Review of Courtyard House in Nigeria: definitions, history, evolution, typology, and functions

Abstract

The courtyard is one among the familiar concepts commonly applied in the design of buildings in almost all the Nigerian cultural groups. It is truly the traditional expression of Nigerian indigenous architecture. Its definition, historical evolution, functions and typology is worth investigating. Also, its adaptation to the contemporary architectural design and practice in different building typology in the Nigerian context will be studied. Different courtyard house studies were examined through Journal papers, conference papers and the literatures. These studies revealed that the use of courtyard in buildings (in Nigeria) is from time of old, and has become adaptive to contemporary architectural design and practice. It has almost similar form with different features due to the religious and cultural diversity of the Nigerian people. The paper concluded that, the application of courtyard in the Nigerian various traditional architecture has been influence by the religious and cultural requirements of its people rather than climatic conditions and, therefore, for the purpose of cultural preservation of the Nigerian various indigenous architecture, the courtyard concept should not be discarded in the contemporary architectural style but should also be based on the climatic and passive design strategies for the attainment of a built environment that has a sense of interrelatedness with its local conditions. Keywords: History, Courtyard, Typology, Functions, Adaptation