Philippine Architecture

Geographical Influence

7,641 Islands
Geological Influence

• Wood, grasses & seashells are favorite Philippine building

materials.
• Timber & mineral resources are abundant in the country.
• Mineral resources include copper, gold, chromite, lead, nickel,
manganese, platinum & uranium.
• Timber sources include narra, molave, yakal, dao, Benguet pine,
guijo, ipil, tanguile, apitong, palosapis, red & white lawan,
tindalo, kamagong & almon.
• Indigenous materials used for construction include coco lumber,
rattan & bamboo. Bamboo & capiz shells are the most common
materials of rural Philippine architecture.
Climatic Influence

• The Philippines, being in the tropics, are warm

throughout most of the year.
• There are 3 seasons:
• dry & hot season from March to June
• wet & rainy season from July to November
• dry, cold & mild climate from December to February
Religious Influence
• 93% of Filipinos are catholic (christian)
• The rest believe in other religion/religious sects
such as Protestantism (introduced by the
Americans in 1893), Mohammedanism
(Islam/Muslim), Iglesia ni Cristo, etc.
• Ancient Filipinos believed in Animoderism, whose
beliefs include:
• Anitos – belief in the dead
• Bathala – supreme God, Aba Visaya
• Kapitan – power to raise the dead to life
• Sumpay – God of the underworld
• Barangaw – Goddess of rain
Religious Influence
There were also beliefs of the ancestors which states the lucky
& unlucky days for a person. Lucky day includes Easter Sunday
while unlucky days include:
• January – 1, 3, 4, 28 & 29
• February – 2, 4, 5, 17 & 29
• March – 2, 3, 8, 9 & 10
• April – 2, 6 & 25
• May – 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 13, 18 & 20
• June – 3, 5, 16, 19, 1, 24 & 30
• July – 4, 12, 15, 19 & 26
• August – 6, 9, 10, 19, 26 & 31
• September – 3, 12, 20, 21 & 29
• October – 3, 12, 20, 21 & 29
• November – 1, 2, 11, 23 & 28
• December – 5, 8, 16, 20, 24 & 25
Religious Influence
• March, April & May will not make harmony to the marriage. Months
with letter “R” are unlucky.
• Balete, Kanaway & Bago are known to be inhabited by encantos &
babaylan.
• Other beliefs:
Bukidnon – with site food offering where tuba, chicken & nganga
are placed on top of bamboo platform

Mindanao – (among the Manobos) ritual where chicken blood is

poured upon the foundation, flooring & roof; coins for good fortune
Filipino
Architects
LEADING FILIPINO MAESTROS DE OBRAS

• “JUAN” ARELLANO
• Most prolific artist-designer
• Buildings:
• Legislative building, major
work
• Post Office building
• Metropolitan Theatre
• Rizal Memorial Stadium
• Benitez Hall (UP)
• Malcolm Hall (UP)
• First Filipino architect
with academic degree
abroad (Pennsylvania)
• Pioneering Staff of
“Division of
Architecture”
 • Antonio Toledo

• Master of Neoclassicist style

• Among the first architect-
educators
• Assistant to William Parsons
Buildings:
o Cebu Custom House
o National Museum Building
o City Hall of Manila
• Tomas Mapua
First registered architect in the
Philippines

Established M.I.T. – first

architectural school in the
Philippines
Buildings:
oDe La Salle School
oCentro Escolar University
oNurse’s Home
THE SECOND GENERATION
ARCHITECTS (with Foreign Education)
•JUAN NAKPIL
1st National Artist of Architecture

Buildings:
oGeronimo Reyes Building
oCapitol Theatre
oRizal theatre
oManila Jockey Club
oQuezon Institue
oUP administration building
(Quezon Hall)
oLibrary Building (Gonzales Hall)
oSSS (use of folded concrete plates
as aesthetic features)
2nd National Artist of Architecture

Buildings:
oBel-Air Alhambra Apartments
oSyquia Apartments
oSea Tower apartments
oFar Eastern University Building
oIdeal Theatre
oLyric Theatre
oMay building (brise soleil)
•LEANDRO LOCSIN
3RD National artist for architecture

Buildings:
oThe Church of Holy Sacrifice (UP) – 1st
project of L.Locsin
oMonterey Apartments, Ayala Avenue
oSt. Andrew’s Church
oCultural Center of the Philippines (CCP)
oPhilippine International Convention
Center (PICC)
oPhilippine Pavilion at “1970” World
Exposition
oMakati Stock Exchange
oPhilippine Stock Exchange
oPhilippine Plaza Hotel
oManila International Airport
oNew Istana, Brunei
Pre-Spanish Era
• Caves and rock shelters like the Tabon Cave in Palawan
served as shelter for early Filipinos;
• during this period Filipinos established their villages near
bodies of water where mostly food was taken from the
sea, also from agricultural environment. In both
environment houses were not built permanently &
therefore light & flexible materials were used like nipa,
bamboo, cogon & timber.
• Traditionally, many settlements stretch along a coast or a
river to make it easy for house-dwellers to wash their
clothes, bathe, fish & visit other villages via the
waterways. The houses themselves are frame
constructions where the floor is suspended over the
ground as a precaution against floods, the humid ground
& predators.
Primitive Houses:
• Cave – ex. Tabon Cave, Palawan - largest & oldest cave dwelling; located on Lipuun
Point, Quezon, Palawan; 138-hectares of rugged cliffs and deep slopes; discovered by an
American, the late Dr. Robert B. Fox and his team of Archaeologist from the
National Museum in 1962; The cave was named Tabon after the large-footed
bird that lays eggs in huge holes it digs into cave floors, many of which have
been found in the cave.
Primitive Houses:

Tree Houses – used by the Gadangs

of Kalinga, Luzon’ Manobos &
Mandayas, Mindanao; Moraos of
lake Lanao; Negritos, Bukidnon,
North Cotabato; Bagobos, Gulf of
Davao.
Primitive Houses:
• Lean-to type – consisted of a simple,
single-pitched roof resting on an
inclined series of rafters made up of
tree branches with the end resting on
the ground & the other end resting
on horizontal wooden lintel
supported by tree trunks & roofed
with grass. Used by Negritos, Aetas &
dumagats known as Bungaran.
Ethnic Houses:
• Bahay Kubo (Nipa Hut)
• square or rectangular in plan
• single room house supported by stilts or posts with walls made-
up of nipa
• flooring made up of sawali & stairs made up of polished bamboo
ladder.
• Wide overhanging windows (awning type) were made of sawali.
• Floorings made of bamboo slats with spaces in between to
provide natural ventilation.
• Built without nails, instead lashing of rattan or bamboo strip
were used.
• It is built from 2 – 4.5 meters above the ground.
• Used by people at the lowlands in all parts of the country.
• Special features are banguera (bangahan/bangerahan) & poultry
sheds.
• Typical parts of a Bahay Kubo:
• Bulwagan – living room, receiving area with a low table called
“dulang”
• Silid – sleeping area with “papag” or bamboo bed & “tampipi” instead
of closets
• Silong – where farm & fishing tools, pestles, pigs & cattles are kept
• Kamalig –storage house detached from the house where unhawled
rice is kept
• Gilir or Paglutuan – kitchen area containing the ff:

• Dagopan or kalan – cooking apparatus with a shoe shape stove

• Bangahan or banggera – place where pots are kept; rack for drying
utensils
• Batalan – an exposed porch where child-size jars are kept &
washing, drinking & bathing took place
• Paminggalan – cabinet with slatted bamboo doors for food & utensils
Ethnic Houses:
• Ifugao House (Bale)
• an enclosed structure w/o windows resting on 4 tree trunks as columns.
• Square in plan, covered by 4 steeply pitched roof made of thatch.
• A stair which can be drawn & kept from the ground for protection.
• The floor height is about 1.50 – 2 meters.
• Can be found in the mountains of Cordillera.
• Special feature is the halipan – circular disc like feature found on the posts used to keep rats
from entering the hut
Ethnic Houses:
Maranao House (Datu House / Torogan)
• royal house rectangular in plan, built on stilts
above the water, used for political & social
ceremonies by the Datu, also an ancestral house
for the Datu & his family.
• It is built from 0.30 – 2.20 meters above the
ground.
• Located in the lakeshore of Mindanao.
• Most important features are the panolong, wood
carvings on the form of snake-like dragon & the
use of colors red, yellow & blue.
Architectural Characteristics
• The window of the torogan are slits and richly
framed in wood panels with okir designs located in
front of the house.
• The communal kitchen is half a meter lower than
the main house is both used for cooking and eating
• The distinct high gable roof of the the torogan, thin
at the apex and gracefully flaring out to the eaves,
sits on a huge structures enclosed by slabs of
timber and lifted more than two meters above the
ground by a huge trunk of a tree that was set on a
rock.
• Other terms:
• Bilik – emergency hideout located behind the headboard of the sultan’s bed
• Torogan – royal house with features: roof covered with thick cogon grass & framing
made of rattan & bamboo
• Lamin – tower atop the torogan where the princess & her ladies – in waiting hide
during the occasions
• Walay – ordinary Maranao House
• Panolong – ornamental carved beam ends jutting from under the flooring
• Magoyoda – combination of dragon & plant motifs
• Pako Robong – intricate design inside of maranao architecture
• Sarimanok – cock of art
• Okir – ornamental design for both scroll & geometric forms
• Okir A Datu – scroll, gentlemen’s design
• Okir A Bai – geometric forms, ladies’ design
• Naga – serpent-like design in floral design
• Birdo – motif of growing vine, crowing plant in horizontal movement
Ethnic Houses:
• Ancient Malay Tagala House – rectangular in plan, raised on wooden post about
2 m above the ground with an open roofless veranda extended from the whole
front of the house. With low partitions, projected windows & bamboo slats for
flooring.
Ethnic Houses:
• Indonesian House – tree dwelling type of shelter, square in plan supported by 4
wooden posts & capped with a rounded, pyramidal thatch roof. It sunk 1 m into
the ground.
Ethnic Houses:
• Badjao House
• built on stilts right above the water.
• Its flooring is made of bamboo.
• One important item found in the sala is the mirror not to
check the appearance but to indicate the number of
children the family has & to drive away evil spirits.
• Djenging – storage / sleeping area
Ethnic Houses:
• Bontoc House (Fayu)
Ethnic Houses:
• Tausug House (Bay-sinug) – meaning bay house; “people of the sea”
• One of the largest ethnic group in the southwestern Philippines. They live
primarily in the Sulu Archipelago, it is located in the southwest island of
Mindanao.
• house with 9 posts & walls made of bamboo
• without divisions on the interior
• a gabled roof & larger slit windows characterize the present day Tausug
house
Ethnic Houses:
• Apayao House (Binuron/Isneg) – what makes its roof unique is the layer on layer
of bamboo shingles
Ethnic Houses:
T’boli House (Cotabato)
• Lowa – sleeping area
• Blaba – side area for conversations
• Desyung – area for entertaining guest
• Dofil – sleeping quarters for wives & children of the headman
• Fato-Hu – utility area
• Kotel - toilet