GENDER AND LEARNING IN THE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO

This study aimed at gaining a better understanding of the link between the learning characteristics of students of architecture and their gender. The Learning combination inventory was administered to both undergraduate and post graduate architecture students from the second to sixth year in a private university in Nigeria. Using Parametric and non-parametric statistical tests, it was found that out of four processing patterns, (Sequential, Precise, Technical and Confluent) there were sex differences in Technical and CP with the male students scoring significantly higher than their female colleagues in both cases. Gender identity differences were also investigated based on Bem’s gender schema and the masculine students were found to be more proficient than the feminine students in both technical and CP. These findings suggested that male and masculine students were more creative than female and feminine students. The implications of these findings as well as positive steps that can be taken to ginger higher levels of creativity in the female students were fully discussed

Culture of Architectural Firms in Nigeria: An Exploratory Study

What is the culture of architectural firms and which organizational characteristics influence their culture? These questions are addressed in this paper in a survey of 92 architectural firms in Nigeria. The study investigated the types of culture which are applicable to the architectural firms using the responses of the principals to the value statements questionnaire constructed from the innovation, stability, people orientation, outcome orientation, team orientation, and aggressiveness dimensions of culture. The data were analyzed using two-step cluster analysis to determine the culture types. Categorical regression was also carried out to determine the factors which influenced culture.The study reveals that the architectural firms did not adopt the market and hierarchical cultures. The findings also question the idea that larger firms tend to be impersonal in character. It however confirms the notion that the service sector organizations are more people-oriented than outcome oriented because there was a predominance of the responsive and staff-oriented cultures. The leadership style of the principals was the best predictor of the culture of the firms

Benin Domestic Architecture "A Tabula Rasa" for Transition: from pre-Independence to Contemporary Architecture

Domestic architecture over centuries in Benin, southern Nigeria has undergone series of transformation. Benin Empire which spread to Ga tribe in Ghana, Dahomey in republic of Benin and Cameroun in eastern coast has an admirable architecture which was compare to the architecture in Amsterdam, Netherlands. But due to urbanization, peri-urbanization, growth and development, there has been neck and neck transition in domestic architecture across the crosssection of the City. Hence the focus of the paper is to examine the domestic architecture transition in Benin, Nigeria from pre-independence to contemporary architecture. For purpose of the study, pre-independence architecture can be captured under: i. pre-colonial architecture and ii. Colonial Architecture. While contemporary architecture was captured as i. independence architecture and ii. Post-independence architecture. The transitions in architecture were identified along timeline and the timelines produced four (4) distinct residential zones in Benin. The method employed for the research was qualitative approach, which means the transitions in Benin domestic architecture were documented through observation from architectural plans, identifiable transition observed from physical characteristics of houses and the use of interviews guide for key stakeholder was documente

Subjective Life Satisfaction in Public Housing in Urban Areas of Ogun State, Nigeria

This study investigated subjective life satisfaction of 452 residents in 10 newly constructed public housing estates in urban areas of Ogun State Southwest Nigeria. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and subjected to descriptive statistics, factor and multivariate regression analyses. The result shows that 61% of the respondents were generally satisfied with life in their current residences. A larger proportion of them were also found to be satisfied with the physical and spatial characteristics of the dwelling unit components of their housing environment but were dissatisfied with access to housing services and infrastructural facilities. Tenure, income and marital status as well as satisfaction with the size of residence, housing services and management of the housing estates and housing delivery strategy were among the strongest predictors of subjective life satisfaction among the respondents. This implies that among other factors, satisfaction with housing environment as well as housing delivery strategy have a significant influence on residents’ satisfaction with life in public housing. Therefore, public housing developers need to take adequate steps to improve residents’ satisfaction with the size of main activity areas in dwelling units, housing services and management of housing estates and encourage the participation of users in housing delivery process in order to enhance the subjective life satisfaction of residents of public housing in urban areas in Nigeri