A new facility in Ikoyi, Lagos proves that instead of sending structures to extinction, books have come to boast them. Named Q&A Plus, the enterprise rather buttress the eventual survival of architecture, despite the challenges of time.

Arriving in any city, a look at the skyline and landscape gives the sojourner an instant impression of the land. Such is the vital role architecture plays as an art that defines a city and gives it identity. But the confusion perpetrated over time by operators of the academic system make many, including architects unaware of how cultural or artistic their endeavour is.

To many, it is a science, to some it is technology, to some others it an art, and there are still many who think it is all of them. Hence some schools of thought define it as the art and science of designing and erecting buildings, others say it is about buildings and other large structures, while there are those that say it is about style and method of design and construction or just the orderly arrangement of parts and structures. Whatever the slant, no authority has dismissed the key role architecture plays in the visual topography and cultural identity of cities.

Given this, it baffles many, that Nigeria, reputed to harbour one of the largest number of academically trained architects in the world, and for having many enviable indigenous house-building styles has no urban city with recognisable architectural identity. The result, metropolis that are travellers' nightmare, urban planners' confusion and 'hard sell' for tourism promoters. From skylines to street lay outs, cities like the globally popular Lagos, regional strongholds like Enugu, Kaduna, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, and even the federal capital territory, Abuja remain visual jumbles that only puzzle landscape painters. Once in a while, eye-catching buildings and parks dots a street but the rest of the street turns out an array of all manner of architecture; unlike what happens in other parts of the world.

"One can say that ours is a land, full of individualistic architecture, we have many good structures but it is not like in other parts of the world where one sees row and rows of uniform buildings in the street," appraised Ekanem Konu.

The University of London trained accountant who recently opened Q&A+ a bookshop dedicated exclusively to architecture and design on 152 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos said the need to acquaint Nigerian architect and designers with developments around the world informed her new venture.

A self-confessed bookworm, Mrs. Konu, disclosed that her passion for literary materials was behind her now, 9-month old business. Apart from her natural love for books as a reader, the wife of a very active Lagos based architect, Koku Konu, opted for the business because of the obvious absence of such a facility.

"I mean, lets think of the need this way: medical practitioners have their special book stores, lawyers have theirs, engineers have theirs, why are there not architecture and design bookshops in Lagos?" she asked.

She notes that design and professional books help practitioners harmonise their practice with contemporary global trends as well as expose them to new and existing clues to tackle creative and structural challenges. According to her, for such books as the ones she stocks, many designers and architects used to travel abroad.

In Q&A+ display are tomes and (a few) slim publications that perude such topics as minimalism, expressionism, structural dynamics as well issues of construction and design of several forms. There are books to pick on several topics, from column to entablature, archs, vaulting, attic, congee, corbel, pinnacle, pier, drip mould, quion, modillion, foliation, and various forms of ornmenttion. Interior design, landscaping and model construction equally have some publications while there are a few that dwell on art and architectural history.

Konu said she started with about 1000 books. Currently, her two-floor outfit stocks about 3000 books as well as some design production materials.

But the venture is already taking a new dimension as an art gallery joins the bookshop. A partnership between Chriss Aghana Nwobu's Iroko Gallery and Q&A+ has now created an art exhibition section in the book house. Currently displaying only art photographs, Iroko Gallery showcases the works of such photo-artists as Tam Fiofori, George Oshodi, Uche Jame-Iroha among others, Nwobu said his gallery mounts the pictures not only as a art pieces but as exhibits that go with the designs and architecture to tale a wholistic story.

"What we have is a collection of the best crop of Nigerian art photographers. When anyone comes into a facility like this to see the best of Nigerian social lifestyle, as captured by the photographers and also see the best materials on the architecture, a total picture of the land and its ways of life becomes clear."

The gallerist informed that in November, his arthouse will mount its maiden public exhibition in Q&A+.

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