AN OLDEN MUD HOUSE

A MUD HOUSE UNDERGOING RENOVATIONS

Shelter is one vital part of life, which is also stated as a necessity of life. Buildings provide shelter for people and hence people need shelter to survive. The history of architecture traces from the changes in architecture through various traditions, religions, stylistic trends and dates.  Thomas Cole, in brief describes architecture as the vision of buildings from the historical style through to the western and classical styles.

In view of what Cole stated, I can then say that, buildings have developed over the years and keeps improving as time goes on specifically in Ghana. Before now, our predecessors found ways of protecting themselves from the vagaries of the weather and providing a safe place to lay their heads. They built homes using the resource that was available to them such as hay, mud, straw just to mention a few. With these they built mud houses and stone houses. Change, transformation and technology however have been introduced and as a result, buildings have improved with time, and quite aesthetically so.

With deep focus on mud houses, I conducted a survey and an interview on how mud houses in Volta part of Ghana came about. With an interview with Madam Christiana Dzivor, she stated clearly that the mud house they live in was built by her father for over a decade now and that the expenses involved in putting up such a structure is less. In addition, she stated that the thatch being used as the roofing was from their own farm as well as the mud. “It’s very comfortable and airy when sleeping in it” she happily said.

           

With the survey, I witnessed that the mud is being built in layers, but one layer laid first to dry up before another. Due to what I witnessed, she confirmed it as right and that their mud house took like a year and a half to be built, because all building materials were available. “It was  not done like the way the modern buildings are built with the help of the masons and the laborers, but rather, friends help in the buildings, who are also helped in return”. Just to add up to what I saw, the mud houses have also transformed with time, in that, the individuals in that particular village pay people to build it and the mud house is also plastered to have a smooth and fine surface for painting.

The piece above seeks to unveil how buildings have improved with time, case study on mud houses using pictures, audios and videos to illustrate the transition of buildings(architecture) from ancient ones(mud houses) to modern structures such as sky scrapers, luxurious apartments, town houses and the likes, which we can see today in our towns, cities and even villages.