A Diminishing Design

Hello readers, am frogulus. On one of my numerous voyages, I landed at Hope Waddell Training Institute, in Calabar, Cross-River state, Nigeria.

This institution has been established well over 100years ago. And this institution has a lot of old, nice, still standing and well-constructed buildings with its beautiful influence 19^th century building design.

My attention was drawn to this two building opposite each other. The old Hope Waddell Training Institute Chapel completed on 22^nd November, 1927, meanwhile the new chapel building which was complete on the 10^th April, 2016.

old chapel with high pitched roof

old chapel showing the window and buttress

old chapel with roof falls

old chapel walls

The old chapel is has a very lovely, unique and consistent design.

The old chapel has a high pitch roof.

It has uniformity in window sizes, position, design and materials.

It has the Gothic style of Architecture.

There is a structural consistency in placements of the buttress, giving it a rhythm.

It has a perfect symmetric design.

A unique and artist craftsmanship can be seen.

The walls are undressed and its shows it’s beautiful and technical craftsmanship in its masonry block laying and aesthetics design pattern on it.

 

new chapel showing pointed arch windows and semi-circular window and rectangular windows

new chapel with an funny tower

old chapel

 

The new chapel which is supposed to be an improved, innovative, creative contemporary design, but rather it seems to have “A Diminishing Design”.

Technically for a rain forest region, this chapel has a very low roof pitch, considering the span of the building.

It has no consistency in window style, rhythm, and design.

Poor craftsmanship and at the tower it is very easy to spot the aesthetics errors.

To me there is nothing fascinating or improved in the new chapel design but a total “Diminishing Design”