Proposed Condominium Design, Èkó Altantic, Lagos, Nigeria

University of Ilorin, Ilorin

Project idea

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country & second largest economy with 6.1% economic growth per annum. Yet, it has 17million housing shortage. An acute shortage of housing facility in Lagos has led to surging demand for residential & commercial facilities. This design intends to accommodate both. The design shall be constructed through appreciable use of sustainable building materials.

Housing shortage shall be reduced through the filtering process in housing- the theory suggests that policy objectives may be achieved indirectly by building for higher income groups, allowing those lower down the scale to ‘filter up’ into the housing vacated.

Project description

The form concept revolves round zoning the four major categories of spaces into different volumetric shapes: Cuboid A- Public Commercial space; Cuboid B- Residents’ Communal space; Upright Cuboid- Two- & Three-Bedroom Apartments (Family Units); Cylinder- Studio & Two Bedroom Apartments (Singles & Newly weds Units). Link bridges are placed at strategic spots.

Technical information

Innovative use of building materials found through the research process were applied to the most appropriate building components. They include: Reinforced plastic composite; Coloured lime plaster; Bamboo; Wood; Zero VOC Paint; Stone; Low e-coating glass; Reflectasol glass; Concrete aggregates (refined concrete debris, recycled waste plastic chips, post-consumer glass, and lime).

Other sustainable measures include: use of photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, waste chutes, conversion of bio-gas from waste water to generate power, adopting green roof.