Olajumoke Adenowo is a trained architect with professional practice spanning over three decades. Besides Architecture, Adenowo is also a philanthropist and a leader who believes that leadership must be purpose-driven. She is also an author, radio host and a speaker whose diction and rendition tell of a woman with good command of the Queen’s language. In this interview with CHUKA UROKO, Property Editor, Adenowo speaks on Architecture, the built environment and the escalating building materials prices. She also offers insights on leadership and philanthropy in Nigeria’s challenging socio-economic environment. Excerpts:
You are a woman of many parts–an architect, a philanthropist and a leader. Tell us briefly about yourself, looking through the prism of these attributes?
That is such a good analysis and also of the chronology. I am an architect and that has given me the opportunity to become a philanthropist, making impact on the lives of people. These people give me the privilege to become a leader. It is the people that make a leader. I have not been appointed or elected but they have given me the privilege to lead them.
Apart from that, I am an author of 13 books. I am a radio host and I have a podcast which is about 11 years now. I am also a speaker. I basically do whatever I can apply my hands to do. This is mixed with a measure of success and acceptance. I am different things to different people—I am a mother and a wife and, because my mother is still alive, I am also a daughter.
How far have you fared in playing these roles of an architect, a philanthropist and leader? How has the journey been?
Very early in life you have to wonder how we got here. I was an only child for a long time and so I had the time to think. My parents were professors and so, they encouraged me to think. My mother is a professor of Criminology while my father was a professor of History. I grew up thinking what the purpose of life was.
I Thought I was a great architect, but a few years into the journey, it became clear that one was not going to succeed in an ecosystem or a macro-system that is failing. I, therefore, thought whether I was going to be part of the problem or the solution. I told myself that it is better to light a candle than to cause darkness. I never thought I was going to be an international figure. I just wanted to do something, no matter how little, but it will be something and that was what I began to do.
That was how my philanthropy began. People want me to mentor them. I have two books full of testimonies of people who have been impacted by the work we do. I did not want to sit down to complain but to make a difference. When you continue to say that someone should do something about something, you have to remember that you are that somebody. And the fact that you are the one seeing the problem means that you have an assignment to do.
Leadership, like philanthropy, has its own challenges. For you, where did leadership come from–parents, peer group or just by observing existing leaders?
Leadership is, at least, on two levels. Somebody can be born a leader which is the genetic aspect. But I think leadership can be learnt if you have the will and that is what I do with my mentees. I mentor them to become leaders. I teach them values and principles of a leader and the processes which include excellence and integrity. There is a number of questions to ask such as ‘how does a leader cope with depression or downtime? What problem have you created around yourself? Why am I here’? These need a clarity immediately because you can’t tackle everything. You determine what you say yes to and the ones you say no to.
Leadership makes sacrifice, yes. If you are leading because of the people, they may disappoint you because they are fickle at different stages of their lives. So, if you don’t keep your eye on the purpose and you are now led by the people that you are supposed to be leading, it becomes a case of the tail wagging the dog. Yes, leadership is a huge sacrifice which you can pay.
Back to your profession. Whenever there is an issue like building collapse, accusing fingers are pointed more at the architects than other professionals. Who do you think should be blamed, if not the architects?
An architect can never be responsible for building collapse. And I believe this 100 percent. This is because the architect is not responsible for the structure of a building. The professional who is responsible for building collapse is the structural engineer. The approving authorities could also be blamed for approving the work of the structural engineer without supervising the work that he did.
At every stage of construction, there is a structural test that needs to be carried out. There should be the right statutory authority that is supposed to sign off. The architect’s work in the construction of a building is to give design direction but it is the work of the structural engineer to ensure that the design which the architect has given stands. The engineer can come to the architect to say he does not have the skill that makes the structure stand according to the design. At that point, both can come to a compromise on how to make the design stand.
In Nigeria, besides the structural engineer and the planning authority, you can also blame the client. This is because many of the clients change the work of the professionals in order to save cost. But ultimately, the planning authority should be able to sanction such clients.
Essentially, what the architect does in a building construction is to give the visual form and the direction of the building. It is the structural engineer that gives the building its structure. He is the one to check the strength, reinforcement and concrete mix that give a building its structure.
Many real estate firms lament that they can’t find employable hands, including architects. What does this mean to you? How do you see the future of architecture?
Architecture is now more complex than a normal study. This is because Architecture typically in the beginning was not taught in the university. It was an apprenticeship. Theoretical education fails architecture normally. Then, when theoretical education has issues, it is double problem for an architect. One of my first platforms for raising leaders is the AD Consulting. I know that what I get are raw recruits and work in progress. I know that I have to train that architect myself.
So, to take it beyond AD Consulting and hopefully affect the landscape is why I am having AD at 30. I want to interface with students of Architecture. It is open to students up to NYSC or its equivalent across Africa.
I found someone passionate about Architecture for a change versus what I was doing in the university. So, I am a self-taught architect and it was having someone being interested in me as an architect that made the difference.
That was Architect Oloruntimeyin of Tim Associates. I interned with him as an 18-year-old and that was when he gave me confidence in myself and that is what I do with the young architects. I give them back the confidence in themselves, and the passion for architecture.
Secondly, architectural education is flawed from the entry-level. We take people with entry requirements of physics, chemistry, and Maths which is flawed.
They are not trying to be building engineers. Architecture is an art and science of design. So, it is for people who understand that art, history, literature, and philosophy can rationalize their solutions through science and execute scientifically. So, it is not for science students only, but science students who are art-inclined or art students who are science-inclined.
You see, a lot of people who graduate as architects are building engineers, and that dictates what the landscape is about. Little ideation, little thinking, and a lot of putting up structures. Architecture is not simply about housing human needs, it is about the concepts that are the strongest thing about architecture.
The reason is that architecture is not just structure, it touches emotions. Engineering is structure, architecture moves you. There is what I call the new heritage, the fourth dimension. That intangible impact architecture has on you that is beyond mere three dimensions; something that moves your emotion, and your psyche as you step into a space that a real architect thinks and works.
House price in Nigeria is overtly outrageous. This, among other things, is because building materials prices are also high. People are, therefore, canvassing local alternatives with focus on the architect to make this happen. What are your thoughts on this?
I am of the view that Africa must evolve its own solution. Be that as it may, the architect cannot be solely responsible for solving the country’s housing crisis because alternative building materials are also involved in solving the problem. So, it starts from government policy and an understanding that there is a crisis to be solved. There is the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) which is tasked with the job of coming up with local alternatives.
Every country has long-term thinking that could span 20-40 years to solve the problems of the populace as it begins to grow and explode. The country begins to think of how to build infrastructure—housing, water, roads and electricity. It is not only about the architect but, perhaps, the architect working together with ministers for national planning, housing and works. It is a holistic approach.
The government should come up with incentives and long-term financing to put into research. The government should be ready to incentivize importation and local content. There should be a propaganda that will make the people gravitate towards our local building materials and local way of building. Ideating and innovating on local building materials should start from micro-government to individual levels.
From your global perspective, what should Nigeria do to get it right in making housing affordable and accessible to citizens?
I am rooted in my heritage but global in my exposure. As far as housing is concerned, we do not have end-to-end solution. Is the government supporting the housing market? What exactly is the role of the federal mortgage bank? There are different pillars for solving housing problem. There is land and policy on that land; there are the building materials and the technology and then finance. You cannot use short term money to buy long term housing. Where is the mortgage? Even if I have a steady job, can I access mortgage? At what rate?
It is not right to say houses are outrageously priced in Nigeria because the builder must have got his bank credit at outrageous interest rate too. The land is also outrageously priced. What we need is an end-to-end solution to our housing problem. As a people, we don’t think long term because the politicians are not statesmen who think of the next generation. The politician is only thinking of the next election. We need to have the same set of people ideating, innovating and executing long term plans.
Your firm, AD Consulting, is 30 years old now. Looking back to when you started, what footprints can you see on the sands of time?
I would say we have started to leave footprints. We are not where we want to be, but we’re certainly not where we started from. The international community has taken notice of our work in AD Consulting. I want to affect the landscape, but I cannot affect the landscape of African architecture.
This is an ideology that can affect the minds of the generation to come who would, in turn, affect the landscape. This means that it is the mind you work on, not the end product of architecture. And that is where I’m going in the next phase of my work. I continue to practise and the buildings continue to be testaments of what I am thinking.
Believing that people will understand that architects, the young architects or the next generation, will understand what I’m doing by looking at it will not solve the issue. I have learned from my appointment as a visiting professor in Germany, and from my parents’ life, that you teach and you do. That’s what I want to do.
New Heritage is my thesis, talking about my work. This has been published globally on the highest platform now. With AD at 30, I will be having an immersive experience. The beginning of the first of several series, an immersive experience with 30 young architects under 30.
You also have a foundation called Awesome Treasure’s Foundation. How is that going?
Awesome Treasure Foundation will be 25 years old this year too. I started it in 1999. It started from my passion to make a difference. I had to raise leaders and the people of faith should understand the relevance of their faith in the marketplace.
Nigeria is a country where there’s a church in every corner yet we turn up at work on Monday and there’s no difference between those who went to church or mosque and those that did not.
So, we have to understand that our faith, either Christian or Muslim, is supposed to affect our output and impact, and that is what the Awesome Treasure Foundation is about. It is about raising leaders amongst these people of faith, starting from their young age. We’ve had summer camps; we just rounded off the 11th edition in August and there were 150 children in attendance. We go to inner cities to bring disadvantaged children to come. We have success stories of children who were illiterates.
You seem to have moved ahead of your time, having come this far at a relatively youthful age. Could it be family background, environmental influence, or personal development?
Honestly, growing up on a university campus in Ife to professor-parents as an only child was a rare upbringing. The university campus was serene. My parents took me with them when they travelled. I started traveling from the age of three. I toured Europe as a child with my parents.
So, my perspective of the world is very different and globally my exposure is part of why I am very confident of my heritage as a black African. I love being an African, I don’t see it as a disadvantage, I think Africa has something to offer the world and the time has come for Africa to ideate and give the world its thinking. So, yes, being a child of intellectuals, I think, affected me.
Also, being an only child for so long made me a thinker. I thought a lot. I played as children would but I started thinking very early. I think about things that would normally not concern children. It was a combination of nature and nurture from the very beginning and continuing to pay attention to purpose.
Since I was 23, everything I have done has been about purpose, the choice of who I married, how many kids I had, and how I engaged in my profession. It has always been about the outcomes, and how they affect my assignments; it has been purpose-driven. I begin with the end in mind, asking what is the objective? What is the goal?
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