THE IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY OF FLEXIBLE SPACES AND BUILDINGS IN NIGERIAN

Taylor-Harry, Sobomabo

Email: taylorharrysobomabo@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Building adaptation has a limited time perspective, suited premises need to change over time in order to keep up with the processes in using a building. In an ideal situation, owners, clients and users, based on a demand for effortless adaptability, would be able to transform the building when it is needed. This puts high demand on the flexibility in a building, i.e. adaptability. A well- structured questionnaire which data were analyzed using the mean value and simple percentage were used to find the importance of creating flexible and adaptable spaces and buildings in Nigeria. Most structures in Nigeria are left out of use or abandoned for a long time due to the fact that they were designed as a single use spaces or buildings which has made it difficult for them to be converted into a multi-use spaces that could effectively and efficiently serve other purpose.  Hence to ensure optimal use of spaces and buildings gave rise to the idea of flexibility and adaptability for multifunctional and multi-use buildings and spaces which implementation in construction should starts  right from the conceptualization and design stages.

Keywords: Flexibility, Multi-functional, Design, Buildings, Spaces, Adaptability, Architecture.