An Appraisal on Stylistic Approach of the Senate Building, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

Abstract

In actual sense, perception of style and qualities of the styles connotes greater meaning in architectural field, as well it can change with time. These perceptions vary and differ among people, and will not stop professionals from basic appraisals, and some sort of reasonable questions about the formations of styles. Therefore, style in the field of architecture and other related discipline is viewed as a central base for argument among professionals and as well opened-up to different scope of interpretations and assessments. However, architects and the allied designers increasingly find themselves in situations in which they designed within a built context, whereby the design principles either support or distort the contextual settings. Therefore, the study of buildings within a context and their stylistic appearances in a given state is an important one for a number of reasons. Consequently, several instruments have been developed to assess buildings and their styles in relation to the context. Besides, proper contextual built environments represent us with economic and social growth, as well enhances tangible environmental well-being. This research aimed to appraise the physical appearance of ABU Zaria Senate building in relation to the built context, with focus on architectural style and the physical appearance. The study will identify problems and theoretically explore responsible integrated projects within built settings. While exploring the stand of the Senate building, the discussions include best ways to maintain the characters of the built environment, as well develop an improved strategy for professional and allied agencies to create an effective and equitable sustainable built environment. In accordance with the objectives and the scope of the study, critical observations (field survey) of the physical characteristics of the Senate building, monographic survey on style and built contexts, semi-structured questionnaire will be administered to professionals and finally assessment of opinions of the professionals from the questionnaire are the methods employed for data collection as well creates a base for the theoretical analysis and evaluations. Since built environment is a multidimensional aspect, and due to the nature of the research context, this work is limited to physical appearances and architectural features only. Also, the research bases its scope on architecture with emphasis on physical compositional built elements that are associated with contextual attributes.