COASTAL COMMUNITIES

Austronesian Building Heritage

and the Aquatic Cultural
Network of Asia-Pacific
Notwithstanding regional variations
in form, style, and construction
technologies, a shared architectural
theme and common design principle
can be discerned in vernacular
architecture in the Philippines.
These correspondences can be
traced from ancient Austronesian
building tradition, which can be
found throughout most of the
islands Southeast Asia and the
shorelines of Asia Pacific.
The archetypal Austronesian
house consists of a pile
construction on stilt, raised living
floor and a pitch roof with
extended ridges. Variants on
these general architectural
themes occur throughout the
archipelago attesting to gradual
diffusion of this ancient
architectural tradition from a
common point of cultural origin.
These common architectural features are contingent to monsoonal and aquatic-based way of
life as settlement patterns have a direct connection to bodies of water. Communities were
situated along sheltered bays, coastal areas, and mouths of rivers. Interior settlements were
established at the headwaters and banks of rivers and their tributaries. In the Philippines, this
type of settlement could be found in Cebu, Leyte, Bohol, Panay, Cagayan, Agusan, Lanao,
Manila and others.
The water was a major
source of food like fish,
shrimp, and shellfish, which
were easily harvested
around the communities.
Transportation on and along
the rivers and streams was
also practical. Much more,
rice cultures in these places
where wetlands prevailed
also conditioned the house
types to be raised on stilts.
The term Austronesian refers to a
family of languages, believed to
have originated in Taiwan some
6,000 years ago, numbering some
1,000 to 1,200 languages spoken
in the vast geographical area
between Madagascar, Taiwan,
Hawaii, Easter Island and New
Zealand. Although many peoples
constitute this widely scattered
language group, their common
cultural background can still be
perceived. In addition to linguistic
affiliation, distinctive attributes,
defined by a world-view linked to
an aquatic-based view of life, and
translated into architectural
terms, are found throughout the
Austronesian region.
The Great Austronesian
Expansion
The great migration of Austronesian
peoples from riverine areas of southern
China commenced some 6,000 years ago
and culminated in the eventual dispersal of
Austronesian speakers half-way around the
globe by about AD 500. This movement can
be reconstructed chronologically from
archaeological and linguistic sources. These
sources suggest that Taiwan was settled
around 4000 BC.
From Taiwan the Austronesian seem to have spread south into the Philippines via Batanes
about 3000 BC and Borneo, Sulawesi and eastern Indonesia a thousand years later. The
colonization of Oceania to the east did not begin until after 2000 BC and the Malay Peninsula
and Vietnam were colonized by the Austronesians sometime after 1000 BC. Madagascar was
not reached until about 400 AD. At roughly the same time New Zealand was colonized from
Tahiti by other Austronesian speaking peoples.
The Austronesian expansion
required a sophisticated
system of open sea
navigation which differed
greatly from sailing along the
coastline or to visible
landmarks. Not only were
sturdy oceanic vessels
needed, but a system of
orientation, dead reckoning,
position-fixing and detection
of landfall and weather
prediction had been
developed.
Buckminster Fuller, the developer of “Synergism” and theorist on the development of technology, believed that a
combination of population pressures and the submergence of the Southeast Asian landmass caused the rise of
nautical and other technologies in Austronesia. He gave examples of the circular weaves used in Southeast Asia and
the Pacific comparing them to the unstable grid pattern weaves used in most of the rest of the world, as an example
of how the need to build stable blue-water ship designs indirectly influence other areas of life. Thai architect Sumet
Jumsai, extending Fuller’s work, compared Southeast Asian architectural designs with ship architecture showing the
same relationship of concept.
The logistics of
aquatic living were
developed as a
result of water-
borne migration,
leading to the
conception of a set
of symbols, rituals,
nautical technology,
and architectural
and urban models
which are specific to
the region.
Historical linguistics, as much as
archaeology, provides crucial evidence in
the search for the origins of
Austronesians and their architecture, and
tentative reconstructions of Proto-
Malayo-Polynesian include terms for the
house post and notched ladder, pointing
to the ancient origins of this construction
technique. A range of similarities exists in
Austronesian cultural tradition which
draws attention to terms that are
associated with the house. These
similarities may be ascribed to cultural
borrowings, especially among
neighboring populations.
Linguist Robert Blust has studied extensively the Austronesian house and
the principal elements of its design to map out the Austronesian cultural
history. He collated a list of principal terms that denote or relate to the
“house” among the different linguistic subgroups of Austronesians and
subject these terms to a detailed scrutiny. The lexically reconstructed
forms of these various house terms are: (1) rumaq ; (2) balay ; (3) lepaw ;
(4) kamalir ; and (5) banua .
The term rumaq is the most widely distributed term
for “house,” which is included in the Iban, Gerai, and
Minangkabau ( rumah ), and Rotinese ( uma )
vocabulary. The similar form is used to designate the
Badjao stilt house ( luma ) that is located in the
waters of the sea near the shoreline and elevated
from the water by a number of major and minor
posts, poles and stilts.
Balay takes a variety of form in the
Malayo-Polynesian and Oceanic
languages. In the Philippines, reflexes of
this term (Isneg, baláy ; Cebuano, baláy )
refer to a “house” while in Malay
languages, the term balai signify a
“public meeting house.” In the Pacific,
the reflexes of balay denotes the same
meaning as they do in the Philippines
(Fijian, vale ; Samoan, fale ; Hawaiian,
hale ).
The third term lepaw also refers to a house but assumes a variety of meanings: a
“storehouse for grain” (Ngaju, lepau ); a “hut other than the longhouse” (Uma
Juman, lêpo ); and a “back verandah or kitchen verandah of a Malay house, booth or
shop” (Malay, lepau ). In the Philippines, the Badjao word lepa denotes a “long, slow-
moving houseboat with no outrigger”; the structure of which is loose and
detachable, with long poles attached in all directions as a framework over which a
nipa roof may be unrolled.
The house term kamalir is adapted in the
Philippines as kamalig or kamarin that
generally refer to a “granary, storehouse, or
barn” whereas in Oceanic language it demotes
a special “men’s house.” Finally, the term
banua occurs in the Malayo Polynesian
vocabulary in reference to the “house”
(Toraja, banua ; Banggai, bonua ; Wolio, banua
; Molima, vanua ; Wosi-Mana, wanua ). Far
more often reflexes of banua denote a
territorial domain such as “land, country,
place, settlement, inhabited territory, village.”
 Naga, an Austronesian
Water Symbol
The naga , Sanskrit for serpent, represents the
cosmological model’s waveform, as well as the
universality of water in the daily life of
Southeast Asia. The said creature is aquatic in
character, but also appears in hybrids. The
Thai sang is a cross between a snake and a
lion, and the Chinese and Japanese dragon is a
flying amphibian. However the basic forms are
primarily wave-like in nature, as seen in
architectural ornamentation and building
motif, where the naga is best exhibited in its
water element.
Naga, an Austronesian
Water Symbol
In the Pacific region the serpentine coil has
been used in house carving and in boat
motifs since prehistoric times. In these
cultural representations, the coils turn in
both directions reminding one of the
Coriolis effect whereby winds and ocean
currents tend to whirl clockwise and
counter-clockwise north and south of the
Equator, respectively (Jumsai1988, 20).
This phenomenon stimulated on the Asian
waterfronts a host of interpretations in
terms of urban planning and architecture
and in almost every art form and ritual,
both sacred and profane.
 Naga, an Austronesian
Water Symbol
The naga motif predominates artifacts
such as Islamic carvings in boats,
musical instruments, grave markers,
protruding beam ends, and design
patterns found in woven textiles and
wall ornaments, produced by Maranao,
Samal, Tausug, other Philippine Islamic
groups. The magoyada is a Maranao
okir motif featuring the naga or serpent
figure combined with other leaf or plant
motifs.
Stilt Houses –An Austronesian
Legacy
The architectural system that
predominate the Austronesian
region is that of a raised wooden
structure typically consisting of a
rectangular structure, elevated on
posts, with a thatched roof and
decorative gable-finials shaped like
carabao horns. Buildings with pile
or stilt foundations are a pervasive
feature not only in mainland and
island Southeast Asia, but also in
parts of Micronesia and Melanesia.
The occurrence of this type of
structure, along with other
characteristically Austronesian
features, in parts of Madagascar
and in the ancient Japanese
shrines at Ise and Izumo, bears
witness to the far-flung influence
of Austronesian seafarers.
Significantly, for many Austronesian peoples, the house is much more
than simply a dwelling place. Rather it is a symbolically ordered structure
in which a number of key ideas and cultural concerns may be
represented. Thus, the Austronesian house may variously be seen as a
sacred representation of the ancestors, a physical embodiment of group
identities, a cosmological model of the universe, and an expression of
rank and social status.
This basic stilt architecture has been subject
to elaborate refinements in many parts of the
Austronesian region and is immediately
linked to culture nourished by a tropical
aquatic environment. Excluding the stylistic
variation, the houses on stilts can be found
generally in the Western Pacific in a region of
more than 6,000 km across the Equator from
Melanesia and Indonesia to Japan.
Morphologically, the house is
constructed using a 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 coupled with seasonal
monsoon rain.
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 a
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 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.
Badjao House
Badjao House
Badjao
House
Badjao House
Samal House
Samal House
Tausug House
Tausug House
Yakan House
Yakan House
Ivatan House
Ivatan House
Ivatan House