BARCELONA, DIANNE S. AR. SARAH JANE S.

PAHIMNAYAN
BS ARCHITECTURE 3-2 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IV

Activity 06: Heritage Tour

To start of, Vernacular Architecture is integrated by its reliance on needs, constructional

materials and traditions specific to a particular locality. It is a kind of Architecture that is indigenous
to a specific time and place, not a replica from elsewhere. It normally derived from the skills and
expertise of local builders as compared to practiced and renowned architects in our modern times.
Since due to the pandemic limit, I was able to conduct a thorough research of one of the famous
vernacular architecture in the Philippines.

I was able to broaden my knowledge on the keen details involving the Ivatan House starting
from knowing the primary materials used which includes lime, stone, wood and thatch. Like other
structures, Ivatan houses’ purpose for construction is to withstand rough and unpredictable climate of
the northern parts of the Philippines. As the design progresses overtime, Ivatan houses were able to
cope up and adapt to severe climatic conditions. It was then enhanced by rich cultural diversity of
Batanes Province. Up until this day, Batanes islands are inhabited by indigenous people called Ivatans
who are well aware of their unique traditions providing special quality a key for living in a successful
cultural community.

Usually, the houses of Batanes are low, with their heavy stone walls covered with thick
thatched roofs that is only unique to Batanes and cannot be found in any other parts of the Philippines.
They are shaped in response to harsh and extreme conditions of a region like that of earthquakes, hot-
humid summer months, monsoon rains, and severe typhoons. Unwanted weather conditions and the
distance that isolate the islands most of the year leads to the preservation of many of this historic folk
architecture.

I found out that the composition of the Ivatan as a heritage house is not just one single
structure. Uniquely it is made up of at least two separate buildings; the main house and the kitchen.
For others instances, a third portion of structure serving as storage or shed can also exist. It is also an
eye opener for me that Ivatan houses is classified under ethnic architecture in which it is studied in
relation to the natural and social environment of the native community, their construction materials
and techniques that formed a distinct architectural form of the location. The Ivatan houses are
knowingly made of natural materials such as wood, stone, vegetation, and sometimes mud. These
ethnic houses are in modest proportion, normally used as primarily shelter. The inhabitants or people
normally stayed outdoors for work under shelters or lean-to roofs or just working in the fields.
BARCELONA, DIANNE S. AR. SARAH JANE S. PAHIMNAYAN
BS ARCHITECTURE 3-2 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IV

To give you a rundown, the traditional Ivatan heritage is a product of integrated design from
the wood and thatch archetype into the more popular lime-Stonewood-and-thatch archetype. The
transformation took place because of different factors such as adapting to the environment in line with
topography, typhoons and earthquakes; availability of materials; inherent technology of the
indigenous people and influences brought in by various colonizers that asserted their presence in the
province. I can say that our ancestors did a remarkable job in terms of the creation of the Ivatan
Architecture. It is true that design progresses overtime until it is refined and integrated, that is why
their works and discovery towards how a structure should be built and the materials it is made of
served its purpose as a stepping-stone for modern generation use. We come up with design solutions
that eases problems and concerns that arises from climatic effect. We know for sure that by knowing
what lies within Vernacular Architecture we can preserve the knowledge and its existence, a key for a
greater built-in environment.