# Michael Olutusen Onafowokan

Michael Olutusen Onafowokan (1912–1991) was a Nigerian architect regarded as the pioneer of architecture in Nigeria and Commonwealth Africa. He was one of the pioneers of Tropical Modernism an architectural design era that took into consideration the climatic condition of the region and attempted to curtail or utilize the climatic condition through the use of design elements, styles and concepts.

## Early life and education

Michael Olutusen Onafowokan was born in Ikorodu, Lagos State Nigeria where he attended the Methodist Primary School Ita-Elewa Ikorodu and St. Peters Primary School Faji-Ajele Street Lagos. For his secondary education, he attended the Methodist Boys' High School in Lagos. He passed the Junior Cambridge Examination in 1932, after which he attended the Public Works Department technical school and obtained a diploma in Civil Engineering in 1938.

## Career

Michael Olutusen Onafowokan started working after his training at the Public Works Department. Below is a succinct trajectory of his career path.

### Public Works Department

1937–1946
He also worked in different provinces in Nigeria and some parts of West Africa around this time. Drawing and Quantity Surveying Section – 1937–1939
Junior Technical Staff – 1937–1942
Works and Building Section – 1939–1946

### Higher education

University Evening Classes in Lagos – 1942–1945
passed the University of London Matriculation Examination in 1946 Started at the Royal Technical College London 1946
Transferred to Glasgow Caledonian University in 1947
Bachelor of Science in Architecture – 1952 Post Graduate Diploma in Town Planning – 1953
He returned to Nigeria in 1953 and started working in the old Western region, by 1954 he was working with the Ministry of Lands and Housing in Ibadan and later in the Ministry of Transport. He retired on the 1st of December 1968 as the Chief Regional Architect. He later went into private practice in the name of Onafowokan Cityscape Group. The architecture firm still exists in the modern day as Onafowokan Cityscape Limited over 30 years after his death. OCL is also a town planning firm.

## Architectural philosophy and style

He worked on projects and his style is typified by the utilization of green spaces in his design and the complete integration of the building with environmental elements, his style of design was mostly asymmetric.
He championed the architectural philosophy of Tropical Modernism in Nigeria, ensuring that the users of buildings are not affected by the climate, the hospitals like the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, the Patriarch Bolaji Methodist Church which was designed in 1969 were great examples of tropical modernism architectural design philosophy at play in Nigeria.

## Projects and works

Some projects done by Onafowakan Michael Olutusen include:
* Cocoa House (1964) .
* Methodist Churches – Ita-Elewa, Aiyepe, Ogbomosho, Otapete, Agbeni. Between (1963–1985) .
* Lagos State University Teaching Hospital(1972)
* Grace Nursery and Primary School Gbagada (1974)
* Ikorodu Town Hall (1971–1983) .
* Oriwu Citrus Club (1987)
* Government College Lagos (1976)
* Lagos – Ikorodu Link road (1942–1952)
* Methodist Boys' High School, Lagos (1969–1985)
* Federal Ministry of Education (1975)

## Gallery

These are pictures of works of Michael Olutusen Onafowokan some have been rehabilitated and others still in there original forms maintaining the same facade and elements when they were first designed.

## Awards

Office of the Order of the Niger (OON) 1982
Award of Appreciation MBHS Ibadan (1988)
Post Humous Award NIA (2010)
Award of Appreciation IDRDG (2011)