Traditional buildings, while architecturally and culturally significant, often encounter challenges in thermal performance due to the limitations of available construction materials and research carried out to quantify the thermal performance of these traditional buildings in the warm, humid climate of Nigeria. This study investigates the potential to improve thermal comfort and energy efficiency in traditional buildings through modifications of roofing and ceiling materials, utilising a combination of field data and dynamic simulations conducted in the Integrated Environmental Solutions-Virtual Environment (IES-VE) software (version 2025). The research assesses thermal performance, building energy consumption, and renewable energy potential through the integration of photovoltaic (PV) panels on modified roofs; it presents the first in-depth evaluation and analysis of adobe buildings in Ilorin, warm-humid region of Nigeria, by simulating ceiling material combinations and PV integration on clay roofs materials, offering insights for climate-responsive retrofitting and policy development. The focus is on a traditional building originally constructed with clay walls and thatch roof, later retrofitted with an aluminium–zinc roofing system. To enhance performance, a modified roofing configuration using a clay-based roof was introduced and analysed. The ceiling materials tested included asbestos, plywood, Polyvinyl chloride panels, and fibreboard. These variations were assessed for their impact on indoor thermal comfort, peak temperature reduction, and energy demand using IES-VE simulations. Simulation results revealed that the original thatch roof provided superior thermal insulation due to its naturally low conductivity but lacked durability and contemporary performance standards. The aluminium–zinc roof, whilst durable, resulted in high internal heat gain because of its high thermal conductivity. The modified clay roof demonstrated a balance between thermal performance and material longevity. Among the ceiling materials, a 4mm-thick fibreboard consistently outperformed others in maintaining lower indoor temperatures, followed by plywood, whereas others tested exhibited inferior performance. The optimised combination of a clay roof with a fibreboard ceiling led to the best thermal outcomes, achieving peak indoor temperature reductions of up to 8 °C and annual energy savings exceeding 50% compared to the aluminium–zinc retrofit. The integration of PV panels on the clay roof surface harnessed solar radiation, generating sufficient electricity to offset a substantial portion of the building's annual energy consumption. This research highlights that the selection of materials for both roofs and ceilings plays a critical role in enhancing the thermal performance of traditional buildings. It concludes that a hybrid approach, preserving traditional aesthetics while incorporating high-performance materials and renewable energy systems, can effectively bridge the gap between heritage conservation and sustainability goals in warm-humid regions.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, O.F.O., L.R. and L.K.; methodology, O.F.O.; software, O.F.O.; validation, O.F.O., L.R., L.K. and A.A.B.; formal analysis, O.F.O.; investigation, O.F.O.; resources, O.F.O.; data curation, O.F.O.; writing—original draft preparation, O.F.O.; writing—review and editing, O.F.O. and A.A.B.; visualization, O.F.O.; supervision, L.R. and L.K.; project administration, O.F.O. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
The research was partly funded by Tertiary Education Trust fund, (TETFund) Nigeria.
Institutional Review Board Statement
The study was conducted following the approval granted by the University of Nottingham Ethics Review Committee for the collection and analysis of data.
Informed Consent Statement
In compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), participants were required to consent to confidentiality measures prior to their involvement in the study. To safeguard participant identities, pseudonyms have been assigned. Furthermore, all data collected for research purposes was utilised exclusively for that aim and securely stored in password-protected files to ensure confidentiality and integrity.
Data Availability Statement
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors on request.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
