Earth, palm wood and pattern: Hausa architecture

Traditional Hausa building is done in earth. Walls are made of sun-dried mud brick (tubali) or of rammed and moulded clay, and roofs are carried on beams of palm wood, then covered with earth or thatch. In a hot, dry climate thick earthen walls keep rooms cool by day and release warmth at night. The material is cheap and local, and a house can be repaired every year after the rains, which is why many old quarters look both ancient and freshly renewed.

The plan follows the social order described in the chapter on society. A compound (gida) is entered through a vestibule (zaure) where visitors are received, so that strangers do not need to enter the family’s inner courtyards. Behind it are separate yards and rooms for the household, with a clear distinction between the public front and the private interior. The architect J. C. Moughtin, whose 1985 book is the standard study, argues that the form of the house, the street and the city all express the same ideas of privacy, rank and hospitality.

The most admired buildings were the palaces and mosques of the emirates. Their façades could be modelled in plaster with geometric relief patterns, then painted, and the entrance halls of royal palaces were built with great care as stages for ceremony. Kano’s palace, associated by tradition with the reign of Muhammadu Rumfa in the fifteenth century, has been rebuilt many times, which is the normal life of earth architecture.

• Climate-wise. Thick walls, small openings and shaded courtyards moderate the Sahelian heat.
• Renewable. Mud plaster is renewed after each rainy season, so the building is maintained by the community that lives in it.
• Decorated. Relief patterns on façades and gateways, sometimes picked out in colour, mark the house of a person of standing.

Today concrete blocks and corrugated metal roofs are cheaper to maintain for many families, and old quarters are being rebuilt. The city walls described in the chapter on cities face the same pressure, and conservation depends on whether residents see a living heritage rather than a ruin. Moughtin’s book is a good place to start for readers who want drawings and measured plans.