Thermal perception of residents in housing developments built with laterite interlocking blocks in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

Abstract

Designing thermally responsive buildings is a top priority in architecture. Furthermore, tenets of environmental sustainability suggests the use of locally available material as a veritable approach to reduce impact of buildings on the environment. Locally available laterite interlocking blocks has been introduced as a sustainable material by Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute, what is the perception of users of the model building material? This research aims to find out the perception of residents about thermal sensation in housing developments built with laterite interlocking block (LIB) towards popularising locally available materials as a sustainability strategy in the Nigerian building industry. Responses were obtained from one hundred and eight residents of Olusegun Obasanjo’s low cost housing estate, Ekiti state, Nigeria, using structured questionnaires in July 2016. The result shows that 51.1% of respondents’ living in houses built with LIB prefer houses built with LIB to the conventional sandcrete blocks. In addition, respondents are more comfortable in the residential buildings during the dry season (60.18%) than during the rainy season (48.15%), both the dry and wet season votes are less than the international benchmark of 80% indicating satisfaction with thermal properties of buildings indoors.

Keywords: Comfort, Environment, Housing, Laterite, Sustainability