A REDEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL FOR THE ATTAH IGALA’S PALACE IDAH, KOGI STATE: AN ATTEMPT AT DOCUMENTING IGALA TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE

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Department of Environmental Design

ABSTRACT
A Palace is defined as a large grand house where a ruling king or queen officially lives. A palace is designed to serve not just the residential needs of the king or ruler but also serve as an administrative centre and for various social and religious/ritual ceremonies. The palace is also a symbol of authority in any given society, it serve as a source of pride, identity and grandeur. The palace expressed the spiritual and temporal powers of a ruler. In the Igala kingdom, the Attah of Igala who is the traditional, spiritual and political ruler of the Igala people is considered divine and therefore held in high esteem. The present Attah Igala, Agabaidu Alhaji (Dr.) Aliyu Ochcja Obaje, CBE, CON, came to the throne in 1956 as the 26lh Attah in the recorded history with Queen Ebulcjonu as the first. Becausc of the Attah’s status in the society, that is the political and spiritual ruler of the Igala race, and by extension, chairman, Kogi State Council of Traditional Rulers (first class ruler), the need to re-design his present palace to something befitting, cannot be over-emphasized. This thesis seeks to propose a redevelopment for the Allah’s palace. This is because the structures within the present palace site at Idah are dilapidated, inadequate and lacked proper planning pattern and to a larger extent, the palace docs not reflect the planning pattern of the Igala race. The Allah’s palace also does not reflect the identity of an Igala palace and lacked grandeur. To correct these lapses listed above, this research attempts a documentation of Igala traditional architecture, which covers; site selection, adoption of firm, site layout and planning pattern. Existing palaces were also visited and critically assessed to aid in the proposed redevelopment of the Attah’s palace. The palaces visited are: 1) . The Oba of Benin’s Palace, Benin, Edo State. 2) . The Deji of Akurc’s Palace, Ondo State. 3) . The Emir of Zaria’s Palace, Zaria, Kaduna State. 4) . The Emir of Kano’s Palace, Kano State. 5) . The existing Attah Igala’s Palace, Idah Kogi State. The palaces listed above apart from the Attah’s palace are reflections of the peoples’ traditional style of architecture. That is the palaces demonstrates the planning pattern of the people they represent and reflects their various pattern of decorations in forms of reliefs and motifs. Also the palace buildings symbolise power and grandeur in terms of size and elaborate designs and decorations. To this end, this thesis seeks to demonstrate the planning concept of Igala traditional compound layout in the new palace redevelopment proposal, in which the ‘Alakpa’ (common lounge) is centrally located within the compound with other sleeping quarters arranged around and facing the ‘Atakpa. The researcher also borrows concepts from the Ejubejuilo mask (the Atlah’s symbol of power and authority) and the Ikeleku Afiuma mask (one of the nine royal masks). These mask concepts are reflected in both the planning layout of the palace and on the elevations of the palace design. The re-development proposal of the Attah’s palace is being carried out so as to restore pride and identity to the Attah’s palace in particular and the Igala race in general. The new palace which would be a modern design would be able to combine residential, administrative and various religious/ritual ceremonies effectively. The research also covers the historical background of the Attahship and the Igala people.