The Fragile Beauty of Northern Architecture​

An exploration of traditional northern Nigerian architecture takes you into Zaria City, where you experience centuries-old tradition and the march of modernity. Through the eyes of a traditional builder, a modern-day architect, and everyday residents, you learn about the meaning of these historic buildings and the issues threatening this rich heritage.

Editor’s note: This essay is available in our print issue, Reimagining Nigerian Heritage. Buy the issue here.

You set up a meeting with Sarkin Magina, the head of the traditional builders’ guild in Zaria, in early September 2024. Muhammed Dahiru Jafaru has been a builder in Zaria all his life—like his father before him, and his father before him. No birth certificate exists to attest to Jafaru’s age, but rough approximations are that he is 75 years old. His grandfather, Babban Gwano, was renowned for his craft, building palaces in nineteenth-century Kano, Katsina, Zaria, Bauchi, and Sokoto. This has been the family business for 172 years.

Jafaru takes you through the process of building a traditional Hausa structure, using a walk-through of his house as a visual reference. The wooden door of the house bears an inscription heralding who lives there: ‘Gidan Sarkin Magina Balarabe Zaria.’ It was built with a mixture of sand, clay, and jinka, a type of grass local to the area. Another type of grass, tukke, is used for measuring during the building process. The first room you meet is the zaure, an entrance hall typically used to welcome visitors, especially male guests who would not usually have access to the main house in order to preserve the privacy of female occupants.

The house features vaulted ceilings with arches, wooden beams, exposed brick termed ‘tubali’, earthen floors, and even a nook for placing lamps for reading. Jafaru explains that demand for buildings like his is dwindling with time for several reasons. They are built only during the dry season because of the materials in use, and the influence of more ‘modern’ (and often Western) structures has meant a growing abandonment of such traditional structures. You had hoped to catch a building in progress but see this is not possible considering the time of year. In September, the rains should have halted already, or at least have been dwindling considerably. This year is different. Meteorologists earlier in the year forecast that it would rain until November; and while you were initially in doubt, it seems they were correct.

You hand Jafaru the kola nut you brought as a gift, say your goodbyes, and set out to find more buildings to capture. On a narrow street, with the sun still high in the sky, you see some men at work on existing structures. Both buildings are old, built in the traditional way. The first man, Jamilu, is covering the walls of his building with cement. The other man, Dahiru, is using mud. The materials used for these structures are susceptible to the elements and require constant maintenance, something not everyone cares enough for. Some builders select cement because of its durability and its minimal maintenance demands. Others opt for the original material to preserve the building in almost its exact form...

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