PHILIPPINE

ARCHITECTURE

History of Architecture 4
Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA
COURSE DESCRPTION
¨ Reflections on architecture in the Philippines: their
changes and challenges in contemporary life and
the ideology of conserving its architectural legacies.
NUMBER OF UNITS FOR LECTURE AND
LABORATORY
¨ Lecture - 3 Units

NUMBER OF CONTACT HOURS PER

WEEK
¨ Lecture - 3 Hours

PREREQUISITES
¨ History of Architecture 03
COURSE OBJECTIVES
At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
1. Gain insights in the evolution of Philippine
architecture; the local culture and traditions.
2. Appreciate heritage sites and structures in the country.
3. Make himself aware of the natural and built heritage
through the conduct of research.
4. Understand the Filipino culture, their behavior and
traditions and its effects on architectural space and
design;
5. Apply the cultural methods for analyzing design
concepts in relation to national development;
COURSE OUTLINE
 GRADING SYSTEM
PERFORMANCE-BASED OUTCOMES
(70% Passing Grade)

¨ Class Requirements (CR): 60%

Quizzes, Drawings, Project
¨ Major Examinations (ME): 40%

SEMESTRAL GRADE COMPUTATION:

Midterm Grade (40% SG) = CR + ME
Final Grade (60% SG) = CR + FE
SEMESTRAL GRADE (SG) = MG (40%) + FG (60%)
 CLASS POLICY AND MANAGEMENT
¨ 15mins grace period
¨ NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES FOR LATE COMERS AND
ABSENT STUDENTS except for students with valid reasons
according to EARIST STUDENT HANDBOOK:
¤ FORCE MAJEURE

¤ DEATH OF IMMEDIATE FAMILY

¤ SICKNESS (with MEDICAL CERTIFICATE)

¨ ARRANGE AND CLEAN THE ROOM BEFORE THE

CLASS STARTS
 PHILIPPINE
ARCHITECTURE

History of Architecture 4: Part 1

Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA
Philippine Architecture
¨ Admixture of indigenous, vernacular, and foreign
architecture:
Malayan, Muslim, Chinese, Spanish, American,
European
BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY
Early Philippine Shelters
Between Earth and Sky…
¨ Architecture begun as a response to nature. For the
primitive who was defenseless before the violence
of wind and rain, the CAVE was a refuge.
Between Earth and Sky…
¨ Fire, the chief human invention, proved to be
significant element not only in driving savage
animals away from cave habitats but also in carving
out space.
¨ The burning fire marked the new human territory
and served as a site for rituals and other
gatherings.
Between Earth and Sky…
¨ Coming out from the caves, man initiated the first
architectural revolution with the invention of stone tools
for cutting fibrous materials, plant stems, and wood.
¨ This FIBROCONSTRUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY helped
develop temporary, tent-like shelters made of wooden
skeleton, vegetative fiber, or animal skin and
constructed through binding, weaving, and lashing. Such
structures also nurtured a new figure that would take
the place of the wanderer- homo-faber, “man the
maker”, architect and builder.
Tent-like shelters made of wooden
skeleton, vegetative fiber, or animal skin
and constructed through binding, weaving,
and lashing.
Cave Dwellings
As the Early Human Shelter
Cave Dwellings:
¨ Prehistoric cave shelters were the earliest form of
human habitation.
¨ In the Philippines, the earliest dwellers of caves
were the PLEISTOCENE people, offsprings of the
Ice Age.
¨ TABON CAVE complex in Lipuun Point, SW of
Palawan - is the largest cave dwelt in by prehistoric
families for 30,000 years. It covers 138 hectares,
cave’s portal is about 16m. in width and 8m. in
height and extends to an interior depth of 41m.
 TABON CAVE, PALAWAN
The earliest and largest cave dwelling
 TABON CAVE, PALAWAN
The earliest and largest cave dwelling
Cave Dwellings:
¨ The cave was named
“TABON” after the large-
footed bird that lays eggs
huge holes it digs into cave
floors, many of which have
been found in the cave.

DR. ROBERT B. FOX

Archaeologist who headed the discovery of fossils of the
Homo Sapiens in the Tabon Cave
Cave Dwellings:
¨ TAU’T BATU people occupying the southern part of
Palawan continues the primeval practice of living in
caves.
Cave Dwellings:
¨ The basic sleeping platform, known as a DATAG, is
made from tree branches and dried leaves and is
built inside the cave, raised slightly above ground,
with fireplace in close proximity to provide warmth
during the night.
Cave Dwellings:
¨ There are other examples of caves and rock
shelters in the Philippines that were once inhabited
by early Filipinos:
¤ PETROGLYPHS (prehistoric drawings of human
figures engraved on the cave walls) in a rock
shelter in Angono, Rizal.
¤ The mountaintop citadels of Savidug, Batanes,
known as IDJANG as defensive engineering of
the early Ivatan settlers.
PETROGLYPHS
Angono, Rizal
 IDJANG
Savidug, Batanes
Nomadism and Ephemeral Portable Architecture
Needing a temporary shelter
Nomadism and Ephemeral
¨ Ephemeral architecture (short-lived architecture)
was one of the first artifacts created by humans.
The primitive lifestyle was essentially nomadic,
needing a form of temporary shelter that utilized
readily available materials with limited investment
in time and energy.
¨ As nomadism entailed constant movement,
materials that were portable and demountable
were requisites in design and construction.
Nomadism and Ephemeral
¨ In the Philippines, the fundamental act of building
was practiced by nomads in the form of the
windbreak (LEAN-TO), windscreen, or windshield. It
was set up for shelter before commencing a hunting
or food-gathering journey.
¨ Early Filipinos constructed a wind-sun-and-rain
screen anchored by a pole or stick at an angle on
the ground.
LEAN-TO
Used by Negritos, Aetas, Dumagats
 LEAN-TO
Used by Negritos, Aetas, Dumagats
Nomadism and Ephemeral
¨ The LEAN-TO or PINANAHANG of the Agta of
Palanan is a botanic shield against wind, sun, and
rain, built with strong but light branches and palm
fronds.
¨ DAIT-DAIT is the simple windscreen used by
Mamanua of northeastern Mindanao when hunting.
¨ HAWONG of the Pinatubo Area has no living
platform and is usually constructed with a ridgepole
supported by forked stakes or limbs. It forms two
sloping sides with one or both ends left open.
Arboreal Shelter
Dwelling High on Trees
Arboreal Shelter
¨ Arboreal shelters reinforced the racial stereotypes of
post-Darwinian evolutionary concepts as “climbing down
from trees”, representing the transition of man from ape
to sentient human being.
¨ TREE HOUSES are usually found in areas where violent
intertribal conflicts and nocturnal raids are frequent.
Tree houses are highly elevated to protect families
living in isolated communities from the attack of animals
and human enemies.
¨ Perched on the forked branches of trees, 20, 40 or
even 60 feet above ground.
 TREE HOUSES
Used by Gadangs of Kalinga, Manobos,
Mandayas, Moraos, Negritos, Bagobos
Rice Terraces
The Prehistoric Megastructure
Rice Terraces
¨ Throughout the Asia-Pacific Region, mountainous
terrain, over the centuries, has been shaped into
landscapes of terraced pond fields for the
cultivation of rice and other crops.
¨ The Rice Terraces of the Cordilleras is a
masterpiece of pre-modern engineering and
megalithic architecture.
¨ Altered by human hands to accommodate pond-
field agriculture, the original landscape was once
covered with woodland.
 BANAUE RICE TERRACES
Included in the UNESCO’s Heritage List
Rice Terraces
¨ Facts about Banaue Rice Terraces:
¤ The walls reach up to a height of 6m. and in some
cases 16m, configured in a range of shape and
gradient.
¤ The amount of stones used by Ifugao in constructing the
system of stone walls, canals, dams and reservoirs of
the terraces is estimated to far exceed in bulk those
used in Pyramids or in Great Wall of China.
¤ It has three (3) basic elements: the terrace base, the
embankment and the soil body
PARTS OF RICE TERRACES
Philippine Vernacular Architecture
And its Austronesian Ancestry
Defining the Vernacular
¨ VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE is a term now
broadly applied to denote indigenous, folk, tribal,
ethnic or traditional architecture found among the
different ethno linguistic communities in the
Philippines.
¨ Majority of vernacular built forms are dwellings,
whether permanent or makeshift, constructed by
their owners or by communities, which assemble the
building resources, or by local specialized builders
or craftsmen.
Defining the Vernacular
¨ Granaries, fortifications, places of worship,
ephemeral and demountable structures, and
contemporary urban shanties belong to the
vernacular lineage.
 Primitive, Indigenous, Anonymous, Folk
and Ethnic Architecture
¨ PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTURE emphasizes the dualistic
distinction between “primal”, and “cultivated”, “barbarism”
and “civilization” and “nonwestern” and “western”
¨ INDIGENOUS ARCHITECTURE is a nonformal architecture
introduced and built by immigrant and colonialist population
in order to privilege those building forms constructed by the
indigenes.
¨ ANONYMOUS ARCHITECTURE reflects the bias towards
buildings designed by named and canonic architects
¨ FOLK ARCHITECTURE is tinged with issues of class
differentation.
¨ ETHNIC ARCHITECTURE reflects an exoticization of the
residual ethno linguistic other by the dominant cosmopolitan
culture.
 Five (5) Principal Features of
Vernacular Architecture:
1. The builders, whether artisans or those planning to live
in the buildings, are nonprofessional architects or
engineers;
2. There is consonant adaptation, using natural materials,
to the geographical environment
3. The actual process of construction involves intuitive
thinking, done without the use of blueprints, and is
open to later modifications
4. There is a balance between social/economic
functionality and aesthetic features, and;
5. Architectural patterns and styles are subject to
protracted evolution of traditional styles specific to an
ethnic domain.
Vernacular Architecture
¨ All forms of vernacular architecture are built to
meet specific needs, primary of which is the
accommodation of values, economies, and ways of
living of the culture that produced them.
¨ It demonstrates the achievements and limitations of
early technology.
 William Le Baron Jenney
¨ He is a prominent figure in Chicago School, who
invented the new structural technique – steel-frame
skyscraper from a building tradition originating fom the
Philippine source – the wooden framed construction of
the bahay kubo. He then approriated and transcoded
the tectonic principle in steel and iron to replace timber
and bamboo.
¨ “impressed by the possibilities of framed construction
when he spent three months in Manila, in the Philippines,
following a voyage on one of this father’s whaling ships”
(Condit 1964, 81)
 William Le Baron Jenney
¨ The invention made possible the first all-steel
skeleton framed skyscraper in the world, which was
first applied to the HOME INSURANCE BUILDING
(1884), the first tall building in America to use steel.

“Father of American Skyscraper”

Austronesian Building Heritage
And the Aquatic Cultural Network of Asia-Pacific
Austronesian…
¨ The term AUSTRONESIAN refers to a family of
languages, believed to have originated in Taiwan
some 6,000 years ago, numbering some 1,000 to
1,200 languages spoken in the vast geographical
area between Madagascar, Taiwan, Hawaii, Easter
Island, and New Zealand. – defined by world-view
linked to an aquatic-based view of life, and
translated into architectural terms.
Austronesian Architecture…
¨ The archetypal Austronesian house consists of pile
construction on stilts, a raised living floor, and a thatch
pitch roof with extended ridges or decorative gable-
finials.
¨ Architectural features evolved as a result of the
monsoonal and aquatic-based way of life since
settlement patterns have direct connection to bodies of
water.
¨ This kind of settlement can be found in Cebu, Leyte,
Bohol, Panay, Cagayan, Agusan, Lanao, Manila and
others.
House Terms (as studied by Robert Blust)
¨ RUMAQ – “house” which is located in the waters of
the sea near the shoreline and elevated from the
water by a number of major and minor posts, poles
and stilts. For Minangkabau (rumah), Rotinese (uma)
and Badjao (luma).
¨ BALAY – refer to a house (Isneg and Cebuano). In
Malay, balai signifies a “public meeting house”. In
Pacific (Fijian, vale; Samoan, fale; Hawaiian, hale).
House Terms (Robert Blust)
¨ LEPAW also refers to a house but assumes a variety
of meanings: a “storehouse for grain” (Ngaju,
lepau); a “hut other than a longhouse” (Uma Juman,
lepo); and a “back verandah or kitchen verandah
of a Malay house, booth or shop” (Malay, lepau). In
the Philippines, the Badjao word lepa denotes a
“long, slow-moving houseboat with no outrigger”;
the structure of which is loose and detachable, with
long poles attached in all directions as framework
over which a nipa roof may be unrolled.
House Terms (Robert Blust)
¨ KAMALIR is adapted in the Philippines as kamalig
or kamarin that generally refers to a “granary,
storehouse, or barn”, whereas in Oceanic language,
it denotes a special “men’s house”
¨ BANUA occurs in Malayo-Polynesian as “house”
(Toraja, banua; Banggai, bonua; Wolio, banua;
Molima, vanua; Wosi-Mana, wanua). Banua denotes
a territorial domain, such as “land, country, place,
settlement, inhabited territory, village”.
Ethnic and Regional Ethnic Houses
Lowland Vernacular Dwellings: Bahay Kubo
Mountain Houses
Coastal and Inland Dwellings
Bahay Kubo (Cube House)
¨ The word “bahay” evolved from the word “balai”, a
vernacular word for house. The word “kubo” as the
translation of the Spanish word “cubo” which
pertains to the cube – the height of the walls equals
its width.
¨ On the contrary:
¤ tagalog of “kobo” - mountain house
¤ Kapampangan “kubu”- hut, cabin, lodge
¤ Kapampangan “cuala” as tagalog of “dampa” – hut or
hovel – usually owned by peasant families.
Features of Bahay Kubo
¨ Often square or rectangular plan
¨ Medium to high-pitched roof
¨ Wide overhanging windows (awning type)
¨ Light walls above stilts
¨ Materials: grass hut, nipa, cogon, bamboo
¨ Built without nails: lashing of rattan or bamboo
strips were used nails (Lashing of rattan or bamboo
strip were used
Structural Elements
The Bahay Kubo stands on stilts 6’ to 14’ high above the
ground for reason of protection against dampness and
infestation of vermin and snakes.

¨ The first to be erected are the four main posts

¨ The post are inserted into deep holes on the ground dug at
3ft. deep
¨ To provide more stability to the posts, rocks are inserted
around the area where the end of the post lies or made to
rest on a flat slab
¨ Walls are made of nipa leaves or flattened split bamboo
and are woven in herringbone pattern forming the sawali
sliding
¨ Gililan – floor sills, are provided to support the walls
Bahay Kubo using nipa leaves as wall
 SAWALI
flattened split bamboo in herringbone pattern
Parts of Bahay Kubo:
¨ Silong – lower part of the house, used as an enclosure for
keeping domestic animals, and as storage for household
implements, goods, crops, and in some cases, as burial
ground for the dead.
¨ Bulwagan - reserved for entertaining guests
¨ Balkon – An open gallery at the front of the house, serves
as the anteroom or lounging area.
¨ Batalan – an open gallery at the rear of the house, for
keeping the banga (water jar) or for bathing.
¨ Paglutuan/Gilir – a kitchen behind the house near the
batalan, which has a separate roof and window with
bangguera, a hanging slatted rack of drying dishes and
kitchen utensils and dapogan/kalan – cooking apparatus.
¨ Silid/Tulugan - sleeping area
Other terms used in Bahay Kubo:
¨ Sagang – on top of a four-step stairs - a barrier to
prevent children from falling.
¨ Papag – built- in bed
¨ Dulang – low table
¨ Bangko – bench
¨ Sala – sala – bamboo latticework
¨ Silid or Kuwarto (room) where women of the house
could change clothes in private prior to Hispanization.
¨ Kamalig - a storage house detached from the house
where unhawled rice is kept.
Regional Ethnic Houses
To be continued…

Reference: Arkitekturang Filipino: A

History of Architecture and Urbanism in
the Philippines by Gerard Lico