FARIN RUWA HOTEL LAFIA (NASSARAWA STATE) (A SOCIO-CULTURAL CRITERIA IN HOTEL DESIGN)

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Author

Presented To

Department of Environmental Design

ABSTRACT
All over tropical Africa, sweeping changes over the last Century have innevitably disturbed traditional life and form. The changing economic, political and social condition have altered peoples basic architectural requirements. This brings us to asking one question. Should one's Culture be thrown apart in the ongoing plethora of modernism or Should it save how adapt itself to the 20th century way of life in respect to the field of architecture? Culture or civilisation taken in it's wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law custom, and any capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society B. Taylor (1958). The hotel is an establishment with the primary aim of providing accommodation, with the provision of food and drinks as supporting facilities, first introduced into the country by the colonial masters, during their civilising mission to Africa. Investigation however shows that: (i) The hotel which was a product of the western civilising mission and the development of the beer parlours and brothels often referred to as hotel, has altered some peoples perception about what takes place in a hotel. This has lead to some of the populace viewing the hotel as contrary to their culture or civilisation because of the influence of the early forms of civilisation in the northern part of the country, (ii) There are certain ways in which some facilities are planned or positioned in some hotels which does not go down with the social values of some of the populace in vii Northern Nigeria, (iii) There are certain other factors which are the resultant effect of the early form of civilisation which form hinderances to hotel patronage in northern nigeria. Therefore, the thesis seeks to identify those aspect of the culture which form hinderances to hotel patronage with respect to northern nigeria. The thesis also seeks to identify those aspect of the culture which may be translated into design to adapt the culture to the 20th century way of life in respect to the hotel industry in order to reduce social conflicts, there by boosting patronage. The thesis demonstrated through empirical evidences that because of culture or civilisation by the definition of B. Taylor (1958), that some spaces or functions in todays hotel often result's into conflicts because the social values of some of the populace. The thesis went further to evolve a design proposal based on the empirical evidences available which may reduce the menance of social conflict in the hotel industry following the principles of hotel design, with respect to northern nigeria as described in the thesis scope and methodology.