₦airaland Forum

Can we bring back Face-Me-I-Face-You, but make It beyond 2025?

Has it ever occurred to you, that,
Face-Me-I-Face-You is really an apartment building, but with poor PR & bad marketing.

I was recently thinking about Face-Me-I-Face-You, and how I haven't seen one in a while.
Yes, they're around, but…
We're tearing them down and replacing them with options that render more people homeless. (Or poorly housed)

This isn't really about housing, but about how the housing crisis is more of a design/planning problem before a capital (funding) problem.

I have a strange opinion that:
Face-Me-I-Face-You isn’t the problem, the branding/PR is.

You probably think:
“What have you been drinking?”

Well, hear me.

I believe this building type is literally the “vernacular” nigerian housing type that has quietly served generations of urban Nigerians.

It ticks all the right boxes:
✅ Fit for high-density.
✅ Extremely modular (due to its layout that optimizes flexibility and scalability)
✅ Efficient land use.
✅ Affordable for low-to-middle income families.

In fact, I dare say, that
If we strip it down to its core intent, it was Nigeria’s most practical housing innovation.
A real MVP in solving urban shelter needs.


So what went wrong?
Why are we phasing it out?

⚠️ Profit over people.
It quickly became the low-entry, fast ticket to rental income

⚠️ Design negligence.
They’re badly built, poorly maintained, and rarely designed with dignity or long-term livability in mind.
Users are forced to settle with:
❌️ Lack of proper ventilation
❌️ Over-strained shared amenities
❌️ Too much interactions (lack of privacy)

And worst of all…
⚠️ Lack of disconnect with the aspirations/goals of its users.
While this building perfectly fits where its users (low/average/middle-income earners) are, it doesn't accommodate where they hope to be.
It was built to serve where people are (or were), not where they’re going.

⚠️ Lack of upgrades over decades
That disconect is why it's design has not eveolved to match those life expectations.
I mean ever seen one & felt impressed?

Somewhere along the line, Face-Me-I-Face-You stopped being a communal housing model
…and became a badge of survival.


But what if we changed that?
What if we did a brand refresh?

A total PR upgrade, not just with shiny paint, but with reimagined planning and dignified design that reflects the lifestyle goals of the people who live in them.

Let us
🔁 Keep the modular layout (it works!)
🔁 Retain the affordability (non-negotiable)
➕ Add planned diversity of units
➕ Add modern shared amenities
➕ Rethink access, lighting, privacy
➕ Rebuild with empathy & intentionality

It’s possible to keep accessibility and affordability, while improving dignity and livability
That’s the future we should build

But here's the HARD question:
If we rebranded & re-planned Face-Me-I-Face-You with proper architecture, security, privacy, aesthetics, & communal pride…

Would you live in it?
Yes or No?
Share in the comments



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Reach out.
I'd love to hear from you.

Reach out. We'd love to hear from you

I like the way you're thinking.

We need more thinkers and doers like you.

Your designs look promising. Have you resolved the difference in costs and income?

dollypi:
I like the way you're thinking.

We need more thinkers and doers like you.

Your designs look promising. Have you resolved the difference in costs and income?

Thank you for your kind thoughts

And oh....only the "boring" one is my design.
The ones on the right are inspirations of how good Face-Me-I-Face-You can look.

About costs and income, I've done a few things about incremental housing and budget-responsive ownership models so that people can still serve themselves according to their income (& growth) while maintaining scalability.

A real attempt to solve this directly, and at scale is currently under development.
Again, thank you.

Nigeria is filled with classists that proclaim their love for the masses but will eventually demean any efforts to provide for the masses.
Face-to-face apartments are a good solution to the housing crisis. Cheap and fits a large number of individuals on relatively small piece of land.
Any solution to the housing crisis that has not incorporated face-to-face apartments is just another money grab that will eventually become too expensive for the supposed target market.
Yes, you are right. A little bit of PR, a better design and you will get a solution to overpriced houses. But any touch on the design will eventually make it more expensive. We all know the price differentials between a single room (boys quarter apartments) and a self contained apartment even in the same compound.

ZeemsPropeties:
Nigeria is filled with classists that proclaim their love for the masses but will eventually demean any efforts to provide for the masses.
Face-to-face apartments are a good solution to the housing crisis. Cheap and fits a large number of individuals on relatively small piece of land.
Any solution to the housing crisis that has not incorporated face-to-face apartments is just another money grab that will eventually become too expensive for the supposed target market.
Yes, you are right. A little bit of PR, a better design and you will get a solution to overpriced houses. But any touch on the design will eventually make it more expensive. We all know the price differentials between a single room (boys quarter apartments) and a self contained apartment even in the same compound.

Thank you for this well thought-out insight.
Despite being a design challenge, we still have human nature: classism, capital and 'indifference' to manage. Regardless, "when there is a will, there will be a way", and the market will always follow the shift.

One of the value-adds of design-thinking is it helps us incorporates opportunities for organic growth that makes it easy for homes to grow with people as their income improves. So, the "upfront capital" problem is slightly alleviated.

The rest is now dependent on "human nature" and that's where PR (or marketing comes in) comes in.
And all we need to turn the needle around is build a premium face-to-face apartment in a highbrow community or have a big corporation use it as their corporate residense for executive staff.

Thank you, again
Baby steps, but we will get there

theyongest:
Thank you for this well thought-out insight.
Despite being a design challenge, we still have human nature: classism, capital and 'indifference' to manage. Regardless, "when there is a will, there will be a way", and the market will always follow the shift.

One of the value-adds of design-thinking is it helps us incorporates opportunities for organic growth that makes it easy for homes to grow with people as their income improves. So, the "upfront capital" problem is slightly alleviated.

The rest is now dependent on "human nature" and that's where PR (or marketing comes in) comes in.
And all we need to turn the needle around is build a premium face-to-face apartment in a highbrow community or have a big corporation use it as their corporate residense for executive staff.

Thank you, again
Baby steps, but we will get there

This your input highlights my point. Your focus being "premium face-to-face apartment in a highbrow community or as a corporate residence" tells me this is yet another way to make as much money as possible while using the smallest input possible.
Such a building will compete with hotels for the corporate residence aspect and for the highbrow part, it would easily signify the lowest income earners in said highbrow area.
Whereas, I could live in my overpriced BQ in a highbrow area and pretend I belong, living in a known "low cost" alternative won't let me maintain that charade.
There's no PR fix to the fact that people live in highbrow areas for a reason. A face-to-face apartment would defeat that purpose. The only way such apartments work is in a low income area of society. And that explains the current situation. You can't spend too much because you have to consider what the market is willing to pay for. If it's too pricey, you won't recoup your investment.

ZeemsPropeties:
This your input highlights my point. Your focus being "premium face-to-face apartment in a highbrow community or as a corporate residence" tells me this is yet another way to make as much money as possible while using the smallest input possible.
Such a building will compete with hotels for the corporate residence aspect and for the highbrow part, it would easily signify the lowest income earners in said highbrow area.
Whereas, I could live in my overpriced BQ in a highbrow area and pretend I belong, living in a known "low cost" alternative won't let me maintain that charade.
There's no PR fix to the fact that people live in highbrow areas for a reason. A face-to-face apartment would defeat that purpose. The only way such apartments work is in a low income area of society. And that explains the current situation. You can't spend too much because you have to consider what the market is willing to pay for. If it's too pricey, you won't recoup your investment.

It seems I didn't communicate my point very well.
For better context,
My work is entirely focused on improving access to qualitative homeownership for the "average" Nigerian without compromising quality of life.

That said...
What that reference was meant to achieve was as a pilot to drive/influence positive perception. Most (aspirational) people will only believe if they see it applied as "premium".

A few years ago, many people didn't rate living on the island until they saw the celebrities they hoped to be like live there.
A premium use-case is a fast way to drive mainstream acceptance. What psychologists call "herd mentality"

I believe influencing herd mentality is a sure way to drive fast popularity.

This does not eliminate the fact that it will still have to be intentionally reimagined for dignifying, living... for it to be reconsidered by Nigerians living in Nigeria... most Nigeirans in the diaspora have become familiar with these type of apartment buildings so if we can as little raise the standard to meet what obtains globally, I'm sure it will fit just right.

I hope this clarifies it better.

theyongest:
It seems I didn't communicate my point very well.
For better context,
My work is entirely focused on improving access to qualitative homeownership for the "average" Nigerian without compromising quality of life.

That said...
What that reference was meant to achieve was as a pilot to drive/influence positive perception. Most (aspirational) people will only believe if they see it applied as "premium".

A few years ago, many people didn't rate living on the island until they saw the celebrities they hoped to be like live there.
A premium use-case is a fast way to drive mainstream acceptance. What psychologists call "herd mentality"

I believe influencing herd mentality is a sure way to drive fast popularity.

This does not eliminate the fact that it will still have to be intentionally reimagined for dignifying, living... for it to be reconsidered by Nigerians living in Nigeria... most Nigeirans in the diaspora have become familiar with these type of apartment buildings so if we can as little raise the standard to meet what obtains globally, I'm sure it will fit just right.

I hope this clarifies it better.

I understand your point.
My point is you can't "mass produce" housing with the premium tag. There has to be some sort of compromise. If it's truly premium, it would price out a sizeable section of the market. And if it's not, it won't be different from the status quo.
I understand your work and I hope you succeed with it. What I've pointed out so far is my understanding of the subject matter.

ZeemsPropeties:
I understand your point.
My point is you can "mass produce" housing with the premium tag. There has to be some sort of compromise. If it's truly premium, it would price out a sizeable section of the market. And if it's not, it won't be different from the status quo.
I understand your work and I hope you succeed with it. What I've pointed out so far is my understanding of the subject matter.

I totally understand now.
The difference is in how much (or little) we compromise. And I believe that's what the user will care also about.

Thank you for sharing.
And also for your point of view.

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