An architect and Managing Director, Design Genre Limited, Mr Anthony Okoye, says Nigeria needs to adopt sustainable and environment-friendly designs across its cities to reduce the negative impact of buildings on the environment.

Okoye said it had become necessary to think about evolving sustainable architectural designs through efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, and development spaces.

According to him, this is germane to aligning with the global quest for a safer city so that safe-living and eco-friendly environment will not be compromised.

Okoye said this during prize presentation to winners of the Architecture Students’ Award at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The award, according to a statement by the firm, is an endowment by the Design Genre to raise an array of future architects who will adopt the idea of sustainable designs that suit the lifestyle of a truly modern and safer city.

The firm said the 2019 edition, the fourth in the series, produced the duo of Miss Adeola Oderinde and Mr Bidemi Ariyo, both MSC 1 students of the institution as the first prize winners in a race.

It featured five teams pitching their creative ideas to a panel of judges that included lecturers and practising professionals in the field of architecture, it added.

“The highly elated winners expressed joy as they were adjudged for creating a building project with sustainability ingenuity and ecological features capable of promoting good health for the building occupants as well as reduce the building’s negative effects on the environment,” the statement read in part.

An associate director of the company, Mr Dayo Oduleye, while highlighting the firm’s determination to continue sponsorship of the competition disclosed that the idea of the competition was to connect the town and the gown.

He explained that it was also a way of giving back to the society and an initiative the MD, whom he said was an alumnus of the OAU and an accomplished architect.

ON