Philippine architecture covers a myriad of expressions, forms, types, styles, and periods.

Its primeval expression resided in nature for the early Filipinos who were defenseless before
the violence of wind and rain. The cave was a refuge and a place of dwelling.
 
For the most part the said shelter had always been there ready for use but it needed to be
reclaimed and made safe from predators. Constructing cave dwellings only required minimal
sight work and modification as the shelters took advantage of the structural properties of earth
or rock formation in the caverns.
 
The earliest dwellers of caves in the philippines were the pleistocene people offsprings of
the ice age; perhaps the largest cave dwelt in by prehistoric families periodically for 30 000
years is the tabon cave. Complex in southwest Palawan, it is 138 hectares of rugged cliffs and
deep slopes. The cliffs and slopes around the area are dotted with more than 200 caverns.
There are other examples of cave shelters and rock hewn architecture that were once inhabited
by early filipinos.
 
The petroglyphs in a rock shelter in Angono. Rizal provides evidence of the ancient
filipino's effort to embellish his habitation. The mountaintop citadels of savidug batanes known
as idjang is a testimony to the sophisticated defensive engineering of the early ivatan settlers
who carved the hard limestone formation to create vertical walls emerging from the caves our
ancestors initiated in the first architectural revolution. With the invention of stone tools for
cutting fabulous materials, plant stems and wood a fibro constructive technology, this
technology helped develop the temporary tent-like shelters made of wooden skeleton and
vegetative or animal skin.
 
In the philippines this fundamental act of building is epitomized by the lean-to windbreak
or the windscreen which is structurally anchored by a pole or stick at an angle on the ground
the lean too is the early dwelling of the ita this transient architecture is an inalienable aspect of
their nomadic lifestyle. 
 
Another architectural institution fashioned by nature is the arboreal shelter or the
treehouse. Treehouses are usually found in areas where violent intertribal conflict and
nocturnal raids are frequent; these houses are perched in the forked branches of trees 20 or 40
or even 60 feet above the ground to protect residents from animals and human enemies. 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. The amount of stones used by the ifugao in
constructing the system of stone walls, canals, dams, reservoirs of the terraces is estimated to
far exceed in bulk those used in building the pyramids or the great wall of China.
 
The terrace network spans the provinces of cordillera's mountain province including
ifugao and areas of abra the walls reach up to a height of 6 meters and in some cases 16 meters
configured in a range of shape and gradient every terrace construction in the ifugao highlands
contains three basic elements: terror space, the embankment, and the soil body. 
 
 The cultures of southeast asia are descended from a common ancestry based on affiliation
with the Austronesian family of language the Austronesian culture is characterized by a
worldview defined by a waterborne lifestyle which manifests itself in the vernacular
architecture. In the Philippines this architecture professes a strong allegiance to a greater
austronesian building heritage the archetypal austronesian house consists of an architectural
system of a raised wooden structure typically consisting of a rectangular structure elevated on
posts with a thatched pitch roof. These architectural features are contingent on a monsoonal
and aquatic-based way of life as settlement patterns have a direct connection to bodies of water
because water is a means of transportation communities were developed along sheltered bays,
coastal areas, and mouths of rivers. The features of austronation dwelling are best embodied by
the bahay kubo the term translates literally to cube house suggesting that the height of the wall
is equal to its width the house posts mark out an approximately square
interior space the linear dimension is three to four meters the house is constructed using
wooden structural components configured in the post and lintel framework supporting a steeply
pitched thatched roof. The dwelling is distinguished by a living floor raised on sturdy stilt
foundations with a voluminous well-ventilated roof cavity. Above providing a straightforward
solution to the environmental problems imposed by the humid tropical climate
with seasonal monsoon rains.
 
Pile foundations have several advantages in a tropical climate. Piles raise the living floor
above the mud and flood waters which occur during seasonal monsoon rains while providing
excellent underfloor ventilation. In hot weather the underfloor space known as silong is often
used for storage or as a corral for domestic animals. It can also provide a shaded daytime
workspace for tasks such as weaving and basketry. In many areas house posts simply rest on
top of foundation stones rather than being driven directly into the ground. This ensures that the
building has enough flexibility to survive earthquakes in this seismically active region at the
same time should one wish to move house the entire structure can literally be picked up and
carried to a new site until recently these houses were constructed. Entirely of botanic building
materials timber, bamboo, thatch, and fibers assembled without the use of nails. 
 
A quintessential method of construction is exemplified by vertical house posts and
horizontal tie beams that provide a load-bearing structure to which floors, walls, and roof are
later attached. The main framework, usually a box frame, is fabricated. Using sophisticated
jointing techniques while the walls roof and other non-load bearing elements are typically
secured by wooden pegs and vegetative fiber lashing. The frame is usually first put together on
the ground and then taken apart to be reassembled again in a place on top of the posts. The
walls of vernacular structures are made of light windscreen which provides protection from the
elements and secures privacy for the residents. The walls may consist of matting palm leaves
folded round a lath and stitched together with a strip of
rattan flattened or plated bamboo panels as well as wooden boards and panels depending on the
use and status
of the building.
 
In the bahay kubo wall sidings may be of nipa or sawali the sawali uses bamboo that has
been split flattened and cut into strips that are woven together in herringbone design which
makes the house like a basket windows of the awning type have nipa or palm window lid that
can either slide from side to side or be pushed out by a pole there are usually no ceilings or
room divisions. Sawali walls may divide the interior space into rooms with open doorways
internally the raised floor consists of the most essential compartments a single multi-functional
space whose use transforms throughout the day to fit the daily routine of the household or a
two to three unit quarter consisting of a living and sleeping area, a kitchen, or storage room and
an open gallery at the front or rear of the house called balcon or batalan respectively. The
gallery serves as an anti-room or lounging area when located at the rear it is used for keeping
water jars or used as a place for bathing as the household members increase or when the family
ascends the social ladder extensions are added to the basic form of the house behind the house
near the batalan is a kitchen which has a separate roof and window with a hanging slatted rack
called bangera for drying dishes and kitchen utensils; the liquid kitchen slope is poured through
the interstices of the split bamboo lath floor.
 
The most distinctive feature of the austronesian vernacular architectural form is the
extended line of the roof, often with outward sloping gables forming elegant saddleback curves
although philippine vernacular houses. Generally lack the graceful curve characteristic of the
saddleback roofs of the architecture of the minangkabau in sumatra their hip roofs are closely
related to the saddleback type as in most southeast asia the roof is the dominant architectural
feature of most dwellings. In some cases the house is mostly a roof as seen in the pyramidal
roof of an ifugao dwelling and an older bahay kubo.
 
Vernacular dwellings are thatched, a generic name for any roof covering made of dead
plant material, other than wood, grasses, and palm leaves are the most widely used traditional
materials. Despite its combustibility thatch is watertight and may last more than a century
when effectively laid out, so that water runs off the entire
surface consistently cross gable finials which hold the rafters together. At the ridge are an ever-
present feature of southeast asian roofs the ornamented ones are made by crossed poles that
meet at the apex of the roof. Although the tausug sullan roof is decorated at either end of the
house by a horn or crescent-shaped roof. Tajuk pasong which is usually a stylized manuk
manuk or bird or naga or dragon design with swirling fern-like ukil carving. Naga sanskrit for
serpent represents the austronesian cosmological model in many philippine islamic artifacts as
well as the universality of water in the daily life of asia pacific.
 
In the monsoon beaten botanist islands the dwellings are designed and built not only to
withstand the battering of the most severe of storms sea sprays gusts and rains. They are also
built to overcome devastating earthquakes with knowledge of processing lime for building the
ivatans are able to construct their more familiar houses. Made of stone and mortar known as
calicanto the most common type is a one-story house with a partially submerged basement
used as storage referred to as sinadumparan or maituab depending on the roof configuration.
Two-story houses are called raku. Very thick stone and lime masonry are topped with gable or
hip roof, an elaborately crafted truss system with a combination of bamboo, reed, rattan, and
kogan roof. Cover wooden post and lintel frameworks are implanted in the walls a meter thick
cogon thatch sharply slopes down and is heavily fastened onto a ceiling. The fourth
windowless wall faces the direction of the strongest typhoon winds as the house is oriented
north south. A big roof called panpe made of strong ropes fastened securely to the ground via
strong pigs or large stone anchors is thrown over the entire roof during typhoons in the
altitudes of the mountain province. The vernacular houses although varying in size and shape
were designed primarily to shield the
cold weather. 
 
William Henry Scott classifies houses in these highland regions into the northern and
southern strains; the northern strain consists of houses made by the ismeg and kalinga while the
southern strains are houses constructed by the ifugao, bontok, ibaloi. Houses of the northern
strain are characterized by a rectangular plan covered by a high gable roof. The roof framing is
independent of the floor framework and the floor and all of its legs can be removed leaving the
roof still upright or vice versa an example is the snag house called binuron With its floor and
roof supported by completely different sets of posts the squarish house elongates into a
rectangle with a roof that is bowed into the shape of a boat turned upside down the adoption of
boat architecture in the design of the house may be attributed to the fact that the snake's domain
is the only region. In the cordillera with a navigable river and a boat building tradition the
kalinga construct octagonal houses having three divided floorings the center being the lowest.
 
The kalinga dwelling is the only Philippine vernacular form that assumes an eight-sided
plan. Generally the cordillera houses at the southern strain have square plans with either a
pyramidal or conical roof resting on the top of the walls of the house. The house is a box
supported by posts reaching no higher than the floor joint. The windowless ifugao house or fale
for instance appears to be a pyramid of thatch resting on four posts. The infergal house is in
fact a three level structure. The first level consists of the stone pavement whose perimeter
coincides with the edge of the eaves, posts, and girders a wooden cylindrical disk the halipan
or rat guard is fitted on each of the four posts rising 1.2 to 1.8 meters from the ground. The
second level is the house cage consisting of the room frame walls and floor and encloses a
floor area of about 12 to 15 square meters, the interior walls inclined to give a spherical
dimension inside. The pyramidal roof protected with layers of thatch constitutes the third level
the ifugao process of house building may take as long as two years the house mostly of hand-
tuned wood may be assembled and dismantled
within a day.
 
Islam was established in sulu in the 14th century and in the rest of mindanao in the 15th
century being a religion based on congregational worship, it required a permanent and separate
architecture. Two types of mosques developed in the Philippines: the masjid and the smaller
langal in Tausug and Yacon or Rangar. The masjid is associated with any place of worship that
includes a bulbous dome and a minaret as an architectural element unlike the langal it is a
larger and more permanent structure built on stone foundations often to be found near a river or
a body of water where the faithful perform rituals of ablution. On the other hand the landal
which means to meet refers to a small prayer house built with light and semi-permanent
materials. The langal is found mostly in rural areas for the convenience of the worshipers who
live far from the Masjid. The masjid was originally a multi-tiered bamboo or wooden structure
reminiscent of the chinese pagoda or the javanese temple with a roof consisting of three
ascending layers of flared pyramidal roofs separated by gaps to allow direct air and light into
the building. The oldest standing mosque in the Philippines found in Indonesia island Tawi
Tawi is a prototype of the multi-layered roof of the pagoda style mosque with a square plan
this mosque built in 1380 under the auspices of sheikh karim ul mahdum has undergone several
reconstructions only the huge e-pill posts remain from the original structure later mosques were
rendered in a style approximating middle eastern models. This mosque style built of reinforced
concrete features an onion-shaped dome on squinches and tall minarets Arabic geometric
designs and quranic inscription have replaced the traditional okir designs in some mosques.
The golden mosque in Quiapo Manila notable for its gilded dome combines modern mosque
design with stylized and colorful Maranao okir patterns and like all mosques is oriented
towards mecca. The geographic features of sulu and mindanao have encouraged both terrestrial
and naval architecture.The houses in different muslim societies in southern Philippines are
categorized into three land-based stilted dwellings situated along the shoreline oceanic stilt
dwellings. 
 
Built completely over the sea and entirely detached from the shoreline and the houseboat
which is both home and fishing boat. Samal houses are supported by piles driven deep enough
for structural anchorage into the reef floor. The houses are linked together to the shore and to
one another by a network of catwalks and bridges of timber and split bamboo. The elevation of
the house must depend on the maximum high tide level in order to allow the storage of the
outrigger boat underneath the house when not in use. For the Tausugs the construction of the
house entails the reenactment of their genesis myth the erection of nine posts is sequenced
according to the order of how the human body was supposedly created. The post at the center
representing the navel is the first to be erected while the other eight posts that represent parts of
the human anatomy are placed on the perimeter within a specific orientation adherence to such
sequence are believed to guarantee the sturdiness of the house and the safety of its occupants.
The tausug house or the baisinoog is a single room partitionless structure equipped with a
porch and a separate kitchen. A distinguishing feature of the house is the carved wooden finials
placed at one or both ends of the ridge of the gable or hipped roof.
 
The jagran house called luma is a rectangular ridge roofed single room pile structure
raised two meters from the ground. The luma has three parts the kokan or tindakan the main
house, the kusina or kitchen, and the pantan or simpay or porch. The steep pitch roof sapio is
concave and is thatched with either gogun or nipah by tradition. The badjaos are maritime
wanderers constantly roving across the channels of Tawi Tawi in groups aboard their
houseboats although some have opted to settle on land and use their boats only for fishing; a
houseboat has a lifespan of 10 to 15 years. Structurally a single beam forms the bottom and
wooden boards form the body the interior of the houseboat is divided into three major zones:
for sleeping, cooking, and fishing tools. The boat is balanced by an outrigger or katig which is
anchored to the main structure by a bow-like wooden frame called batangan. With the death of
the family head the boat is transformed into a coffin.
 
The most prominent of the maranao architecture is the torogan. The ornate ancestral
residence of the dhatu and his extended family, literally a place for sleeping. The torogen is
raised 2 meters above the ground by posts numbering as many as 25 some of which are non-
load-bearing at the facade huge tree trunks are used as posts since the land is prone to
earthquake the timber posts are not buried into the ground but stood on rounded boulders
which act as rollers that allow the structure to sway with the earth's movements. Furthermore
these boulders prevent direct contact of the post with a ground preventing the wood from
rotting or being attacked by termites. The posts at the facade are usually carved and decorated
with okir motifs and occasionally contoured like chess pieces. The noticeable external feature
of the Torogan is the decorative panolong, a wing-like triangular house beam elaborated by
pako rabong or fern designs or naga motif evoking. The buoyant appearance of a royal vessel
the motifs are chiseled in high relief and painted with bright hues. The side strips, facade
panels, and window frames are lavished in the same fashion.
 
Another example of a communal architecture is the T'boli gunu bong found in the lake
Cebu area of South Cotabato. Like the maranao torogan it is home to an extended family
averaging between 8 to 16 persons. Bamboo stilts or timber poles support the house two meters
from the ground with additional poles on the sides to keep it stable. Tree stumps are also used
as post for the inner portion of the house these are laid out on a rectangular
plan approximately 14 meters long by eight to nine meters wide. The lower central space is
thus integrated with the elevated side areas. The area of honor, the sleeping areas and the
vestibule of the gunu bong is capped by a thatched gable roof which is not very steep.
 
Vernacular architecture is a broad category denoting indigenous ethnic or traditional
architecture. Majority of vernacular built forms are dwellings whether permanent or makeshift
constructed by their owners. By communities or by local craftsmen granaries, fortifications,
places of worship, ephemeral and portable structures, and contemporary. Urban shanties all
belong to the vernacular lineage undeniably the vernacular architectural tradition is an
omnipresent building practice in the country and remains an accessible architectural idiom to
the majority of Filipinos.