It’s My Birthday; 20th december

Yea. It’s my birthday. Na the day wey I come to join the people wey been don stay for this world before I come ooo. Ehe ehe ehe. Supposing that you do not know me, my name is Ebelechukwu Ubaka and I got licensed to practice architecture in Nigeria as at October 2023. Prior to … Read more

Basic Pinterest Platform setup

Pinteret trends interface

Pinterest platform is basically image/video posting. It’s not much for text. Unlike Facebook that limits your traffic, making users to view your content on their browser by default, Pinterest sends you organic traffic just like Google. Start by creating an account. Preferably a business account instead of a personal one. The business account has more … Read more

How I started this Blog and the Fun tools I use

ebeleubaka-header 4

If you are new here, you might probably not understand this post. I re-designed this blog to accommodate where I’m going. If you have not been following me since this WordPress blog started out on April 29th, 2022, as theentrepreneurialarchitect.com, you will need to know this backstory. Here is how I started this blog and … Read more

Why I generally Dislike Wearing Trousers

My ArchiStories

There are three reasons why I generally dislike wearing trousers and it’s not because of any religious affiliations.

One, I can’t take the heat.
Two, my whole legs itch when on it.
Three, I get embarrassed with the posterior partition and it’s worse when the anterior shows the camel toe, that’s where skirts come in.
But there is one place skirt can’t take me to and that is a building site.
Unless I have no intentions of climbing anything, I have to wear something decent.
Imagine being the only woman on site with a bunch of horny site workers in a remote area with skirts on and they need you to see what they are doing on the first floor of a beam.
Oh! What a view!
In 2020, I was searching for a new apartment in the company of a male colleague. We had just entered this nice-looking compound and were admiring the finishing, hoping and praying that the interior will meet my requirements.
Trust me, Architects can be demanding and frustrating when it comes to house inspections. Anyway, back to my story.
We made contact with the first person we saw in the compound and struck up a conversation. I enquired about any available apartment and when we were done, the person left.
I stood there with my colleague while looking up and suddenly, a door on the first floor opened and a lady walks up to the railing, bending over to look down.
She was wearing a nightgown and her inner thighs and panties were right before our eyes.
To say I was embarrassed was an understatement and this lady was oblivious to our view of her nether regions. I walked out of the compound with my colleague trailing behind.
I have not discussed that experience until today.
Every woman will never wear only trousers or only long/short skirts. Some girls in skirts don’t remember these things and I see them in gallery halls of Public buildings, even in Religious buildings. Some religious gatherings put up plain pews before the first row and we all know why.
The Islamic religion got this right in her building design culture. Women worship on the floor above while men worship on the ground floor. If they do not have two floors, the women stay behind the men. Everyone needs to concentrate while worshipping without the distraction of watching a woman’s buttocks high up in the air as she bows her head.
Another one is those staircases that one can see through. If you have been to Polo park mall a.k.a Shoprite in Enugu, you see that staircase at the centre of the food court, guys have seen things from that staircase with ladies in skirts.
Escalators can be embarrassing to use if you don’t know how to step on them, but some ladies have resorted to using them to avoid show business.
As an Architect, I cannot visit a building site with skirts, unless I have made up my mind that nothing will make me climb up. Those workers on site will roughen you up for such public display and disturbance of their mental state at work.
When installing your handrails along balconies, please, let a mason lay one or two-course block wall, then the handrails on top.
It helps protect our eyes from people who do not remember, and it also keeps the handrails firm in position.

Travel Internal Door Lock

The 555 Cup
After my experience with hoteliers opening room doors at night, I opted to always travel with a stainless cup.
You know that 555 cup with a hand? That’s right.
The plan is to hang it on the door handle. The cup falls off when someone turns the door handle from outside the room and it will wake me up.
That’s my local approach.
I came upon this internal door lock. It’s small and easy to travel with.
Travel Internal door lock
Travel Internal door lock

 

Also, you can learn how this meal storage tip can help you stay organized.

Our Traditional/Vernacular Architecture tour

My ArchiStories

Traditional/Vernacular Architecture tour for a school assignment was an interesting time.

In my group, we went to this village in Imo state.
Peaceful and quiet and we saw this building.
My first encounter with a real-life, one-storey, mud house.
Mud architecture 1
I was too scared to go in.
It had not been in use for a while.
What if it caves in under our weight?
Mud architecture 2
I peacefully took the building pictures without the need to tempt the gods.
In helping with building sustainability and minimizing climate crisis, we need to go back to using our local building materials.
Mud architecture 3
Clay is accessible and creates a better indoor climate for our interiors.
A research institute was conducting tests on clay bricks somewhere in Awka and it was abandoned. It’s probably due to funds but I can as well assume that other reasons would hover around disinterest in using local materials.
Mud architecture 4
Timber is within reach. I saw the neatly made raffia bed floor.
We don’t expect a complete overhaul back to local materials but start with the walls. Instead of floor tiles for finishes, use timber or raffia mats.
You’re probably thinking that this girl is going nuts, talking about us going back to what our fathers abandoned to embrace the kerosene lantern, but have you seen what the modern whites are doing with our local products in their homes?
Mud architecture 5
They use the raffia mat as a rug and they celebrate it like it’s gold. The way they write about it on CNN, if I wasn’t in Africa, I would be more than thrilled.
Their terrace swing chairs are made of raffia materials imported from where?
You tell me.
The challenge is will you be open to me designing such for you?

Happy New Year!!! It’s 2024

New year new resolution 1

I have said it before and I will say it again, I don’t do New Year resolutions. While training myself, I seek out opportunities to use the knowledge I have. I hope you do too. Happy New Year and May the good Lord bless you. From all of us at ebeleubaka.com