The trip to Demas Nwoko at Idumuje Ugboko in Delta state was a testament to the belief that man
has been given the power to achieve all she/he could imagine or declare if pursued with scholarly
tenacity and singleness of mind. We chose our dates in September 2020 and it was approved first
time and the journey of discovery began. Through the twin challenges of Lagos traffic and multi
layered road blocks mounted by various law enforcement units in the nation, our air conditioned
bus arrived at Benin 1450 hr and we proceeded to Oba Akenzua Cultural Center, where the five
man research group had her first physical feel of a Demas Nwoko architecture. An architecture
premised on ‘natural synthesis’, appropriating all that is good in art, science and technology to
improve indigenous practice of the science of building. An architecture that eulogize Art while
placing human sensory comfort at the centrality of its formation. Collectively, more was expected
because we have earlier experienced Demas Nwoko’s quintessential expression at the Dominican
Chapel, Ibadan. The reasons was later known during conversation with the sage.
Thursday 10th September welcomed us into the full exploration of the habitation of the subject
matter. Architecture was simplified in Demas Nwoko’s residence and the central theme here was
communality both in conception and practicality. An all involving architecture that evokes the
spirituality of building a fabric that host the body within which the soul resides.
It was humbling seeing a practical demonstration of communal acceptance of an international figure
residing in a ‘tourist facility’ without fence, gate or stern looking guards, even in a criminal minded,
kidnapping infested narrative of present day Nigeria.
As researching Africans. We all easily connected with the building through visual appreciation of
objects of our birth and experiences enunciated both in the building form and material use. Our soul
could connect to the Courtyard, Air ventilating ducts, and the clay walls ornamented with murals,
symbols expressing metaphors of our origin. Africans build house for each other as in cooperative
group, thereby eschewing homelessness, since they belief an injury to one is an injury to all. Hence
Demas residence has attached back house with courtyard to house extended family, in the spirit of
kindred benevolence. Ashim Nwoko took the group on a guided tour of the building where he had
lived since 1978 and his experiential discourse of this sculptural piece made it transcend the realm
of a residence but a Delta State officially designated tourist destination. Though a trained Artist,
but his passionate emphasis on ‘Archi–preneurship’ shows a patriotic disdain for architects’
abdication of building execution role to the whims and caprice of artisans who merely give shallow
interpretation to hitherto great design on paper.
Conversation with Demas Nwoko later in the day was such a revealing moment as he demonstrated
a conscientious versatility in the discourse of art, architecture, form, proportion, history, travels,
clientele and termination of contracts all in his over eight decades of marrying architecture and art.
The sobriety of the research group and the excitement in meeting the enigma could only be
succinctly described by our expression of doggedness in changing the paradigm and resolution to