Yesterday I joined the Women’s Board NGO director on a journey to Ogun State to see the combined hospitality education and conference facility in a Village near Ijebu Ode. The trip had several aspects relevant to my project:
- The car journey ran through some unseen territories of proposed Lekki Masterplan and Epe Town (another promising part of Lagos)
- The combined function of the facility makes it a relevant precedent for my design project
- A new part of the facility is under construction. I got to see the full construction site, to take part in a site meeting and to know the design team (including the architect). This provided some useful information for the design project
Observations about the facility:
– Location is adjacent to a village in a pleasant valley
– There is two major components: a hospitality college for 12 girls and 6 staff and a conference facility with a 17 room hotel
– Students service their own and the conference premises; institution does not require additional staff for cleaning, cooking or other housekeeping. One of the students is often on duty to help elderly people in the village
– School is being extended to have 18 girls and 9 staff. A later phase of the project is an extension of the conference centre & hotel
– The conference centre is often used by religious groups and for activities solely accessible to male or female groups. To maintain the users’ privacy the hotel and the school have a high degree of segregation
– When I was given a tour, a male only event was taking place in the conference centre. My female companions had to stay behind the door. Two facilities are divided by a wall on the outside and there are only some doors between them on the inside. Students are normally permitted to enter the conference half for one hour per day to do the room service
– Whilst the school has a chapel, the conference centre has a Christian ‘shrine’
– Although not taught as part of hospitality, farming and gardening are important aspects of Iroto School’s and Wavecrest college’s activities. I noticed that such disciplines could be incorporated into my proposed facility’s programme
Below: School quarters & parking
Below: Student common room & classrooms
Below: Conference centre dining room
Below: conference centre quarters , ‘shrine’ and gardens: the trees and landscaping are significantly different from that in the school
Shrine (above) 
Below: school’s farm with pumpkins, Popo, avocados and numerous other plants as well as poultry.
no.balsa 