Introduction To Philippine Architecture

INTRODUCTION TO
PHILIPPINE
ARCHITECTURE
AR124-1 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 4
AR. SHEILA V. ELARDO
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Cave Dwellings as the Early Human Shelter
◦ Pre-historic cave shelters were
the earliest form of human
habitation. The use of natural
caves predated the emergence
of Homo sapiens.
◦ In the Philippines, the earliest

dwellers of caves were the
Pleistocene people, offsprings
of the Ice Age who had come
on foot by way of land bridges
that emerged when the sea
subsided.
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◦ The most antiquated, and largest
cave is the Tabon Cave complex,
situated on Lipuun Point,
southwest of Palawan. It covers
138 hectares of rugged cliffs and
deep slopes.
◦ The cave’s portal is about sixteen
meters in width and eight meters
View of the site in Lipuun Point, Quezon, Palawan
in heights and extends to an
interior depth of forty one meters.
The cave was found to have been
suitable for human habitation.
◦ The cave was named “tabon”
after the large-footed bird that
lays egg in huge holes it digs into
cave floors, many of which have
been found in cave. One of the chambers of the Tabon Cave Complex Site
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◦ To this date, Tau’t Batu people
occupying the southern part of
Palawan continues the primeval
practice of living in caves.
◦ During the monsoon season,
members of this cultural group A Tau’t Batu family
can spend months living in the seat on a datag,
Ugpay Cave Palawan
caves of the Mantalingajan
mountain overlooking the valley
of Singnapan. A Tau’t Batu cave
may shelter more than one
family.
◦ DATAG is a basic sleeping
platform made from tree
branches and dried leaves and is
built inside the cave, raised
slightly above the ground, with a
fireplace in close proximity to
provide warmth during the night.
Mount Mantalingajan SVElardo
◦ The Tau’t Batu make
covered huts using light
materials within larger
caves.
◦ They believe that their

world is inhabited by a
vast population of
forest, rock, and water
spirits, with deities
responsible for the
different aspects of
nature.
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◦ The petroglyphs (prehistoric
drawings of human figures
engraved on the cave walls) in
a rock shelter in Angono, Rizal,
provide evidence of the ancient
Filipino’s attempt to embellish
in his space and domain with
symbolic values.
◦ The mountaintop citadels of Angono, Rizal Petroglyphs
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
planes of vertical walls.
Idjang rock-hewn fortressin the island
of Batanes SVElardo
Nomadism and Ephemeral Portable
Architecture
◦ Ephemeral 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.
◦ In the Philippines, the fundamental act of building was practiced by
nomads in the form of windbreak (lean-to), wind screen, or wind
shield. It was set-up for shelter before commencing a hunting or food-
gathering journey.
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◦ The lean-to is the early
dwelling of the Aeta and is still
very popular among Aeta
groups.
◦ The lean-to or pinanahang of
the Agta of Palanan is a
botanic shield against wind,
sun, and rai, built with strong
but light branches and palm
fronds.
◦ The lean-to of the Palanan
Agta is a transient shelter built
close to streams, coastlines, or
riverbanks during the dry
months.
Temporary settlement along the coast at Dimatog,

Palanan, May, 2005 SVElardo
◦ The Casiguran Dumagat live temporarily
in low, unwalled sheds, which have
floor spaces of more than 4.5 square
meters, while the Ebuked Agta of
northeastern Luzon build more spacious
and complex lean-tos than the
downriver Agta. Ebuked Agta of northeastern Luzon
◦ The dait-dait is the simple windscreen

used by the Mamanua of northeastern
Mindanao when hunting. It is made
from the leaves of wild banana, coconut
fronds, or grass and usually lashed
together with rattan.
◦ A typical hawong of the Pinatubo
Aeta has no living platform and
usually constructed with a ridegepole
supported by forked stakes or limbs.
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Arboreal Shelter:
Dwelling High on Trees
◦ Frenchman Paul de la Gironiere, also
in 1854, provides the earliest written
description of the tree house in the
Philippines. He observed that the
Tinguian had a separate daytime and
nocturnal abode.
◦ The day abode was a small hut of
bamboo and thatch built on the
ground, while the night abode, the
Tinguian tree dwellers circa 1899
alligang, was even smaller and rested
on a tree top, some eighteen to
twenty four meters from the ground,
as a safeguard from nightime
ambushes perpetuated by Guinana,
their tribal nemesis.
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◦ In the Philippine the tree houses is an old institution ,
built and used by the Gaddang and Kalinga of Luzon , the
Manobo and the Mandaya of Mindanao , and by the
Maranao of Lake Lanao, according to Alfred Louis Kroeber
(1928).
◦ Tree houses are usually found in areas where violent
intertribal conflicts and nocturnal raids are frequent.
Maranao Torogan house
Kalinga of Luzon SVElardo

◦ The tree houses of the Manobo of
southern Mindanao are made with
a rectangular frame, hipped roof
and paneled walls. The floors are
built with strong joists to form a
platform.
◦ The Mandaya of the Davao Gulf
region of southeast Mindanao
construct two types of arboreal
architecture: one simply rests on
the limbs of trees, its shape and
size adapting to the features of
the supporting branches; the
other, which is more predominant
and sturdily built, is constructed
on the stump of a large tree which
has been cut off some 4.5-6
meters above the ground.
Mandaya House SVElardo
◦ The Negritos are the first
inhabitants of the
Philippines and also built
tree houses.
◦ They first lived in the
tropical forests of the
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf0A7YqFPPs
Zambales province, near
Mt. Pinatubo.
◦ They built their houses on
trees that have little or no
lower branches , such as
the eucalyptus, some six to
ten meters above the
ground.
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Rice Terraces – The Prehistoric Megastructure
◦ The application of the techniques to mountainous terrain has
created a terraced landscape. These terraces provide habitats
modified by human kind.
◦ The network of rice terraces in the Cordilleras is a testament to
Philippine premodern engineering. Included in the UNESCo’ World
Heritage List, it is living proof of man’s genius at turning a rugged and
forbidding terrain into a continuing source of sustenance.
◦ Every terrace construction in the Cordillera Highlands contains three
basic elements: the terrace base, the embankment and the soil body.
Rice terrace of
Baloque Valley
in Cordillera
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◦ The stone walls,
canals, dams and
reservoirs of the
Cordillera can also be
considered as types
of megalithic
architecture, or of
stone engineering.
◦ Many of these walls
and canals are Cross-sectional components of a
thousands of years typical rice terrace in Banaue
old and have

withstood countless
typhoons and the
effects of sun, wind Profile of an
and time. Ifugao agricultural
terrace
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Reference: Arkitekturang Filipino , Gerard Lico.

Introduction To Philippine Architecture

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Introduction To Philippine Architecture

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INTRODUCTION TO

◦ In the Philippines, the earliest

◦ They believe that their

Savidug, Batanes, known as

Temporary settlement along the coast at Dimatog,

◦ The dait-dait is the simple windscreen

Maranao Torogan house

Kalinga of Luzon SVElardo

old and have

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