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

Achieving healthy environmental sustainability in Ota housing core

Many challenges of Nigerian urban built environment for over three decades have centered on poor state of infrastructure and services. The numerous effects of rapid urbanization process on housing environment have been identified in Ota - a nodal town that currently accommodates many unwarranted environmental conditions of which environmental degradation and infrastructural decay are obvious manifestation. The environmental audits and surveys carried out in Ota reveals lots of evidences of poor living condition especially among the residents of the old residential enclave of the town. Apparently many reviewed urban revitalization literatures are perceived to have played an important role in the policy towards sustainable development of cities. The study achieves this through a copious review of literature in urban renewal programmes which helps in drawing out many effective urban renewal strategies for Nigerian cities. The study concludes that any development Programme in Ota town should involve Communities participation (also called bottom-up approach). In other words the idea of recognizing contributions by various actors enhances participatory development

Planning a Functional City Centre in a Physiographic Constrained Landscape: A Case Study of Lokoja, Nigeria

The city centre planning and redevelopment in developing cities, the location, function and physical form of such cities notwithstanding often remain the hardest planning proposal to be accomplished by any planning endeavour. The magnitude of this problem has been linked to the origin and locations of many settlements especially those associated with poor relief environment which later poses numerous planning challenges such as malfunctioning of such cities’ central area planning. This study therefore aims at planning a more viable and functional 'city centre' that befit the ever growing and physically distorted Lokoja town which existing central area is currently undermining the physical need of the inhabitants. Moreover, in the face of physical environmental challenge, there must be a good choice of locating a befitting site for its central area development. In the literature, it is evident that there are different concepts worldwide in the development of this centre hence copying from one style of design may not really work else where because of many peculiarities. Methodologically, the study employs detailed land-use studies, traffics survey and other social research analytical tool to propose a better choice of alternative site for the central area development. The researchers conceived a ‘pedestrian precinct principle’ for the central areas that is being anticipated and concludes that the fiscal resources or funding of the central area plan implementation be sourced possibly from either urban development bank or directly from central government

Residents’ Perception of Quality of Public Housing in Lagos, Nigeria

The perception of residents on the quality of the public housing was the subject of this study. This was in the light of the fact that this approach is being increasingly adopted in the provision of housing for to mitigate deficiencies in this area. A survey of fifteen out of seventy-nine estates selected across the three separate income typologies and the three housing providers in Lagos State, Nigeria. Data were collected through the use of structured questionnaires. The results of the study reveal that although the respondents indicated that the spaces provided were adequate, the areas of services such as electricity and water supply need to be addressed. The spacing of the buildings also needs to be addressed in subsequent schemes as the respondents indicate high obstruction to ventilation

Gender Inequality and Women Discrimination In Real Estate Firms in Lagos State, Nigeria

This study evaluates the women discrimination in the real estate industry in Lagos State, Nigeria. A total of seventyeight (78) Estate Surveying and Valuation firms were randomly selected in the study area, Forty-five (45) questionnaires were retrieved and analysed using descriptive statistics. The study found that there were more male Estate Surveyors and Valuers than female in the study area. Most of the female estate surveyors and valuers are attached to property management departments of their firms and the challenges they encounter range from difficulty in balancing work and the home front to the fact that women are seen as not being capable of practicing the profession amongst others. The study recommended that the female Estate Surveyors and Valuers should be proactive and strive to be at par or even better than their male colleague

Gender Inequality and Women Discrimination In Real Estate Firms in Lagos State, Nigeria

This study evaluates the women discrimination in the real estate industry in Lagos State, Nigeria. A total of seventyeight (78) Estate Surveying and Valuation firms were randomly selected in the study area, Forty-five (45) questionnaires were retrieved and analysed using descriptive statistics. The study found that there were more male Estate Surveyors and Valuers than female in the study area. Most of the female estate surveyors and valuers are attached to property management departments of their firms and the challenges they encounter range from difficulty in balancing work and the home front to the fact that women are seen as not being capable of practicing the profession amongst others. The study recommended that the female Estate Surveyors and Valuers should be proactive and strive to be at par or even better than their male colleague

GENDER, LEARNING STYLES AND PERFORMANCE OF 1ST YEAR ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS: FIRST STAGE OF A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Student gender and learning styles have been discovered to sometimes impact on the performance of architecture students. Scholars also assert that learning styles of students may metamorphose as they progress in school of architecture. Using the Inventory of Learning styles (ILS) developed by Felder and Soloman (1993) and fifty (50) first year architecture students in a private university in Nigeria as a sample, the authors have embarked on a longitudinal study which seeks to investigate the relationship between the learning styles of students of architecture and their performance as they progress in their study of architecture. First, the ILS was administered to the students to determine their learning styles. The individual learning styles were then juxtaposed with the students' overall semester performance scores. The results were analysed to determine how these varied by gender. This paper reports the findings for the first stage of the stud

DESIGNING TO MEET INDIGENOUS NEEDS: PLACE OF TRADITIONAL STUDIES IN ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION

One of the roles of architectural design process is the ability to create spaces that meet the users’ need. Global regions have their peculiarity in building designs which is influenced by regional conditions; socio-cultural, physical and climatic conditions of the place. This could be seen in countries in Asia, Middle - East countries, Africa, Europe and American. It is exhibited in their building designs, building materials, cost, forms and techniques. It is very imperative to recognize the local and regional forms, especially of domestic buildings, altering with the cultures, the environment and the climate of the area concerned. In view of this, some courses that deals with traditional architecture and studies were incorporated into the curriculum of architecture schools, but it has been observed that the guiding principles of the curriculum formulation and implementation of these courses have not been properly merged with contemporary architecture courses to reach a meeting point to draw in the desire result of architecture forms that will create design and environments that respond to the needs of users. Using secondary data from literature and curricula of four architectural schools in South-west and Northern Nigeria, this paper examines how adequately the curricula catered for the traditional content of architectural education and its uniqueness to specificity of the environment. It was discovered that aspects of traditional studies were rarely incorporated sufficiently into the curricula of the schools investigated. This paper recommended that curriculum review be done parametrically with special focus on pedagogic dynamics of required traditional architecture courses. It is desired that architectural training would always recognize the place of traditional architecture and teach based on its principle

Residential Property Developers’ Satisfaction and Selection of Architectural Service Providers

Residential property developers often commission architects to provide services for their project. In selecting their architects, they use diverse criteria which may not have any bearing with their projects. Are clients who use some criteria more likely to be satisfied with services obtained? In this study, the correlations between the criteria residential property developers use in selecting architects and their satisfaction with services provided are investigated. A sample of residential property developers in Lagos, Nigeria were asked to fill a questionnaire, which elicited their views on a five-point Likert scale. The analysis of the data obtained revealed that there is correlations between the criteria used in selecting architects and the satisfaction of the residential service providers with services obtained by the residential property developers. The need for residential property developers to use objective criteria in selecting their architectural service provider for higher satisfaction is emphasized

Pedagogic Integration of Cultural Art-knowledge Contents into Architecture curriculum: Teachers’ Gestalt Acculturation Experience

Most communities of the world acculturate their own identity by the inculcation of art cultures into the spines of citizenry education. Right from the pre-school stage to higher level education, it has been observed that the Art knowledge contents have skewed away from the gate keepers‟ (Accreditation bodies) expectations and requirements in most schools today. The aim of this study is to evaluate the current art knowledge contents in the selected Universities‟ curricula in order to integrate the relevant artknowledge ingredients into the architecture curricula in southwest Nigeria. The methodology employed qualitative-content analysis on the secondary data retrieved from the curriculum of schools, Community Charrette guidelines and art-oriented pedagogic activities. The results yielded pedagogic indices from Art-based curriculum integration, Tenets from hidden curriculum, Gestalt Acculturation experiences and architectural design studio exhibitions of works. The study recommended that relevant pedagogic knowledge Art-culture content (PKC) should be integrated pragmatically into the curricula of schools to preserve the art cultures in architectural Identity and design practices of the future professionals