ENHANCING FIRE SAFETY IN HOSTEL DESIGNS CASE STUDY OF HALL 5 & HALL 6 IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN

ABSTRACT

Housing is one of the most fundamental needs of man. The provision of quality accommodation has been of great interest to humanity right from the Paleolithic Age. Afolayan (1981) opines that, a good accommodation should serve the purposes of providing physical shelter, useable living space, and selffulfillment. It follows that the provision of a good accommodation implies the provision of adequate shelter, space and facilities for the general well-being of the inhabitant. Furthermore, accommodation conditions have been identified as having appreciable effects on the quality of health, work efficiency, social behavior, satisfaction and general welfare of any community (Onibokun, 1985). This situation applies not only to urban and rural housing areas, but also to accommodation facilities within institutions. According to Schmerts (1972), tertiary institutions should be designed to accommodate students in hostels within the school environment for effective and optimal of academic activities. These hostels should be comfortable and could be in the form of rooms, halls or apartments. Facilities like toilets, laundry, lounge, etc, are also provided for the convenience of students. The provision of these facilities is usually guided by set standards as well as the number of students expected to reside in the hostels (Ernst and Neufert, 1993).