Bahay Kubo, Nipa Hut, Nipa House

The structure was usually four-walled with tukod windows which had swinging
shades,which could be propped open during the day.
There was usually one simple multi-use space on the interior. This openinterior again
provided ventilation, but also gave the simple dwelling aspacious feel. This space could
be used for cooking, eating, and sleeping.
Sometimes the cooking was done over an open fire built on the heap of earth in one
corner or partitioned off in a space in front of the ladder.
Sometimes, there was an open front porch, pantaw or batalan, where jars of water
would be kept to wash dishes. This gallery also served as an anteroomor lounging area.
The structure could easily be added to, should the needarise.
•Steeply sloping pitch protects it from the wind and rain in typhoon season and also
providedwide overhang eaves to shade from the hot sun.
•Elevated 3 to 4 meters off the ground, supported by 4 or more wood or bamboo posts.
•Space underneath the house, called the
Silong can also serve as a workspace, a storage space, granary, pen for livestock and
also aids in air circulation beneath the house. In addition,the raised structure sits out of
the floods, and also keeps small rodents and other creaturesfrom entering the main
structure.
A ladder (hagdan) is used to enter the main structure. It could be drawn up at night or
when the owners went out.

Jesuit Antonio Sedeno introduced stone and masonry construction.

Implementation of the hybrid type of construction called arquitectura meztiza:
– wood in the upper floor and stone in the lower floor;

– house posts or haligues supported the second floor;

– stone floors at the ground floor acted as a solid curtain concealing the wooden
framework within, and;

– wooden pegs and dovetailed joints connected the wooden structural system together.
The bahay na bato, typically two stories with the ground level made of massive cut
stone or brick walls and the upper level built of hardwood, emerged from the 17th to the
19th centuries.
The last quarter of the 19th century witnessed the rise of accessoria (apartment
dwellings), single or two-stories high and having multiple units called viviendas.
School buildings surfaced: the colegio or universidad (urban areas) and the escuela
primaria (pueblos), a cluster of multi-storey buildings in rectangular configuration with a
central courtyard.
The leading-edge technology available at that time was employed to build ports, roads,
bridges, lighthouses, waterways, piped water systems, railways and street-car systems.