International Journal of Innovative Research and Development

Abstract

The use of external shading devices proves to be the most efficient passive design strategy for direct solar control in buildings, especially in the tropics. Today, the use of exposed glazed façade as found in curtain walls and large window panes in buildings seems to be the norm. This was largely not the case with buildings designed between the ‘50s and the ‘70s in Nigeria of the tropical-modernist period when adequate consideration was given to the effect of the climate on the occupants of a building. This paper looked into the use of external shading devices on buildings in Nigeria during the tropical-modernist era within the afore-mentioned years, by first taking account of the various shading devices and design strategies available and then undertaking a study of selected tropical modernist buildings that employed external shading as a passive design strategy. The study employed case study method and secondary documentation - involving buildings selected in South-west Nigeria. The study presents historical lesson in the aspect of building inside the tropical climate; that is dealing with the solar effects in the tropical Nigeria, and adapting a style to meet our comfort need. Recommendation was then made for the re-introduction of appropriate external shading in buildings by designers. The research hence attempts to revive our adaptive architectural approaches to meeting the thermal comfort need of occupants in a space with respect to external shading.

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Abstract

Architects are required to design with sustainable practice measures in mind due to the rising global carbon emissions as a result of increased energy consumption. The service sector is rapidly expanding world over and South-West Nigerian cities are not left out. It is desirous that office buildings have service lives that ensure optimum performance thereby reducing the alternative of constructing new offices to replace old ones. This paper focuses on how service life of office buildings in South-West Nigeria could be maximized through critical studies of identified factors in literature affecting their ‘well-being’ over time. Thus contributing to sustainability by conserving resources and preventing the consumption of more energy that would have been experienced in the process of designing and constructing a new building. Secondary data are employed to theoretically deduce means by which service life can be maximized. Findings point to the fact that properly designed purpose-built office buildings with appropriate specifications and ‘change of use’ office buildings which have been converted with comfortable provisions for all facilities required are likely to have maximized service life, therefore, contributing to the conservation of the earth’s resources. 

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