ACCULTURATION AND TRADITIONAL HOUSE FORMS IN NIGERIA

In Nigeria there is a wide variety of house forms across its length and breadth, which developed in accordance with the cultures of the people, their level of technological development and the dictates of their climates. These house forms reflect the diversity of the natural domestic architecture of Nigeria's different ethnic groups. These house forms are however more evident in the rural landscapes than the urban since development and changes occur in the latter at a more rapid pace. Changes in indigenous house forms are informed by a number of factors, of which acculturation is of paramount importance. This paper takes a critical look at the effect of the various cross-cultural experiences of the Nigerian peoples that have profoundly affected house forms evolved by them. It examines the incidence of the seeming disappearance of traditional house forms in the urban centres.