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Details redrawn and simplified (not to scale).
UK: NHBC Standards 2025, Chapter 7.1 (the flat-roof upstand is normally at least 150 mm high) newbuildinspections.com/wp-c… ·
NHBC Standards 6.1.17, Table 8 (parapets: a DPC beneath the coping, and 150 mm above the adjoining roof surface to link with the roof upstand) nhbc-standards.co.uk/6-super… ·
LABC Warranty, weatherproof parapet walls (coping fall at least 2°, overhang at least 40 mm each side, a drip/throating; cavity tray at least 150 mm above the flat roof) labcwarranty.co.uk/hubfs/Blo… ·
Nigeria: Structville, Proper detailing and construction of a hidden roof (long-span aluminium sheets min. 0.55 mm; gutter walls in reinforced concrete for about the first 225 mm, then sandcrete; screed to fall plus a 4 mm bituminous membrane lapped at least 150 mm; tiling alone is not enough; the sheet must extend fully into the gutter; the gutter and the parapet joint are the most critical leak points) structville.com/detailing-an…
Septic tank details
Well, almost every house in Nigeria has one, yet it's the part of the building nobody asks to see on the drawings: the septic tank, and where its water goes next.
UK practice (image 1): where there's no public sewer, the septic tank has at least two chambers (at least 2,700 litres for up to 4 users) and sits at least 7 m from habitable rooms. It's never the end of the line. The effluent goes into a drainage field of perforated pipes on 300 mm of shingle, at least 15 m from any building and 50 m from any borehole or well.
Nigerian practice (image 2): a two-chamber tank with a baffle wall, vent pipe and RC cover slab, which discharges into a soakaway pit lined with sandcrete blocks laid with gaps, so the water seeps straight into the ground.
My only concern is the borehole. A 2022 study of residential apartments in Ikeja found boreholes 12 metres or less from the septic tanks and soakaways.
How far is your borehole from your soakaway?
Everybody saves colour palettes; very few people know how much of each colour to use.
The rule interior designers lean on is 60-30-10: about 60% of the room in your dominant colour (usually the walls), 30% in a secondary colour (the sofa, the curtains), and 10% in an accent (cushions, art, a vase).
We drew the same living room in four palettes to show it. Same sofa, same window; only the colours change.
In my opinion, many of our living rooms do it the other way round: the loud accent colour goes on all four walls.
Which palette would you choose for your living room: 1, 2, 3 or 4?
Room drawn and simplified (colours are illustrative, not paint codes).
The 60-30-10 rule: House Beautiful UK (60% dominant colour, often on the walls, flooring or ceiling; 30% secondary for sofas, curtains and chairs; 10% accent for cushions, lampshades, vases and artwork) housebeautiful.com/uk/decora… ·
Ideal Home, The 60-30-10 rule idealhome.co.uk/all-rooms/al…
Arcfunmi retweeted
B takes the day. I will build a luxury resort with lake view. Add boat cruise to the services. Most suitable for recreational facilities.
As for A, I will build a poultry there as the offer stands no were close to option B 😂
Arcfunmi retweeted
A Thread analysing what these Art Deco motifs might suggest:
1. FAN
This pattern looks like rays spreading from a narrow base.
It might even form a semicircle, resembling an open hand fan.
The fan is among the oldest decorative items in human history.
It appeared in ancient Egypt as early as 3100 BC. It also appears in different shapes and forms across many cultures.
The way a fan is made, from its shape to its material, could be more than useful in creating a breeze.
The item could also communicate wealth, social status, or cultural identity.
The unique semicircular shape, radiating ribs, and symmetrical arrangement made it especially important as a source of inspiration for many artists and designers.
A common example here is the Chrysler Building in NY, where the radiating, semicircular shape on the crown does resemble a fan
ALT The Chrysler Building in New York
ALT A hand held fan
Arcfunmi retweeted
Abuja Should be Amongst the most beautiful and Organized African Capital cities After Casablanca,Adis Ababa and Pretoria .
Abuja was well planned by a consurtium of 3 firms and an Architect before the mass development. Hire an Architect today.
The overall master plan (layout) for Abuja was prepared by International Planning Associates (IPA), a consortium of three American firms.
IPA was formed specifically for the project and consisted of:
Planning Research Corporation (PRC)
Wallace, McHarg, Roberts and Todd (WMRT/WRMT; key figures included Thomas Todd and landscape architect/ecologist Ian McHarg)
Archisystems (a division of the Hughes Organisation)
The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) commissioned IPA in June 1977.
The firm delivered the master plan in February 1979 after about 18 months of work.
It established the city’s crescent-shaped structure, phased development (Phases 1–4+), land-use zones, neighbourhood concept (roughly 5,000 people per neighbourhood), and major design elements still visible today.
The plan drew inspiration from cities such as Washington, D.C., and Canberra, while incorporating ecological principles sensitive to the local landscape (including the area around Aso Rock).
Kenzo Tange (and his firm Kenzo Tange & Urtec) handled the detailed urban design of the Central Area / monumental core in the early 1980s.
This included the “Three Arms Zone” (National Assembly, Presidential Complex, and Supreme Court) and related boulevards and high-density zones.
Tange’s work built on the IPA framework but introduced stronger modernist influences from Brasília and Chandigarh.
Later contributions and reviews came from firms such as the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (residential areas), Doxiadis Associates, and Albert Speer & Partner (central-area review).
The IPA master plan remains the foundational document defining Abuja’s overall layout, even as implementation has varied over the decades.
Arcfunmi retweeted
Once you learn these motifs, you'll start seeing them on old buildings in Lagos Island and Yaba too... The sunburst and the chevron are everywhere on our 1950s and 60s facades.
These are some of the ideas we can implement in our designs here in Nigeria?
