Sustainability

What does sustainability really mean?

Many think sustainability means high-tech materials or technology, like solar panels. But my research found the opposite. By changing a house's walls, colour, windows, and shading, without any new technology, a home in Abuja needed 30% less air conditioning.

Growing up in Northern Nigeria, I experienced both village and city living. Village houses were more comfortable, even without electricity. Our family home in the city, made of concrete blocks with zinc roof, often felt unbearable without air conditioning and during power cuts. My grandparents' mud houses in the village were far more comfortable than ours.

This inspired me to explore how we could adapt traditional village buildings for the city without making them seem outdated. During my fieldwork in Garki Village, one phrase came up again and again: people wanted a 'modern house'. Modern meant something specific to them: a home that looked finished, strong, and secure, not one that gave up the customs and daily life they were determined to keep, such as privacy, outdoor cooking, and room for the whole family to gather.

That told me something about how they saw sustainability. It wasn't about new materials or technology. It was about keeping their existing way of life and using what suited their climate and culture. Sustainability here means what lasts and works for the people living in it.

At Holitecture, we look at people's own environment and community to understand what is truly sustainable and what 'modern' really means. In this opening piece, we look at three elements of northern Nigerian architecture, material, layout, and decoration, to show how much thinking was already built into these homes, long before the term "sustainability" came into use.

Element one: Material
Built from the ground it stands on

The starting point of any traditional Hausa building was the earth beneath it. Walls were built from tubali, sun-dried bricks made from local mud, and roofs were spanned with azara timber or covered with thatch. Nothing had to be imported and nothing needed a factory.

Thick earth walls, thatched roof
Both are built from local materials. The heavy earth walls hold back the day's heat and release it slowly at night, while the thatch shades the roof from the sun, keeping the inside cool without any machine.

Fig. 1: A traditional home with thick earth walls and a thatched roof, both from local materials. Photo by mgshotz, via Pexels

A study of a bungalow in Abuja found that swapping standard sandcrete blocks for compressed earth bricks, a modern relative of the same idea, cut cooling energy demand by 8% on its own. Earth, grass, and wood are cheap and local, but they wash away in heavy rain and wear down over time, so they need regular care and re-plastering. That upkeep is part of how the material works, much like any building needs its own maintenance.

Element two: Layout
Built around family and climate together

A Hausa compound was planned from two directions at once: what the climate demanded, and what family life required. The two rarely pulled against each other.

The courtyard
An open courtyard at the centre gave the household privacy and togetherness, while also pulling air through the home and keeping the strongest sun off the walls.
Tall rooms
Ceilings were built high on purpose. Hot air rises and gathers near the roof, leaving cooler air where people actually sit and sleep (fig. 2a).

Roof shapes followed the rainfall. In the drier north, roofs were built flat, since little rain needed shedding. Further south, where rainfall is heavier, roofs were domed so that water could run off quickly (fig. 2b).
Privacy and hospitality were built in too. A guest was welcomed into the zaure, the entrance hall, without ever needing to enter the family's private courtyard.

Fig. 2a: passive cooling method Fig. 2b: Climate context roof design
Image by I. A. Haruna, Hausa Traditional Architecture, Multi-systems Consultants

Element three: Decoration
Identity carried on the wall

Decoration in Hausa architecture was never only for looks. Trained wall engravers drew freehand patterns onto wet plaster before carving them, and the richness of a facade often signalled the wealth and status of the family inside.

Zankwaye
These pointed pinnacles along a roofline look ornamental, but they began as practical handholds, giving builders a way to climb up for repairs (fig.3).

Fig. 3: The Emir of Zazzau's Palace gate, Zaria, a decorated Hausa gateway. Photo by Shiraz Chakera, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.s

Motifs like the Dagin Arewa, a star-shaped design tied to Hausa identity, turned an outer wall into a public statement of family and faith. Even the white lime-wash finish seen on many facades served two purposes: brightening the entrance while reflecting away some of the day's heat.

Coming up in this series:

earth construction and its modern equivalents
housing layouts against today's housing standards
meaning behind the motifs still carved into northern Nigerian walls
draw on reducing energy demand through simple design choices

References

Abbakyari, M., Reducing Energy Demand Through Simple Design Choices: A Low-Hanging Fruit Approach, LinkedIn, December 2025.
Abbakyari, M., quoted in PhD student and single mum-of-four Maryam encourages aspiring researchers to follow their dreams at DMU, De Montfort University News, 2020.
Abbakyari, M., When Communities Say "We Want a Modern House", We Should Listen More Carefully, LinkedIn, January 2026.
Abbakyari, M., From Mass Housing to Adaptive Prototypes: Why Housing Must Grow with People, LinkedIn.
Auwalu (2019), as cited in course material on Hausa vernacular architecture.
Haruna, I. A., Hausa Traditional Architecture, Multi-systems Consultants, Architects, Planners & Project Managers.
Something Curated, A History Of Hausa Architecture, 2022.
Photographs: mud house entrance, Hadejia, by Muhammad Shehu, via Pexels; Emir of Zazzau's Palace gate, Zaria, by Shiraz Chakera, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.

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Sustainability

What does sustainability really mean?

Element one: Material Built from the ground it stands on

Thick earth walls, thatched roof Both are built from local materials. The heavy earth walls hold back the day's heat and release it slowly at night, while the thatch shades the roof from the sun, keeping the inside cool without any machine.

Fig. 1: A traditional home with thick earth walls and a thatched roof, both from local materials. Photo by mgshotz, via Pexels

Element two: Layout Built around family and climate together

Fig. 2a: passive cooling method Fig. 2b: Climate context roof design Image by I. A. Haruna, Hausa Traditional Architecture, Multi-systems Consultants

Element three: Decoration Identity carried on the wall

Zankwaye These pointed pinnacles along a roofline look ornamental, but they began as practical handholds, giving builders a way to climb up for repairs (fig.3).