j IGERIAN fiction 
\ reflects not only 
j the social and 
\ cultural milieu 
: of the society 
but also the 
interstices of 
human interractions 
as well as the 
portrayal of convincing 
settings. 
It is through such convincing and 
realistic settings in identifiable 
environments and locations that Nigerian 
fiction appropriates and reflects traditional 
Igbo architecture. Although the novelists 
weave their descriptions of Igbo 
architecture into the subject matter of 
their stories, it is possible for the readers 
to identify the utilitarian and aesthetic 
perspectives from such descriptions. 
The definition of architecture as the 
art of space is significant and Chike 
Aniakor adds that 'the built-up 
environment whether it is a village or 
town is a product of the skillful 
organization of space in order to express 
in one instance, people's social ideals, 
and in another, man's notions of reality' 
(Aniakor:7). Thus traditional Igbo 
architecture reflects that skill in the 
organization of space and the practical 
dividends from that organization. The 
impression of a foreigner who came to 
Igboland towards the end of the last 
century reveals one of these practical 
dividends. 
That visitor writes: "As we passed 
through the town we were struck with its 
clean, well-kept houses and roads... Each 
house stood in a compound surrounded 
by a high mud wall. There were small loop 
n
Layout of an Igbo compound with thick wall in the background. 
holes in the walls at distances, through 
which a gun could be fired in the event 
of an enemy attacking the town. In each 
compound also there was generally at 
least one high tree with a platform in its 
branches from which a good look-out 
could be obtained" (Quoted in Isichei, 
Igbo Worlds: 206) This description 
confirms that the Igbo consider utilitarian 
objectives in their notion of architecture. 
That notion is not aberrant for in addition 
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to the aesthetic qualities of any object, its 
utilitarian qualities add to its value, 
relevance and importance in the conduct 
of daily human affairs. 
The concept of Igbo traditional 
architecture in this essay predates the 
colonial period although it still flourished 
within that period. This distinction is 
important because Igbo architecture 
underwent transformations soon after the 
colonial encounter. In addition it is well 
known that 'when the colonial masters set 
foot on their Third World colonies one of 
their major tasks was the provision of an 
accommodation suitable enough to their 
ways of living and work' (Bassey:29). 
That colonial intervention in Igbo traditional 
architecture has led, in several cases, to 
the creation of foreign architecture that 
does not take into consideration the climatic 
conditions of the people. 
Nevertheless Nigerian fiction 
illustrates that Igbo traditional architecture 
before that colonial intervention takes 
such climatic conditions into consideration. 
In one of the earliest literary works by an 
African, indeed Igbo writer, published in 
1739 and entitled The Interesting Narrative 
ofthelifeofOlaudahEquianoorGustavus 
Vassa the African there is a good 
description of Igbo traditional architecture. 
In that description of a pristine environment 
Equiano affirms: 'In our buildings we 
study convenience rather than ornament. 
Each master of a family has a large square 
piece of ground, surrounded by a moat or 
fence or enclosed with a wall made of red 
earth tempered, which when dry is as 
hard brick. Within this are his houses to 
accommodate his family and slaves which 
if numerous frequently present the 
appearance of a village.' This eighteenth 
century Igbo novelist adds that 'in the 
middle (of that compound) stands the 
principal building, appropriated to the 
sole use of the master and consisting of 
two apartments, in one of which he sits in 
the day with his family. The other is left 
apart for the reception of his friends. He 
has besides these a distinct apartment in 
which he sleeps, together with his male 
children. On each side are the apartment 
of his wives, who have also their separate 
day and night houses'. Significantly, 
Equiano concludes that 'houses so 
constructed and furnished require but little 
skill to erect them. Every man isa sufficient 
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architect for the purpose. The whole 
neighbourhood afford their unanimous 
assistance in building them and in return 
receive and expect no other recompense 
than a feast' (Edwards, Equiano's Travels 
:5-6).
The fact that neighbours and friends 
are expected to help the individual 
building a house implies that there is an 
opportunity for others to contribute to the 
architecture. Nevertheless the picture of 
Igbo architecture in a traditional 
environment in the olden days is emerging. 
It consists of a compound in which there 
are several houses for specific purposes. 
As we turn to that landmark novel, Things 
Fall Apart, the distinguished writer Chinua 
Achebe presents a description that brings 
the reader closer to Igbo traditional 
architecture. Achebe narrates thus: 
'Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in 
his household. He had a large compound 
enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. His 
own hut, or Obi, stood immediately behind 
the only gate in the red walls. Each of his 
three wives had her own hut, which 
together formed a half moon behind the 
Obi. The barn was built against one end 
of the red walls, and long stacks of yam 
stood prosperously in it. At the opposite 
end of the compound was a shed for the 
goats, and each wife built a small 
attachment to her hut for the hens. Near 
the barn was a small house, the "medicine 
house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the 
wooden symbols of his personal god and 
of his ancestral spirits.' (Achebe, Things 
Fall Apart: 10) 
Achebe's description imagisticaily 
locates not just the main structures within 
the compound but also their utilitarian 
purpose. There is the fact that Okonkwo is 
a prosperous man as the 'long stacks of 
yam' show. Thus he is able to build 
adequate houses for his three wives. The 
huts of those wives possess attachments 
for hens. However the location of the Obi 
in the centre with the huts of the wives 
forming a half moon behind it is made 
because of the consideration for safety. 
The enemy needs to subdue the man of the 
compound since the entrance is directly 
into his Obi, before the women and 
children are attacked. This consideration 
obviously accounts for Equiano's statement 
that the man and all his male children 
sleep in the room attached to his Obi. 
It is equally interesting that Achebe 
refers to the wall surrounding the 
compound as 'thick'. In addition the tops 
of that wall is made discouraging to those 
who may want to climb it by putting spikes 
there. A description of such walls is 
contained in Chukwuemeka Ike's novel 
Toads for Supper which is set in the 
middle of the twentieth century. From all 
indications, the compound described by 
Ike follows the concept in Achebe's Things 
Fall Apart but there are indications of 
certain changes. Ike writes: 
'The compound belonging to 
Amadi's father was quite large. It was 
walled round with mud, the top of which 
was covered with a special type of dry 
grass which was renewed as soon as it 
showed signs of decay. Part of the back 
wall had fallen in, and the fallen mud 
temporarily replaced by a fence. 
There was one entrance into the 
compound - a gate let into the front wall 
and which at night was bolted from the 
inside for privacy. There were three houses 
inside the compound. The house that met 
the eye, as soon as a visitor passed 
through the front gate, was his father's 
Obi. 
Like the other houses it had a mat 
roof and mud walls decorated very 
artistically with geometric patterns. His 
father's house was the biggest of the 
three. It was a large space in front-a kind 
of sitting room. It also had a parlour and 
two other rooms, in one of which his father 
slept, leaving the parlour empty except 
for a few oid and abandoned clothes 
hanging from nails on the walls; the 
remaining room was used as a store' (Ike, 
Toads for Supper : 51). 
It is obvious from Ike's description 
that the materials used for the construction 
of the houses have undergone changes. 
However, the basic format still remains. In 
this case Amadi's father has only one wife 
unlike Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart so he 
needed to construct only one house for his 
wife which 'too had a kind of sitting room 
where she received her own visitors, 
usually women. The kitchen was behind 
her house' (51-52). Nevertheless there is 
an innovation which is the fact that the 
third house in the compound 'belonged to 
Amadi, who enjoyed the privilege of 
being a first son' (52). A further sign of
innovation is the fact that 'the only other 
building in the compound was the latrine'. 
It is clear from that information that the 
Igbo architecture described in the novel is 
close to the present period, because at the 
time of Okonkwo the nearby bush provided 
ample space for such natural bodily 
functions. 
Hakeem Kae Kazim as Olaudah Equiano in 
the film, A Son of Africa, a new series 
produced for BBC Television late last year 
That difference noted indicates that 
Igbo traditional architecture has been 
evolving and that the evolution is still 
influenced by utilitarian objectives. The 
fact that most Igbo men marry one wife is 
part of that influence in addition to the fact 
that space is no longer in great abundance. 
All the same inspire of the constraints of 
contemporary times the readers could still 
glimpse the specific utilitarian aspects of 
that architecture in Nigerian fiction. Some 
of the writers not only describe the general 
features of the compound but also the 
physical features of each house as well as 
the other houses in the environment. 
In I. N.C. Aniebo'sshort story entitled 
'Mamma' which is in his collection 
of stories Of Wives, Talismans and 
the Dead there is an interesting 
description of a house. Aniebo 
writes: 'the round mud hut with its 
conically thatched roof is like the 
twenty three others in the village of 
Okoro. It sits in the centre of a 
walled in compound, and is 
dwarfed by the empty, clean spaces, 
and the tall coconut, orange, 
pawpaw, palm, and oha trees 
around it'. Aniebo adds that the hut 
was 'built in 1850, by the 
grandfather of the present occupant 
who is now the oldest man in the 
village1 and that 'the hut, built of 
red clay polished to a high shine, 
has only two rooms, a bed-sitter 
with two narrow mud beds, and a 
kitchen-cum-storage-cum-chicken 
coop' (Aniebo:88). Aniebo has 
added through his description the 
shape of the roof of these huts but it 
is possible to find variations in the 
Igbo country because a visitor to 
that environment in the early 
twentieth century narrates that in Oburu 
'the houses are no longer square, but 
round, with grass roofs' (Isichei, Igbo 
Worlds: 243). However Aniebo has also 
provided a picture of the internal features 
of the hut. There are mud beds which are 
constructed while the hut is being erected. 
In another story 'Dilemma' Aniebo 
describes graphically that the home of 
Mgbeke is a 'small, round mud hut built 
on the outskirts of Awuke village' and it 
has 'two narrow mud platforms which 
served as beds' built against 'the side 
walls and took up most of the floor 
space', (Aniebo, OfWives, Talismans and 
the Dead: 135) 
The rooms are, therefore, presented 
as specifically constructed for relaxation. 
Such mud platforms also make it 
unnecessary for the individuals to construct 
traditional bamboo beds for utilization in 
them. However, there could be variations 
even in the construction of a well known 
hut like the Obi. In Chinua Achebe's 
Arrow of God he informs us that Ezeulu's 
'Obi was built differently from other men's 
huts. There was the usual, long threshold 
in front but also a shorter one on the right 
as you entered. The eaves of this additional 
entrance were cut back so that sitting on 
the floor Ezeulu could watch that part of 
the sky where the moon had its door' 
(Achebe, Arrow of God: 1). That 
information means that in as much as one 
could follow the format of the traditional 
architecture, one could still make 
innovations. Ezeulu is a priest whose 
responsibility depends on the correct 
recording of the appearance of the moon 
so he had to make his hut convenient for 
detecting the appearance of the new 
moon. The shorter threshold on the right 
as one enters Ezeulu's Obi is therefore for 
convenience and not fr- aesthetic purpose. 
It is clear thai I^J traditional Igbo 
architecture depicted in Nigerian fiction 
illustrates that the people are concerned 
with aesthetic issues as well as utilitar ar 
ones. The huts are constructed to reflect 
such things that the individual considers 
important and essential to his existence. 
In addition the shapes of the houses - 
either square or round - depend on the 
favourite form of hut construction in 
vogue in the community. The roof also 
depends on the type of material obta inable 
in the environment as well as the weather 
conditions. Nevertheless there are the 
male and female domains of the compound 
portrayed by the Obi for the man and the 
other huts for the women. Developments 
in family size and education and financial 
considerations have greatly affected this 
type of traditional Igbo architecture. Few 
people are willing to construct numerous 
houses and fewer still have need for them. 
Study of Igbo traditional architecture in 
^Nigerian fiction shows that such 
architecture served the needs of the people 
and helped them in the organization of 
their leisure and safety in addition to the 
provision of privacy for each compound. 
Git 
Footnotes 
Achebe, Chinua. Things fall Apart. London: 
Heinemann, 1976 edition. 
Arrow of God. London: Heinemann, 1974 
edition 
Aniakor, Chike C. "Igbo Plastic and 
Decorative Arts", Nsukka Journal of the 
Humanities Nos. 3/4 {June/December 
1988): 1-35 
Aniebo, I. N. C. Of Wives, Talismans and 
the Dead. London: Heinemann, 1983. 
Bassey, Nnimmo. "Colonial Architecture: 
The case of Calabar", New Culture Vol. 1, 
No. 10 (September 1979): 29 - 34. 
Edwards, Paul ed. Equiano's Travels: His 
Autobiography London, Heinemann, 1967 
Ije, Chukwuemeka. Toads for Supper. 
London: Fontana - Collins/Harvill Press Ltd, 
1965. 
Isichei, Elizabeth. Igbo Worlds: an 
Anthology of Oral Histories and Historical 
Descriptions. London and Basingstoke: 
Macmillan Publishers, 1977 
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