which they are responsible, then they have no one else to blame but themselves.

Which architectural philosophy if any do you subscribe to? minimalist ,deconstructivist?
The current reality is that the only real philosophy that drives architecture today is the one called ‘follow the money’ which is rather apt given that in the age of globalization, the only thing sure is that people will continue to be in a flux between cultures while chasing after the golden fleece. The only problem with this philosophy is that nobody has had the time to stop awhile to write about it. Everything is in motion going fast to nowhere.

Do you feel computer software are taking over architecture?
Actually it is architecture that has taken over computer technology; the only problem with that is that architects, in all their royal smugness, will be the last to realize it.

Are you in support of design competitions for all public interest buildings in Nigeria, whether international or national?
No. Not all problems are solved by competitions. Some are, but not all.

What would you say is lacking in the Nigerian architectural scenario that will take architecture to another level.
Inspired thinking and guts.

How do you establish common ground with your client?
I throw tantrums and tear my hair out, then I go to a corner to sulk, till something gives. That’s a lie. I don’t establish common grounds with clients. Design, in essence, thrives on conflict between opposing potentials.

The proposed Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) building in Abuja, Nigeria, is the most recent government project to be commissioned through an Architectural Design Competition. ATO Architects, a Lagos based Architectural firm, won the competition and the Nigerian Institute of Architects commissioned the design on December 11, 2011. Judging from afar, the competition must have been cause for celebration, if only of cautious optimism that what began with the Abuja Gate – i.e. design competitions – has taken root in a city that desperately needs it.
Until recently and despite many billion dollars spent, Abuja remains an aesthetically challenged man-made landscape against a backdrop of natural beauty that belies the need for human habitation to begin with. A natural continuum of the Serengeti and the Masai Mara through the Sudan, this land that once slaked the thirsts of migratory Zebras, monkeys, antelopes and numerous other animals arbitrarily became the capital of the most populous black African country in world. An auspicious origin that, one would think, should have caused Nigerians to feel greater responsibility in occupying their capital, matching with character and design the natural beauty they found while devising ways, as was done in Nairobi, Kenya to allow the great migration to continue. Instead what obtained has been the most costly national capital ever undertaken by any country in the modern era, rushed to protect the political ambitions of a handful of military Generals and notoriously plagued by inadequate infrastructure under never ending construction. It is difficult to expound without fervor on the juxtaposition of nature and numbing architecture in Abuja, of mystifying rock formations found above ground and the vast freeways that replaced them and ran through them or the squalors that now obscure them.
Thus, the FIRS design competition was progress on so many levels. A marked improvement on the Abuja Gate competition, it attracted fifteen entries (15) at the technical stage, of which eight designs were entered in the competition and four were disqualified. All four of the firms remaining after the disqualification of half the contestants received prizes. It would be recalled that the Abuja Gate competition only had two entries and the third place prize was returned uncontested.
On a symbolic level, the FIRS probably needed a design competition’s departure from the corruption-ridden practices of the past as much as Abuja needed the competition’s excogitation. FIRS is Nigeria’s tax collector. It controls and administers the different taxes and laws made by the National Assembly and accounts for all taxes collected. As such, no institution in Abuja, Nigeria needs make the construction of its’ building a symbol of transparency, integrity and commitment more than the FIRS.
Although little detail about the winning design was made public, and thus, no context provided by FIRS for understanding the design theme and concept, ATO Architects has been forthcoming on all aspects of the design. This alone speaks volumes of the confidence, intellect and determination emerging Nigerian Architects have in their vision because their openness in the age of the worldwide web invites not just the accolades of their peers but the criticism of their competitors and analyses of their school of thought and education. According to ATO, the winning design will be built on 14,000 sqm “with 3 towers of 15-storeys each, … 51,000sqm of office space, 7 levels of car park, an 800-seater auditorium and a roof top Helipad. The building has been conceptualized as a highly intelligent building that is futuristic both in outlook and functionality. It is estimated to cost approximately N27billion ($180m).” The image of the winning model, which consists only of the external layout, appears to meet the broad conceptual objective of a futuristic building. It is a creative departure from many Abuja government offices that look like modern versions of Victorian prisons, watchtowers excluded, with offices opening onto balconies over bare square courtyards.
More fascinating however, were the constraints within which confines ATO had to conjure up a design that conceptualizes the central objective and purpose of its client’s business. Architect Kelechi Onyike writes:

The form of the building was conceptualized as a three pin fan revolving around a pivot. This was inspired by the FIRS vision “to make taxation the pivot of National Development”. It was also guided by the layout of the site, which comprised of 2 adjoining plots of land, one large and rectilinear and the other long and narrow.

Mr. Onyike’s statement that ATO was “guided by the layout” suggests that, more than anything else, the layout compelled ATO to focus its design concept on the outlook of the FIRS rather than a reflection of its complex character and rich history of which there was so much to work with. The history of the FIR illustrates how the feminist movement in Nigeria predates the movement of the 1970s Europe and America. Women in Eastern and Western region of Nigeria rioted in and about 1929 to protest the FIRS’ attempt to make them pay taxes on their market wares and these riots are watersheds in Nigeria’s history. Further, the FIRS was conceived with that most colonial of objectives, to pay for infrastructure that would make governance and exploitation of the colony easier. After independence it drove much of the development that followed, especially before the oil boom.
Yet, even with the constraints of the layout and the admitted focus on FIRS’ vision, ATO’s choice of three towers for the design fortuitously apt number in reflecting FIRS rich history and character, one tower for the insidious imperialist goals in forming the establishment, one for the proper orientation of the FIRS purpose for the benefit of Nigerians and the third for the role of women in that transformation. Art speaks, not only of what inspired the artist or what concepts he intended, but also of what it says to the audience, which might well be its most defining characteristics. The Mona Lisa’s smile comes to mind.
The greening and intelligence of buildings is imperative in modern architecture, especially large office buildings that exponentially multiply a city’s carbon footprints on a daily basis. The most intelligent building in North America today is the new office building of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, constructed for $136,000,000. In one respect, to reflect the occupant, the building was angled to create a wind gust through frontal stairwells beside which were erected small wind turbines turning with an intensity driven by the shape of the building. Similarly, ATO took pains to make its design green and intelligent. The FIRS building will have solar powered external lights operated through a lighting kiosk via a photo-electric switch, motion sensored LED internal lighting, infra-red operated plumbing control systems to conserve water and green roofs, among other things.
Ultimately the FIRS competition shows how quickly Nigeria has improved in selecting architects and exposing indigenous talent through design competitions. If fully executed, the FIRS building would stand tall three times over as a modern symbol of transparency, education for young architects and notice of the fecundity of Nigerian talent to the world.

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The phenomenon of building collapse in Nigeria is seriously marring the credibility of the country’s construction industry besides generating doubts about its capacity to enforce ethics in this sector. The frequency of this phenomenon in Nigeria is beyond bounds. Granted, building collapse episodes are recorded all over the world so Nigeria is not an exception. What make Nigeria’s situation different however, are the incredible, at times worthwhile, at times tragicomical reasons leading to these episodes. As Prof. Ede puts it in his paper for the International Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2010 (link below) the costs paid by the Nigerian construction industry cannot be justified.
Fortunately, the country is reacting to this sad situation that not only destroys property but also takes Nigerian lives. Conferences, workshops and debates focused on eradicating this phenomenon through the introduction\enforcement of a national building code seems to have gained the general consensus of the construction industry. On the 15th & 16th of May 2012, the NBRRI (Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute) promoted a two-day workshop at Abuja entitled “CURBING INCIDENCES IN THE BUILDING COLLAPSE IN NIGERIA”. Prof. Matawal’s (NBRRI CEO) keynote address stressed the importance of a correctly executed load-bearing structure for buildings. He pointed out that buildings collapse when their load-bearing structures cede, therefore, engaging qualified civil engineers, regularly registered with the recognized board, COREN, is a fundamental step towards curbing building collapse incidents. A final memorandum (communique) detailing the conclusions and proposals of the workshop was also issued.
These initiatives might not be enough to bring order to our chaotic construction hemisphere nevertheless, where greed gets the upper hand in the private sector especially, it goes in the right direction towards sensitizing the public opinion about the efforts made to straighten up this sector. This sector accounts for 70% of collapses in the country, followed by the public sector 23%, and corporate organizations 3%.
So who is to blame when buildings collapse?
Some key factors could be summarized as follows:
1:- Cutting Corners (mentality problem): it is still common amongst (greedy) contractors to indulge in cutting down building costs in an attempt to maximize profit. This results in the deliberate choice of inadequate building materials.
2:- Substandard materials: the use of substandard materials in buildings is rampant. Substandard means lower than the minimum standard established by a regulatory institution. The Nigerian regulatory institute is the SON (Standards Organization of Nigeria).
3:- Quacks: the Nigerian construction industry counts more quacks than any other sector in the country. Their responsibilities in this phenomenon cannot be underestimated.
4:- Building Permits: a consistent number of collapsed buildings do not have building permits. Though in some areas like the FCT, the use of building permits is being successfully enforced it is not yet common practice all over the country to obtain permits prior to starting construction.
5:- Adequate Site Supervision: adequate site supervision is very critical for preventing building collapse. Reading, understanding and the consequent ‘ad hoc’ execution/implementation of structural drawings can only be guaranteed by professionals.
6:- Monitoring by the responsible organs:- although commendable efforts to keep building regulation violations under control are being made in some key cities we still have a long way to go in installing an efficient monitoring system. Unfortunately, the covering of all critical geographic areas implies the use of a great amount of public revenue and human resources which is not always available, thus leaving a lot of room for the builders’ (lack of) common sense.
7:- Soil analyses: a good number of high-rises in the country were built without preliminary soil analyses. Shamefully enough, this practice which should have been relegated to our past, has continued into the present decades.

To counter the building collapse phenomenon, the building industry seems to agree on implementing a series of points:
- All architectural projects have to be designed and signed by qualified architects regularly registered with the NIA, ARCAN. This will guarantee compliance with building rules and regulations.
- Load-Bearing Structures must be designed by structural engineers registered with COREN. Engaging a regularly registered engineer is a guarantee of structural stability in a building.
- QS\BOQ: all buildings should be adequately accompanied by a detailed BOQ compiled by a qualified and registered QSs. This will counter financial miscalculations which often lead to abandoned properties.
- An obligatory requisite for obtaining a building permit must be the geo-technical soil analysis. It is still common practice in Nigeria to build without proper soil analysis.
- The Town Planning indications in terms of types of buildings, densities, services and infrastructures should be respected right from the drawing table stage.
- Building Permits must be obtained before construction. It might be appropriate to subject building permits to life spans (2/3/5 years depending on the complexity of the building) within which period the building must be completed. If not, the permit will have to be renewed\re-issued (re-processed).
- Traceability: all building sites, big or small, must affix a signboard bearing:
Name of project;
Name of proprietor;
Architect;
Engineer;
QS;
Contractor;
Building Permit ID and date of Issue (and Expiry);
Names of Supervisors;
Contact information.
- Site supervision must be carried out by regularly registered consultants. The supervisor, in turn, must ensure that all materials used in the building are approved by SON indications, therefore with the NIS stamp affixed.
- All manufacturers must obtain the SON approval for their products before putting them in the market. Possibly the approval digits, i.e. the ID should be written on the packages.
- Every contractor, in order to work, must be in possession of a regular building license and be registered with a regulatory body governing the relative sector.
- Structural Integrity Tests should be performed on all new buildings before they are inhabited. Following the test, a fitness certificate will be issued attesting the full architectural and structural conformity with the building permit.
- Contractors, further to meeting the requirements of the regulatory body governing their sector should also ensure that:
•all building materials they use bear the SON approval stamp (NIS),
•the project they are executing has a regular building permit,
•that site supervision is carried out by regularly registered consultants,
• only qualified hands are employed on site
•all safety measures on site are in place and complied with.
- Furthermore, Contractors must possess valid insurance contracts covering damage to property and injury to human beings as part of each contract.

To rehabilitate the construction industry, it is necessary to implement a system where responsibilities can be traced at all levels. Since we are still faced with one dramatic loose end in the nation’s network of civil cohabitation, namely, CORRUPTION, tracking down and legally persecuting whoever is at fault, whether in the public or private sector, is an efficient fight back against building collapse. Meanwhile, we recommend that operators use their common sense and frequently refer to the National Building Code as their ‘mode d’emploi’ when carrying out their professional duties..

For further information and updates please log on to the web sites below:

http://www.ijens.org/1010006-5858 IJCEE-IJENS.pdf

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/index.php/other-sections/property/163760-why-buildings-collapse-in-nigeria-nbrri

http://www.leadership.ng/nga/articles/1837/2011/07/12/dealing_building_collapse_nigeria.html

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=162487:nbrri-organises-workshop-on-building-collapse-&catid=9:property&Itemid=10

http://www.ngozigold.com/2012/06/why-buildings-collapse-in-nigeriaa-must.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/201205300571.html

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Mega Markets and Shopping Malls are now a reality in the Nigerian Urban development context. This new trend is offering our architects a new opportunity to experiment, therefore express their artistic verve in terms of creativity. This one that is springing up in Asaba stands out because its downright simplicity. Provocation or new awareness? The fact that the author, architect, Arc. Aderemi Adebayo, is a home made consultant, makes it even more remarkable. Are the champions of the nigerian design industry waking up a multiple styles architecture or is this just a coincidence? Time will tell. Every project assignment is opportunity a unique artistic opportunity. In developing countries like Nigeria, the vast opportunities offered to architects and designers to experiment their creativity is unlimited. Except for a handful big-timers, who probably have the power to influence their clients orientations, the majority of the home-mades seem comfortable with the victorian\neoclassical\column-gable architecture. In a way, we believe the country’s academic imprinting is responsible for the timid approach to creativity.
Shopping malls represent a golden design opportunity for architects in general. The fact that this type of architectural typology leaves the designer with a considerable maneuvering space makes this opportunity more attractive. For architects, having on ground examples from which to get inspiration and documentation strengthens their confidence on a case-by-case bases. To this effect, Palms in Lekki , for example, is a manna from above. Citing the MegaMarket in Asaba with its very rigid architecture and immaculate white volumes next to Palms, might look far-fetched. Its understated design is a post colonial revival. Critically speaking, we strongly commend this outing. It would have been easier for Aderemi to replicate any existing neoclassical cement boxes with columns, just to be on the safe side, rather than exposing himself to criticism by attempting something different. Yes, it is an attempt; whether the result is good or bad, we leave that to your individual judgement. The point we want to make is that Nigeria deserves a multiple-style architectural panorama rather than just this annoying neoClassical monotony we are witnessing.
This project might not meet the approval of some illustrious academic (disputable), nor can it be reputed a masterpiece of contemporary architecture (agreed), nonetheless it deserves mention for arc. Aderemi’s ‘attack’ on the neoClassical revival. Unless the mass of Nigerian architects reclaim their artistic verve and quickly recover from this neocolonial catalepsy Nigeria’s architectural landscape will continue to suffer from aesthetic poverty…and quacks.
The Asaba Mega market is conceived as an ‘Ultra Modern Commercial Centre’ to cater for the needs of the urban communities within the Benin/ Onitsha commercial axis. It is situated by the Asaba international airport. The design consist of 24 wings which jut out on the facades giving it a dynamic edge and sort of balance to the rigidity of the layout. No mention is made of of the renewable energy or environmental impact measures taken considering the size of Asaba. Furthermore, we are not allowed any views of the interiors so our appreciation is limited to the visuals on the external. It is composed of 10,000 shops, 4 purpose designed banks en-suite with toilets, 12 purpose designed restaurants with toilets, located at building extremes, a 24 staircase strategically located to take care of access, a vertical accent/ decent which also serve as emergency escape ways, 4 general ramps located at the left and right, near a parking area for lorries.
The extensive use of glass coupled with the predominant white walls and grey cement on the vertical structures confer a sober aspect to the complex. Other facilities include fire hose reels strategically located along corridors in case of fire outbreak, 2 boreholes and an inbuilt water storage, a standby generator, a gate house display market design, a fire Station, a day-care centre, a social /resort centre, a religion centre, a ware-house area, lifts and adequate parking space.
Construction has started. We hope that together with the project, a cut-to-fit maintenance program has been put in place for this Asaba landmark or else, come the next five years the whole place will turn into an inglorious waste of resources (typically Nigerian).

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The existing SageHotel, in Benin City, is an exquisitely designed postcolonial style hotel that offers superb quality accommodations for both a business and leisure clientele, in addition to being a soft toned art gallery. Located close to the downtown business district of the city and to numerous attractions and landmarks the Sage has become a socio cultural hub for the distinguished locals. The new annex, designed by the JBU Team, perfectly blends into the existing compound and establishes an intimate link with the main Sage by retaining its predominant architectural style. The challenge was to achieve a ’4 star feel’ notwithstanding socio-urban constraints. The team, therefore, opted to favour ‘sustainable’ technology at the service of the clientele as the core design philosophy. Renewable energy, double/triple glazing, centralized air treatment system, home automation system and sustainability are integrated deep into the marrow of the project right from the drawing table.
Briefly, on Benin City…
Founded in the 10th century, Benin was the capital of the Edo Empire, which flourished from the 14th through the 17th century. By the fifteenth century, its strong trading position on the Niger Delta made it a major power on land and one of the greatest in pre-colonial Western Africa. The arrival of the Portuguese around 1485 coincided with an even greater political and artistic de-velopment, and marked the peak of its art. Benin art was created mainly for the court of the Oba for whom artists and craftsmen produced ceremonial objects promoting theological and religious piety, as well as a wide range of animal heads, figurines, busts, plaques, and other artefacts in terra-cotta, bronze, brass, clay, ivory, and wood. The kingdom lost its independ-ence to the British following the so-called “Punitive Expedition” of 1897 when a force of 1200 conquered the city, razed it to the ground, destroyed its walls that the Guinness Book of Re-cords has defined as the world’s second largest after the Great Wall of China, and looted most of its artwork. This event marked the end of the golden age of Benin art, as well as the start of its popularity outside of Africa. Indeed, the thousands of pieces of artwork that were looted in 1897 soon found their way into the collections of museums around the world.
Ancient Benin art provides the inspiration for the complementary furnishings of the New Sage Hotel, which blends history with contemporary ethnic touches.
The elevations are pretty much rational except for the front elevation where irregularly cut stone juxtaposed with the white coating openings emphasize its alignment with the diagonal front road. The side elevations are characterized by the cantilevered terrace boxes alternately placed with large cladded glass panels, which enhances the effect of regularity. The back elevation is dominated by the cladded fire escape stairway. The complex reminds us of Mies van der Rohe’s “less is more”. This expression is the soul of the minimalist aesthetic tactic. In practical terms, it implies arranging the numerous necessary components of a building to create extreme simplicity. Space is therefore stripped to reveal its essential quality, its ‘navel’.
Wenghe and bleached beige coloured laminate and veneered woods set off, by contrast, are the predominating colours of the custom designed interiors, while ethnicity is introduced in fabrics, complimentary accessories and art works. Washable non-scratch textured and smooth wall coatings as opposed to wallpapers are used in all critical and scenographic areas. The result is a harmonious mix of ethnic-minimalist eclecticism that gives the interiors the feeling of cozy intimacy. Unlike the regular rooms that open up onto the corridors in habitual monotonous succession seen in hotels, the suites offer a dynamic approach with irregularly cut rooms, living areas and breathtaking views.
‘Sustainable’ technology refers to the use of technology that assures the possi-bility of on-ground maintenance in terms of servicing and replacements. These prod-ucts, which include the large double\triple glazed anti burglar glass panels to counter treated air dispersion and outside noise infiltration; Insulated Photovoltaic roof panels to generate enough clean energy to run the hotel (and help silence the ever polluting generator); HomeAutomation system for an efficient management of all of the elec-tronic/electrical, anti intrusion and safety systems; ’2.1′ water treatment plant to recycle and store rain water, etc. are added values at the service of the clientele. The floor tiles are in 12mm thick ‘gres porcelanato’, wooden finish, while 5 mm tiles run from floor to ceiling. Tatami floor flush shower trays with slit drains, wall hung wash basins, corian cut to fit vanities and bubble bath tubs are used in the bathrooms. Construction starts mid 2013.
Some examples like the new Benin City Airport and the Protea Hotel, just to mention a few around this area, with their simple but incisive geometric forms, are symptoms of a growing confidence in simplicity as ‘rich’ architecture, as opposed to the rooted pseudo Victorian revival.

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The area designated for the new museum of contemporary art in Krakow coincides, in part, with the industrial pavilions of the Schindler Factory, a place long fixed in the collective memory and in the history of men, their crimes as well as their heroic acts.
The idea of transforming those spaces, of integrating them with new spaces, into a destination for art, culture, and contemporary society, cannot but bear witness to the way in which memory can be nurtured to become a path toward the future.
The events that have taken place within those walls have already witnessed the possibility of hope, of a way forward, out of the horror.
The industrial roof-lines of the existing buildings have become a motif, a visual element carried through the entire project, evoking, in this case, the continuity between preexisting and new construction.
The zones reserved for exhibition spaces develop around the existing structures and envelope them like an embrace, encompassing every available space among those designated for the project, resulting in irregular, disconnected forms, but which together almost assume the strength of a symbol. From the principal entrance on Lipowa Street (next to the original entrance to the factory), the exhibition galleries unfold toward the garden plaza at the rear, to the north.
The imposing ‘South Wall,’ which carries the logo of the museum, marks the beginning of a new urban itinerary. It traverses the museum and the old pavilions, balancing the mass of the adjacent and preexisting Museum of History and Memory.
Seen from the wide expanse on Lipowa Street, the new museum appears like a new kind of architecture, born of contemporary technology, lightweight and luminous, with its shed-like roof lines which dissolve and integrate with the preexisting structures.
A long ramp leads the visitor up to the level of the new internal plaza, along a walkway with seating areas and delicate groupings of trees, proceeding past a series of stops: an old factory pavilion which has been transformed into an exhibition loggia, artists’ residences and ateliers, and the large glass wall of the library.
On the opposite side, the full extension of the main entrance lobby, the bookshop, and the restaurant.

The Museum

The building is diffuse and not monolithic, characterized by the harmonious sum of many requirements, such as the need for strong overall visibility and the aesthetic and functional integration of the existing structures. In fact, a choice was made for a building that did not surpass the height of the existing buildings, entering instead into a dialogue with those structures through the common denominator of the factory roof reference.
The new building unfolds on two levels, the ground floor (height 390cm) and also, by necessity, a lower level (height between 450 and 600cm). It is completely independent from the existing buildings for reasons of safety and static load.
The main façade, to the south, is a glass wall which allows views of the galleries from the outside and views of the walkway and the abraded walls of the old factory from the inside.
The roofing of the new pavilions consists of a metallic grid structure which supports a lightweight but rigid shroud in black titanium-zinc that blends with the existing roofs. The roofs of the remaining parts will be reinforced concrete and steel with large openings that allow the greatest flexibility for the internal spaces while reducing the number of necessary columns.
The disposition of the spaces is already clear from outside the complex, highlighted by the anthracite grey wall in resin-cement which gestures from the entrance plaza, drawing the visitor into the museum itself through the glass façade to the south.

The Connected Functions

The Storeroom
The storeroom for artworks is without doubt the most important and delicate of the functions connected to the museum. Its placement, given the possible cargo accessible options, is near the South Wall, opposite a wide open area (which heightens the wall’s monumentality). This same area could occasionally serve as a temporary parking area for large trucks or the unloading of oversized artworks. A 270 square meter holding/preparation room on the ground floor is adjacent to this area with direct and protected access to the cargo entrance and the exhibition galleries. The remaining 500 square meters of storage space is located underground, immediately below and accessible by stairways and an oversized freight elevator connected to the lower level galleries and the conservation laboratory.
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The Administration Offices
The Administration Offices are located on the second floor, just above the storeroom and some of the galleries.

The Entrance Lobby, Cinema, Bookshop, and Restaurant
The entrance lobby is situated at the top of the ramp which serves to link the entrance point to the main road and at the same time to dissipate a 30cm level difference with the outside.
The entire length of the spacious hall overlooks the south plaza and serves several related routing functions including access to ticketing, coat check, cinema, bookshop, cafe-restaurant, with entrances from the walkway and the new north plaza.

The Residences, Studios and Library
A deep loggia will be created on the east side of the new walkway, overlooked by four artists’ residences and studios. The loggia itself will be an open air exhibition space for resident artists.

www.claudionardi.it

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The Vigeo Holdings building succeeded where Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim failed. In providing an enabling environment for artists to hang their works , i.e on vertical planes aplenty devoid of curves which makes it easy to put up and to view , it provides eye candy at convenient angles for the unbiased observer. While taking a tour of the building one can be forgiven for forgetting the fact that its actually the headquarters of a company and not an art gallery with spacious planes accommodating artworks, mostly oil paintings, which get prominence quite literally on every front giving it an almost cinematic quality, every plane becoming a different scene in the story of the building.

Originally serving as the Japanese embassy, it was bought by Vigeo Holdings and renovated with the help of the Architecture firm MOE , a partnership of the AA graduate Mosun Emeruah and UNILAG graduate Goke Oshibodun, who introduced a suspended ceiling with circular lights 200mm in diameter, which light up the interior complementing the work of the skylight overlooking the void and making the space look more compact , thus aiding the appreciation of the artworks on display.

Walking up the front steps with 150mm risers and opening the 2000 x 2100 doors into the lobby, one is welcomed by the large oval shaped company logo carved out of wood hanging just above the receptionist’s head. One would also notice that that the diameter of the lights reduce by about 100mm as they converge over the counter. On the right are a collection of masks , the kind which inspired Picasso’s groundbreaking works, on the left is of course the flatscreen television set to provide a diversion for visitors as they go through the boring motions of waiting for a meeting. Meetings are obviously an integral part of this company’s psyche as there are three conference rooms in the building, the first being encountered on the ground floor on the left arm of the building the entrance being right beside the flatscreen tv. One enters this space through a 2000 x 2100 wooden door with a wide frame  about 300mm thick and one is ushered into a space 7500mm x 10000mm with a floor of reddish brown marble , a wall with glass fenestrations bringing in light blocked for the most part by heavy woolen curtains suspended just behind the coping on the plaster of paris ceiling. There are chairs surrounding an oval wooden table. The paintings on the 7500mm wall are both abstracts , contrasting with those on the adjacent plane which deal more with realisms.

Getting past the reception into the void , one is bathed in light provided by the skylight on the roof just above wooden trusses. The central courtyard has as its centerpiece a fountain which mostly functions as a pool of still waters flanked on the right wing by an open plan office screened off with the aid of  wooden frame units  about 1200mm high, which also act as partition in within the office space. On the left the pool is flanked by a lounge which can act both as a recreational space and used for informal business meetings. Its plywood finishing reduces the possibility of one slipping and falling into the water .

I walk up the 1200mm wide marble finished staircase lit up by a circular fenestration 400mm in diameter, over the sitting area in the lobby to the top floor passing by a dark brown sculpture, roughly the shape of a dancer in action.

There are three planes there where artworks are displayed prominently ,one being the partition wall which screens off the offices from the corridor and another 1800mm away from it , on both sides of a wall which borders the inner corridor. These paintings and relief works are also abstractions. These are interspersed with fenestrations of 1500 x 2100 with 300mm wooden frames which directly let in light and air into the inner corridor without any glass partitioning of any kind. Cream colored marble tiles alternating with black. there are five office units on the right wing and four on the left. On the left wing one meets the second of the three conference rooms which looks a lot like a dining room with a dining table in the centre bordered by intricately carved chairs. Overlooking all these is a realistic painting of a marketplace scene which seems to set the tone for all the business negotiations which would go on there. On the walls of this wing are the paintings by the artist Peju Alatise which show human faces in various degrees of contortion and sobriety, seemingly bringing the hidden emotions to the surface . At the end of the wing lies the Piece De Resistance of the building or so I think as I enter the third conference room where various paintings and sculptures seem to be holding a surrealistic meeting around the rectangular conference table with Ben Enwonwu’s ’65 sculpture being at the helm of affairs. The floor being of reddish marble finishing cushioned with what looks like a Persian rug. The ceiling’s oval shaped vertical recess, adds to the feeling of grandeur of the space, and also fits into the oval motif sourced by the Architects from the company logo.

The plumbing is skillfully taken care of with the aid of cylindrical pipes running through the decking and down to join the drainage pipes for the fountain below. Although the electrical wiring does stick out awkwardly in a few places, the skylight being a prime example, it is generally kept hidden away behind the walls and in the suspended ceiling.

No building is perfect , more so, if one is dealing with a renovation work, transforming an embassy building into an office building , but with the fusion of good space management , the lightness of touch of the Architect, the various artworks on display which influence the space positively, making it memorable and lighting techniques which keep the use of artificial lighting to a minimum, the building works for the purpose for which it was refurbished.

Going down the steps out of the building I remember the first question Ghase Aifuwa ,my contact in the company asked me on arrival. Why do you want to write about this building? The answers I believe are very obvious.

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In the north-eastern outskirts of Milan, as part of the restructuring of the former industrial core that houses the RCS Mediagroup, the new office building B5 designed by Barreca & La Varra studio has just beencompleted. The building is an integral part of a master plan intended for research and intellectual workand contributes to the incredible transformation which the production areas at the edge of the city haveundergone over the past few years. Milano, November 21, 2011 – The studio Barreca & La Varra is one of the main firms in charge of restructuring the entire industrial compound for the RCS Mediagroup in Milan, Italy. They recently completed the office building known as B5, an integral part of the programmatic intervention of the area.
The master plan, since its inception in 2001 when Boeri Studio (composed of Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca and Giovanni La Varra) won the design competition by invitation, has aimed to upgrade and expand the areas occupied by the older offices and printing works of the RCS company (located on via Rizzoli, northeast of Milan, near the River Lambro). Together with Stefano Boeri, the architects designed Building C, a low complex with an 18 storey tower and a central courtyard that culminates on the river’s edge. In 2007, when the staff of RCS moved back into the new building, work on the next two projects began, including B5, which bears the signature style of the architects Gianandrea Barreca and Giovanni La Varra, who founded their studio Barreca & La Varra in 2008. B5 is a building of original character in respect to the other works on the site. While it actively participates in the program, it was intended to explore certain areas that were of particular importance to the architects. Gianandrea Barreca stated that they “were interested in the unity and continuity of matter. Thus, once the first building on the site was designed with a glass matrix façade, it seemed natural to continue to pursue an objective of material homogeneity”. The new intervention by Barreca & La Varra means to house a series of programs, from the editorial offices of the RCS newspaper group, to photography studios and spaces for the multimedia sector. The building is the result of a high level of professionalism applied throughout every stage of development in the project. Designed as a “classe A” (the equivalent of a LEED platinum) certified structure, B5 is a parallelepiped volume, with a five story glass façade that wraps around the building, reminiscent of the image of a barcode. The facades are one of the main design elements and work as a device that allows the building to engage with the surrounding urban spaces that form the boundary of the site, as well as to promote greater flexibility and spatial quality to the interior workplace.
The façade is composed of vertical alternating shades of white, gray and black (with the exception of the ground floor where black is the dominant color). The color “texture” of each floor is staggered in respect to the adjacent floors of the buildings. The verticality of the project is enhanced by the black string-course elements. Giovanni La Varra explains that “the decision to work on the boundary elements was due to the fact that, in a marginal context such as it exists at this site, it was important to establish a new front that would engage the street. They had to establish a new territorial as well as urban identity”. The facade of B5 attempts to pursue an ideal of composed space and scale.
Each of the glass panels of the surface, which sometimes appear transparent and at other times opaque depending on the light, dress the façade and consolidate the dimensions and forms with precision and grace. The building is easily understood by the observer. The rhythm and cadence inherent in the structure of the façade defines the space, designing and arranging the areas within which individuals interact. Windows are placed between the opaque glass elements, and a shading system, perpendicular to the façade, was incorporated thus endowing it with a sort of dynamism.
Gianandrea Barreca states that “The entire building, including the ground floor facing the inner court, is covered with serigraphed and colorful glass panels and vertical screens in the shape of ‘fins’ that emerge from the edges of the façade. The search for a balance between these and other architectural elements, like the black string-course, create for an ever-changing and dynamic façade”. The façade then becomes a sort of assembly kit, a structure that indicates the functions, and perhaps more interestingly, generates the perception of the building as a sculpture in he landscape”. The operable windows are also the mediators between B5 and the rest of the RCS project. The surrounding cityscape and context are in fact reflected from the glass as if the building were able to “read” the site, tracing on its surface the history, ideas and stories that give the place its current shape. The dialogue between the
architecture and the landscape, in this particular case between the façade and the city, is an idea that Barreca & La Varra have always been particularly mindful of since the inception of their firm. “The attempt is to define the façade in a greater sense than is usually required, creating a surface that is much more responsive to its surroundings” state Gianandrea Barreca and Giovanni La Varra. The ability to design the compound of the RCS as a creative hub that interacts directly with the public spaces of the area was a major goal of the architects, who wanted to create a “village for intellectual work”.
The restructuring of the RCS compound, in Barreca & La Varra’s project, is essential to the preservation of the history of this part of the city and serves as a catalyst for future development. From the beginning of the 20th century Milan has developed vast industrial areas which are set apart from the rest of the city. These areas grow larger every year and are thus always located in the periphery. Isolated developments are scattered through the countryside with little or no contact between the city and themselves. These areas nowadays often experience hardship, neglect and more often than not, fall into ruin. The new design of the RCS is designed as if it were a cultural and social hub that responds to contemporary issues and needs. The recovery of the area consists of expanding the compound; thus attempting a social construct that is explicit of the ideals of Barreca & La Varra and a competent vehicle for interaction between the publishing group and the Milanese community that is witness to the evolution and the growth of one of the most important business groups in the city.
The construction of B5 has offered a starting point to analyze and comment a few of the issues raised by the project.

WEBSITE: www.barrecaelavarra.it

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By Dachi Maduako

She is simple, easy to approach and moreover friendly to people around her. But she has a lot that makes the difference in designs. No wonder her outfit – Interior Options (IO) stands out in the Nigerian interior designs landscape. Mrs. Munira Shonibare in this interview with Dachi Maduako proves that Nigerians can stand their ground and succeed where foreigners hold sway

Question: can we start by meeting you? We know your organization, (Interior Options- IO) but we don’t know the brains behind this organization, so can we meet you?

Answer: I am MUNIRA SHONIBARE, the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IO Furniture Limited, IO Furniture Limited has been in existence since 1987, primarily as an interior design consultancy company, as I studied Interior Design in Italy for two years after my first degree in textile design. And in 1992, we decided to diversify and go into furniture manufacturing for the very simple reason that we wanted to take control of our quality and design specifications to meet our very critical and discerning Nigerian clients.

Question: can you give us a run-down of your personality to give us a clearer idea of who Munira Shonibare is?

Answer: I need to understand that question of clearer idea of my personality. I have always had a very creative approach and attitude to life and I’ve always viewed things from three dimensional scope or aspect as supposed to two dimensional. My entire outlook on life is very three dimensional. What do I mean by that? You need to confront and look at issues or life from all aspects from a sort of global perspective as opposed to taking just one aspect of any situation and determining it from there.

Question: I want you to go further by giving us your family background so that we can understand you.

Answer: I come from a civil service background. My father was in the Foreign Service. So, my formative years were spent travelling across the world, travelling around the world to various places and I supposed that this formed a very fundamental understanding of human nature, how very diverse we are, and yet how very similar as a people.

You’ve got to recognize and appreciate that people irrespective of colour, tribe religion, gender are broadly categorized into good people and not so good people but at the same time, that there are very diverse cultures and norms that determine and make the world a richer place; And getting an understanding and appreciation of these cultures, make understanding and accepting people a lot easier. My father always taught us never to judge anybody by his colour or by his religion but to always judge them on their character because that is what really makes a person, not his religion or ways or gender.

Question: You are Munira Shonibare now.

Answer: Yes,

Question: What is your maiden name?

Answer: My maiden name is Attah. I come from the Attah family in Kogi State. My grandfather was the Chief of Ibiraland. My father had about 148 siblings. So, I do have a lot of relatives scattered all over the globe.

Question: Now, what about your husband and immediate family?

Answer: I am married to Chief Supo Shonibare who is a politician and a lawyer by profession. He is the Afenifere leader in Lagos State. I have three children. All of them are in the Universities pursuing their various interests.

Question: Would you say that your upbringing in any way induced your going into this business?

Answer: I don’t know that it induced me; I’ve always loved the arts. I’ve always been very conscious and aware of my environment and space. As a child, the environment has always fascinated me, yes, I definitely say that my childhood i.e. my travelling around and visiting various places of course gave me a very broad perspective of how diverse we are and more importantly, it taught me not to inhibit my mind. The human mind is incredible about how much it can achieve and retain. So, the interest is on how broad and unlimited my thinking is. But I think the creativity is something that has always been there. I believe it was always there and luckily, I had parents that encouraged and nurtured it. So, yes, it encouraged and nurtured it.

Question: Previously, only carpenters were going into this kind of business, what actually made you single this out as a business that you want to do

Answer: You said only carpenters, I am a carpenter, so as a carpenter, I believe I am doing what I should be doing. But what has encouraged the pursuit of it in this manner is wanting to achieve excellence, wanting to adopt best practices in what we do, and proper corporate governance. What do I mean by excellence? Not just in the quality of our products, in the quality of staff and believe me, it’s a never ending story and in so doing, we also try to influence our staff into making sure it affects their lifestyle outside this premises.

And what I find really nice and encouraging is that when our staff are ready to decorate or furnish their homes, they come back here and order furniture and what is interesting is that when they order furniture, they don’t just say can I have a bed, or can I have a table, they now sit down and make sure that in choosing furniture for their bedroom or in choosing furniture for their living room, that there is a synergy or there is a harmony in making that selection. So, you begin to recognize that their environment is starting to influence their thought and affect their personal life. I find that very intriguing and encouraging, because it is part of what we want to do to actually get into the mentality of our employees to buy into that vision. That is the only way we can also buy into that vision, by making sure that it is reflected in their personal environment, wherever they are.

Question: Now what is the difference between you and the decorators that are outside there?

Answer: You see, there is a decorator in every human being, every human being is a decorator what do I mean? Every human being has some fashion sense or idea of what they like or don’t like. Every human being has a perception of what for them is close to heaven. My interpretation of heaven, or maybe when you shut your eyes, what you envisage is probably very different from what I would envisage.  So, there is a decorator in everybody.

Now the interior designer’s job is to try and help that decorator that lives in everybody achieve his own dream which is ideally to create an environment that is harmonious, that you feel very secure and safe in, and affects your psychological wellbeing. And in order to do that, you have to apply a science, the science of balance, the science of proportion, the science of texture, and the science of colour and the science of light the which the regular average decorator cannot do because it does involve a science. That is the difference.

Question:  Now that you are into this kind of investment that calls for serious financial input, what is the general attitude of government towards this industry and what policies has government either put in place or not put in place that are actually affecting you?

Answer:  You know government, they keep formulating policies. But I must say the current CBN governor in recognizing how important it is to encourage the growth of industry in Nigeria to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product, has actually put in place what he calls the Intervention Fund because the commercial banks are actually charging 26 percent. You cannot as a manufacturer or those in the industry exist on 26 percent. So he came up with this Intervention Fund where you are charged 7 percent long term. So, of course you can now take that loan and apply it very efficiently.

Another thing they put in place in giving you that loan, there is also a monitoring exercise, so they are constantly monitoring you to find out exactly how you are growing and how you are doing and whenever you are experiencing bottle necks, they help you with those.

Second thing that I think the government is encouraging is that they banned the importation of furniture. Just recently, something very interesting happened. I started to get e-mails to an invitation to a furniture fair by a Turkish organization and I didn’t respond. I just found it curious that for a government that has banned importation of furniture, how come another country come into our country to display and market their own goods, how can you do that? That shouldn’t happen. A foreigner can come in here to display their own goods and invite us to their furniture fair? That shouldn’t be allowed to happen. These are areas that you begin to wonder, and I’m still investigating, whether they have the support of government or the government knows that its going on.

Of course what are the main challenges, it is lack of infrastructure. We don’t have that regular and constant supply of power so it makes our cost of production higher. To get skilled manpower is difficult. So, you have to set up a training program as well to train the people so they can match and cope and again buy into the vision of the company and what it is the company wants to achieve. Those are the two main challenges and then it is not easy to get good quality first grade raw materials to meet international standards that are required. So, you find that we have to import 70 to 80 percent of our raw materials. Again that is an added cost. The prices would be better if all of these issues were addressed.

Question: Does it mean that the government has relaxed the policy?

Answer: I really don’t know what is going on, or whether the ban has been lifted because I don’t understand how this can be allowed to happen.

Question: What its government patronage like?

Answer: Our business model is not government for the very simple reason that first of all, the advanced payment terms are not favourable. You cannot ask a company to make furniture for you and you say that your policy is to pay only 25 or 25 percent payment. What revenue or resources is that company supposed to use to manufacture? What you are saying to the company is, go and borrow, borrow and award interest with 26 percent? So, am I going to bill in that 26 percent into my cost? Those are the kind of things we looked at and said, obviously, government cannot be our primary target market, and they are actually our tertiary because of their policies. It does not work for us.

And because it is very difficult and bureaucratic, what do I want to use the process of getting into business with Government? It is so bureaucratic. Our business model was actually fashioned and targeted at the private sector and is actually to make our products retail range where anybody who is looking for a particular furniture product for home or office or hotel can work in here and order. That is what we have based our business model on because in dealing with government you can find the process too bureaucratic and time consuming. It is not that easy.

Question: Previously, people used to prefer foreign furniture and you had already mentioned that government came up with this ban on importation of foreign furniture but you see in Nigeria, people have a way to circumvent some of these laws and policies. Would you say that since that policy came in place that local patronage has increased?

Answer: It has had to, I mean, you know you cannot get an absolute situation in any case; you will always have that percentage of people that will go against the green. And that is okay. What is important is if the majority is benefiting from the policies that have been put in place (but you cannot ever have that 100 percent perfection situation) that can never happen. But what is good is that if you have 60, 70, up to 80 percent of the furniture being bought locally, then I think that is very good and it is a good start because it begins to force all of us to up our game, again improve the quality of our furniture and compete with international community and other people.

Our own benchmark in deed our ultimate goal is to have a stand at the International Milan Furniture Fair. To say look we have this stand and to say these are goods made in Nigeria by Nigerians. As long as I know, that has never happened before, so, we are hoping to do that just to prove that it can be done. Maybe, our only constraint will probably be our ability to compete favorably with our pricing because our production costs are high there is no power first of all; we are on diesel 24 hours so you can imagine straight away that adds to your worth, 15/to 20 percent of your cost.

Question: When do you think this will be?

Answer: I am hoping I see it in my lifetime, I’m hoping sooner than later, we all live in hope.

Question: Now, let’s look at raw materials, we know that people are still looking for improvements and in this country even the local raw materials like wood that is available is exported outside this country and only return as finished product or polished work, how do you manage with this?

Answer: I’ll tell you right away, we import70 percent of our raw materials because we can never guarantee the quality of what is available here. When you are trying to meet international quality standards and your raw materials are substandard, you don’t stand a chance. So, we import 70 percent of our raw materials because you just can’t guarantee the quality of the raw materials that are available locally. So, it’s a major challenge.

The CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, came to visit us as beneficiaries of this Intervention Fund and he did asked, “why can’t you take it a step forward and begin to source for your raw material locally?” That is an entire industry by itself, there is no where in the world where you are the wood supplier and the furniture supplier and supplier of the finished goods, no it is broken down and diversified. We need to get there because in so doing, what are you doing? You are creating employment; you are creating skill, getting people to another aspect of the industry. So, the advantages are there but those are the kinds of challenges that we face.

Question: Do you mean that in this country, there is no such industry?

Answer: There are, I’m not saying there are not. But it is the quality, when we want to buy plywood, we actually look for plywood that has been manufactured in Ghana, rather than buy what is made in Nigeria. That’s how bad it is because the ones made in Nigeria have not been treated for termites, the sizes, there are just no guarantees and they export the first grade ones and whatever is leftover as rejects, they introduce into the local market. So it’s not just good enough.

Question: Don’t you think Government should do something about that?

Answer: I believe they should, but I’ll tell you my position. Historically, all over the world, I think Government’s primary rule is in policy making. Make sure you just sit down there and you form laws and policies. You’ve got to support the private sector to drive the economy so that they are not weighed down by also trying to manage.

We are talking about a group of companies, how much can one governing body do on its on? So, I think there has to be that collaboration. And I think that has been our problem, we can’t keep saying government isn’t doing this, government isn’t doing that. The one fault in the government is not allowing the private sector to do the things they can do including intervening in say transportation, intervening in power, intervening in education, intervening in health and let the private sector have a say, let them do what needs to be done.

If they start and run away with these things, everyone else will be forced to catch up. I mean, how many government universities do you find in Europe or United States, they are private schools, and that way you have a few who are run by government and government of course is forced to reach the same standard of the ones run privately. But here all the Universities with the exception of few you know until very recently and look at the state they are in. I went to school here, the standard was fantastic but I can’t send my children to school here, now because I went to school here.

Question: You are in the design world, in what area can you compare your field interior designs and architecture?

Answer: They are related, you can’t have one without the other. You can’t have interior if you don’t have a structure. So, you need the architect and the architect once he has created that structure, needs an interior designer. It’s like the doctor and the nurse, you have to work hand in hand and work together to achieve whatever it is that is required of any particulate project.

Question: Do you see this happening in this country?

Answer: Yes, we work with a lot of architects. Most of our clients are actually architects so they come with their projects and we sit together and develop it and decide exactly on how we are going to proceed with that particular project to achieve the sort of look we want to achieve. Yes, it’s starting to happen.

Question: You know that skill acquisition has to do with education. In your field, how much of academics is required?

Answer: You need to go to school, you need to understand, you see there is the creative aspect of interior designing which comes with your creative mind and letting that run uninhibited, but there’s a science to interior designing you have to understand your space, you have to use proportion, you have to get the right lighting, you have to get the right furniture. That requires a science and a very organized and structured approach to the project or whatever it is you are trying to achieve. So, it is not just creativity and definitely, the most renowned designers didn’t just get up and pick it up as a hobby, which is decoration.

In design, you have got to have a qualification for that. I mean there is a decorator in everybody, you know. In doing up your house, of course, you are very clear about the colours you like and the colours you don’t like or you walk into a shop, you will be drawn to some types of chairs and not others, so, there is a creative element in every human being. If you and I walk into a shop, the shirt you will choose will not be the shirt I will choose. That is, that person’s personal creativity coming to play. If you are going to take it a step further and go into design, you need that informed or formal training definitely.

Question: You mentioned that you Italian partners/consultants, who also training your staff?

Answer: Yeah, absolutely, it was vital to train our people on how to achieve excellence and how to produce and manufacture furniture.

Question: When did you go into operations?

Answer: We’ve been in operation for 18 years, but I only got the Italian partnership about five years ago.

Question: For this past 5 years, how many of your workers have been trained?

Answer: I would say all of them because it is very informal. We have in our production unit a staff strength of about a hundred workmen. Some of them have got the training and left, a lot of them have chosen to stay and continue because everyday they feel they are learning something new. But what is gratifying is when you go somewhere and you meet a friend of yours that says some ex worker of IO did this or did that and they are still maintaining that standard of quality requirement and the certain process in addressing a project. That is very gratifying.

Question: Do you have a quality control unit, and how does this work?

Answer: You see, everything is broken down because we are working towards where you  break down the pieces and you put in the instructions manual and then get people to come and collect and assemble them like it is done everywhere in the world.

First of all, all our machines are automated, so, everything is programmed and automated. That already guarantees precision. Once they come out, we now have the work and assemble ventures where people are putting everything together. There is a supervisor that comes and checks and before you set everything up, you put stickers, green or red sticker, red sticker to say something is wrong and green to say yes it is good to go.

Question: Do you have an umbrella organization?

Answer: Yes, we have an organization called the Interior Designers Association of Nigeria (IDAN) of which I was the founding president for two years. This was all in attempt to sort of separate the various groups. We have decorators in the association but at least what we are trying to do is to make sure that designers, artisans, are specialists; because you need that. The painter is important, the person doing your floor is important, the person doing the lighting is important. So, as much as possible we are trying to encourage people in the industry even the related specialists to come under this umbrella and then you begin to differentiate so that at least you can control the profession and begin to give it integrity because you hear sometimes some stories, people have told of engaging the services of a decorator, a designer, give them money and they disappear. So, the organization was set up to control.

Question: It is clear that most of the raw materials you use are imported. Is the government also aware that most of these materials are imported to be able to separate the materials from finished works?

Answer: Yes they are aware.

Question: Okay, are they giving you some kind of leeway, to make it easy for you, especially on tariffs?

Answer: No, they are not. It is not as though we were given any concessions for bringing in the raw materials, or we were charged low duty, no, that is why I said our production costs are high because we are paying 25 percent on most of these goods that are allowed. So, it is not cheap and when you bring that in, you are faced with other challenges including electricity just as you are dealing with all of that. Production is not cheap.

Question: Knowing that production of fabrics is very low in the country especially as the textile industry has been in comatose, can’t your organization make a serious case for government intervention as it did to the textile industry recently knowing that the fabrics are not produced here?

Answer: You know we have the Manufacturers Association of Nigerian that is a very active body that is trying to ensure and protect the industry, so, yes, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria always speaks up and will try as much as possible to represent manufactures and tries as much as possible to get concessions to aid and facilitate industrialists. It is an on going battle.

Question: What are the other problems and difficulties you face?

Answer: Like I said, the lack of skilled manpower is a major problem. You find that you are having to be the school as well as the school teacher so what do we do? We actually look for people that have basic qualifications of their ‘O’ level that are willing to go into that professional career and you take them in and you start the training.

The lack of infrastructure, transporting goods from point A to B is hazardous. We put our boys on the road, the roads are terrible, and you have to face robbers and all manner of things. So, imagine a world where you address the railway system or you have wonderful roads. PHCN is an issue. Raw material is a problem. Then the huge tariffs are a problem. Government is constantly changing policies, this year, you may have this, next year, it may all change, so that uncertainty with government and their policies is a problem.

Question: Looking at your products and looking at these offices, one is tempted to ask, do you have an intention to export your products?

Answer: It was in the dream, of course I now call it a dream, and there is no business or person that would not want the products to reach the four corners of the world. We are just trying to play it one day at a time. Who knows if it is in the cards, fine, if it is not, then what I would like to be accused of having given it my best shot.

Question: Your products seem to be for high income earners?

Answer: For very obvious reasons, because, like I said, our pricing is predetermined by the production cost. If I can bring my production cost down, of course because the most people you reach, the bigger and better your business, your business will grow. Look at IKA, they are global furniture brand, they have huge stores in every major city all over the world, there production cost are….. I think once we were approached  by some company in South Africa I think my G.M had discussion with someone in IKA, because what they do is they get bits and pieces of furniture from various manufacturers like they may go to somebody and say you just produce the arms, somebody else give me the legs. Would we have been capable to do that, I said of course, what stopped it? You are competing with the Chinese, you can’t. cost,  Not labour cost, no. production, NEPA, generator, diesel, getting the goods from to there.

Question: Could it be feasible sometime, someday for you to design for the high class and also design for the middle class?

Answer: Of course, let them address the issue of power alone as I said, imagine a world where you are walking into your factory and you are not wondering whether your staff have stolen diesel or whether it has been supplied, or whether your generator has broken down, or whether you need to have back up. Of course if you begin to address all of that, you address infrastructure, they give us long term loans for you to grow your business at affordable interest rate. I think in a place like Thailand, the interest rate they pay is something between three and five percent for 25 years, they subsidize the machines, they subsidize their staff, they help them with the salaries just to help them, just to help their industry grow. Of course, and it is the largest group, the largest medium income level because those that can afford the so called high end, are a very small population, that is one. Two, a lot of them can afford to bring these goods in so you have that competition. So, if you have that medium or you are targeting that medium income bracket, it is a vast market, we have a population of a 140 million. It is massive. It can be done for now.

Question: So, what is your own opinion about the future of the furniture or design industry?

Answer: I think in terms of creativity, it will continue to grow. Nigerians like good quality things and what is nice to see is that there are quite a few other furniture companies who are all trying to match international quality standards. So, I think that is going to grow. You see the potential in this country is huge, look at the people in the fashion industry, it is endless. But if we don’t fix our environment, then there is a limit. Your growth is capped, it will be difficult for you to take it to the next level.

Question: Can you value the contribution of your industry, to the GDP?

Answer: You mean furniture? No, I can’t. I can’t value it because, you have got the wayside carpenter, and believe me they play a substantive role. I call them my competition for the very simple reason that their prices are cheaper but they have major issues with the quality, they have major issues with interpreting design requirements, they have major issues also with delivery because they are completely dependent on when they have light. So, with all the best intentions in the world, you order something, a chair or something from a local carpenter, he tells you I will deliver it for you in two weeks and then he doesn’t have light in two weeks, he cant deliver. And then he can only use whatever raw material is at his disposal. So you find out that they are constantly struggling with quality issues. You find out that some of these local carpenters are so talented and creative. You find out that if you took that man and put him in Italy with all the good materials, you will be amazed at what he will be churning out. So, it is actually a substantial part because every single house and office and hospital must have doors, must have tables and chairs, so it is substantial, to the national GDP. It has to be substantial.

Question: Some time ago we had these schools for training artisans called technical colleges or trade centres. For now I wonder how many are operating.

Answer: As far as I know, they are almost obsolete, which is a shame.

Question: So, what do you think about a school for artisans especially in your field?

Answer: I think it is the way to go. We need the technical school, we can’t all be lawyers, and doctors and engineers and journalists and architects alongside that, and you need that support. You need the mechanic, you need the plumber, you need the electrician, and you need those people. Can you imagine if you had a hospital just full of doctors? Where is the support staff? Where are the cleaners? Where are the nurses? Where are the paramedics? There is no economy in the world that can survive without them. And that is why we are having issues. To find a decent plumber or an electrician or a mechanic is a problem, why because there are no schools to train. You don’t have so many young boys on the street, a lot of them will go and acquire some technical skill, even self employed and get into that entrepreneurship stage, set up their own one man or two man mechanic or plumbing business. At least you carry your tools and you are fixing, it is income, you earn income. It is a problem; we don’t even begin to recognize the harm we are doing to ourselves. We are not addressing these issues seriously.

Question: Can your association venture into this?

Answer: First of all we are trying to get the institutions to offer interior design as a course and part of the curriculum, and then who do you talk to about the importance of technical schools? That it is vital for any community? It is vital to have the plumbers, to have the electricians, to have the nurses, to have the painter, they are all important.

Question: Are there words of advice to (1) the government (2) your compatriots in the industry (3) to Nigerians?

Answer: Government, I am sure there is nothing I can tell them that they have not heard before, and I am sure they actually know what the problems are, whether we are willing as a country to do something about it or do we know and understand clearly what our issues are; these are the same questions we ask ourselves over and over again, we sit down and have lengthy discussions over and over again.

But are we as Nigerians willing to make the required sacrifice because it takes sacrifice. If you want change, you have to sacrifice something. Otherwise you get what you deserve, that’s my own view. Being here is a sacrifice. It has been a journey of blood, sweat and tears but I’m happy I did it because first of all to my children, I have a lot of young girls working as interior designers, I insist on the best. As a person, as a human being, my message to Nigerians, as a people, all God asks of us is for us to give a good account of ourselves. That’s all and not become people that lack empathy. You know, for evil to thrive, all a good man has to do is nothing. Let’s do something in a little small way, and make that difference.

And to my compatriots, I think we should sit down and look at that stranger in the mirror, and try to give a good account of ourselves, because we have all become strangers in the mirror, we cannot look at ourselves honestly in the mirror and be very comfortable with who we are and what we have become because we see many things happening and we don’t do any thing about it.

Question: And to Nigerians generally?

Answer: Well, if we all crave and demand change, then we’ve got to be willing to make the required sacrifice to ensure that change for the better happens.

The New Dawn Baptist Church was founded in 2007 by the established New Estate Baptist Church in Surulere Lagos. It is a young closely knit congregation formed in Victoria Island.
In April 2010, ATO Architects was invited for a pre-qualification for the design of a mixed use facility for the church. The firm was subsequently invited to participate in a design completion for the church facility with a space of 3000sqm. ATO’s entry was adjudged the 1st prize winner and the firm was subsequently commissioned as the project Architects in December 2010.

The design brief required the facility to have a 1500 capacity Auditorium, which would also incorporate a multipurpose Hall, meeting rooms and church offices; A residential block for 3 ministers; and a commercial block of luxury Apartments all within a space of 3000sqm.

The winning entry was based on a concept inspired by the name of the Church- New Dawn. The form of the main auditorium was conceived as the petals of a budding flower opening up to a full life. The curvilinear roof of the main church building was used to underscore the concept. The other buildings in the project included a block of Luxury Apartments also echoed the ‘new dawn’ theme using curvilinear roof systems. The East face of the church Auditorium was designed with large stained glass windows to project an image, which connected to the more traditional Architectural style of the Middle Ages.

ATO’s project gives us an opportunity to ‘peep’ into the world of church design. There has been a remarkable turn in the design approach concerning churches in the course of centuries. Compared to the midAge ones modern or contemporary churches focus on experimenting new design forms and materials rather than being loudly opulent. Looking at the various interpretations of the signature churches listed in architecture records today, what strikes is the dramatic change in the design mentality. Church design today is an ultimate design opportunity for the architect experiment. As a result, in many cases, we see highly unconventional buildings, hardly identifiable from a distance as churches, pose as meta for architectural pilgrims rather than just religious ones.

ATO’s New Baptist church falls into this group. If not for the cross that is visible from a distance, the building could have been meant for any other use. The striking shape of the auditorium could allude to a sports hall or swimming pool or movie theatre etc. The interior, further emphasizes the contrast with the classical basilica type of worship houses of the midAges and not only that. The curved sitting arrangement on the lower floor and the gallery explicitly brings in the auditorium type of architectural concept into church design. The alter being the focal point from all sitting areas confirms its role as the core point, the stage of a theater. This interpretation of house-of-worship is homage to architecture of our time and a living witness of the evolving times. This project recalls a series of churches that I believe express the same type of innovative spirit that make them stand out till today.

The competition winning project by Richard Meier, the Jubilee Church in Rome, shows the predominance of non-conventional architectural forms over classical cross shaped rigidity of the past. Roman travertine, white concrete and glass panels convey transparency to the whole project thereby extolling the three shells which, per se, are the peculiarity of the building.

Tadao Ando’s Church of the Light in Osaka, Japan (1999) is in style with the architects philosophy. Extremely minimal, grey concrete and order combine to achieve this symbolic church. The result is a concrete box-shaped church that emanates architecturally high emotional impact notwithstanding its nakedness by playing with light and shadow.

On the contrary we cite Mario Botta’s John the Baptiste’s church in Mogno (1996), the Maggia Valley (Val Lavizzara) at 1,180 m, Switzerland, built after an avalanche destroyed the 350 years old original one that served this mountain hamlet in 1986. The church is a chromatic tribute to the locally retrievable Peccia marble and Vallemaggia granite. It has no windows and it is illuminated by natural light from the roof. The church seats only fifteen people and stands as a landmark today.

Giovanni Michelucci’s church by Florence highway A1 exit completed in the 60’s is probably one of the confirming signs of how innovative building systems and consequent new forms is at the base of the discontinuity with the midAges we witness in church design today. Cast concrete and stone finishes model sinuous forms result in this monument to engineering.

At the peak of this trend we mention Le Corbusier’s Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut (1955)where curved walls and the roof in a massive shell of concrete gives the building a heavy sculptural air while the irregular windows and slits let in natural light through the heavy walls.

ATO’s New Baptist church, (2010 project) however controversial and out of the ordinary for Nigeria’s architectural horizon, is not just a confirmation of how architecture is reaching beyond geographic boundaries in the pursuit of the best balance between technology, material and form, but the expression of an artistic capacity made of creative skills and good cultural background.

As Ayo Onajide, founder of ATO Architects puts it:
‘Architecture is arts’.

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