ABSTRACT
After decades of neglect, there is now a global awareness of the crucial role that women can play in sustainable development. Unfortunately most of the development programmes that have been planned and implemented do not seem to have taken the peculiar needs of the Muslim woman into consideration. This thesis is aimed at providing Muslim womenfolk within the Abuja metropolis and those in the satellite towns (Bwari, Deidei, Gwagwa, Gwagwalada, Kado, Kuje, Karu, Karmu, Kubwa, Kwali, Nyanya, Suleija), with a culturally suitable environment for acquiring vocational skills. Their vocational skills will then become the basis for setting up cottage industries. The objective is to achieve a harmony between architectural design and cultural values. Through careful planning and organisation, necessary options will evolve to enhance this desired goal. Facilities provided are mostly workshop-oriented with emphasis on the sense of sight rather than that of hearing, which makes communication with individuals of different or various levels of education and age, less cumbersome.