PRECOLONIAL HOUSING IN THE PHILIPPINES

Referred to as: FOLK Architecture, INDIGENOUS Architecture, PRIMITIVE Architecture, Vernacular

(native or indigenous) architecture found among the ethno-linguistic communities in the country. It says
that it draws inspiration and demand mainly from, our environment, specifically the climate, terrain, one’s
vegetation and fauna. It also based on available materials, responds to communal and social needs which
to be safe from hostile and marauding tribes and to interact with fellow human beings. Let’s see some of
pre-colonial houses from Luzon, to Visayas & Mindanao.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS would be rooted in the Southeast Asian building tradition and share
its characteristics such as:
1. Use of materials from the environment such as wood, vegetation, stones and mud • Bamboo for posts,
flooring, sidings, roofing, • Coconut wood, fronds, bakawan (mangrove), pinewood, cogon grass, nipa,
banana bark as roof coverings, rattan and other vines for fastening. - Stones and rocks for walls, and other
structural elements
2. Pile construction, and the hip or gable roof
3. Vernacular building tradition of non-formal architecture crafted by locals for themselves with or
without assistance from local craftsman or artisans- the process of building learned by each successive
generation
4. Informal and intuitive, usually designed by the owner and executed by the family and community.
Its design is influenced by:
1. Tradition – dictates general shape or form and structural concepts.
2. Chance or oido (playing by ear) – enables the builder/designer/craftsman to improvise and make
adjustments along the way relying on intuition and aesthetic insight.

Luzon:
The Ivatan houses are not the typical houses you can find in the Philippines. The Ivatan houses are made
of metre-thick limestone and coral walls as well as cogon grass roofs, and it is sturdy enough to withstand
strong winds.
The Ifugao houses were usually similar in architectural designs but they differ in decorative details
depending on the tribes. Their houses were harmoniously located with the contour of the rice terraces.
The one-room house of the Ifugao commonly known to them as fale.

The Kankanay House, a vernacular house which the roof provides vents over the storage platform over
the dapugan. In contrast to the cluster above, this house with its runo fence prefers isolation.
Ibaloi house. Ibaloi is derived from i-, a prefix signifying "pertaining to" and badoy or house, together
then meaning "people who live in houses". The Ibaloi are one of the indigenous peoples collectively
known as Igorot (igudut, "hill-dwellers"), who live in the cordillera central of Luzón.

The Isneg house, built slightly above the ground, is also a one-room dwelling like the fale but has lighter
& is bigger. Its bamboo layered gabled roof ensembles an inverted boat. A design unique to the Isneg who
are boat builders.
Octagonal House of the Kalinga. ... The southern Kalinga cultivate rice in terraces and in swidden, and
they have settlement patterns with up to two hundred houses with patches of small villages. The
northern Kalinga, engaging in swidden farming, settled in dispersed hamlets of six to thirty houses.

The pre-Christian Bontoc belief system centers on a hierarchy of spirits, the highest being a supreme deity
called Lumawig. ... The traditional Bontoc house was made of wood or cogon grass.
The Aeta’s house is made of bamboo and cogon grass. Mostly can be found in the mountain.

Visayas
The Mangyan House, walls are made of bark of trees, and constructed about a meter less above the floor
-this opening allows occupants to observe the exterior without having seen from the outside.
The Tagbanwa House, made up of bamboo & wood for a strong frame, anahaw leaves for roof and walls,
and bamboo slats for the flooring.

The Batak House refers to the related architectural traditions and designs of the various Batak peoples of
North Sumatra, Indonesia. ... Most Batak now live in modern homes, and many traditional houses are
abandoned or in a poor state of repair.
Mindanao
The Yakan house are usually scattered among the fields, and it is difficult to see where one settlement
ends and the next begins. The inhabitants of a settlement may or may not be of the same clan.

The Tausug house is a native tribe found in Jolo at the Sulu archipelago of the Philippines. • The
name Tausug is derived from two words: “tau” meaning man and “sug “ or “suluk” meaning current thus
making Tausug as “people of the current”.
The Bajao House. They build their houses on stilts over the water, along the shore, or farther out. The
Samal houses are grouped together in villages and are connected by bridges and catwalks.

The Mandaya house is wholly made of carefully selected bamboo flattened into slats and held together
by horizontal bamboo strips or a rattan. Ascent to this single room with a small kitchen area is through a
removable single-notched trunk of a tree. Traditionally, its elevated floor line served as one of the safety
measures against attacks of other ethnic groups in the periphery of Davao Oriental. These warring
conditions made the bagani or warrior class a high and most coveted social ranking.
The Manobo house, Agusan. Manobo simply means “people” or “person”; alternate names include
Manuvu and Minuvu. ... The Manobo usually build their villages near small bodies of water or forest
clearings, although they also opt for hillsides, rivers, valleys, and plateaus. The communities are small,
consisting of only 4-12 houses.

The Mansaka home in Compostela Valley. Early Mansaka houses were built on treetops or bamboo
groves as a precautionary measure against surprise attacks and raids. Today, the most
common Mansaka dwelling is a one-room house based on what I was told is a Christian design.
"resting place" or "sleeping place", is a traditional house built by the Maranao people of Lanao,
Mindanao, Philippines. A torogan was a symbol of high social status. Such a residence was once a home
to a sultan or Datu in the Maranao community.

A traditional T'boli house is built on stilts and is composed of Lowo (body of the house; central space
where all activities take place), Blaba (raised afus area for weaving, sitting and conversing), Desyung (area
of honor), Dëfël (behind and on both sides, sleeping area, usually separated by sawali wall from Blaba).
 These are the pre-colonial houses that we have here in the Philippines. We will notice that each
house has a different shape, style but unique design. Based on this study, most ethnic houses conform to
a general pattern, like steep thatched roofs to facilitate drainage, elevated on posts or stilts to temper the
earth’s dampness and humidity, slated flooring to let in cool air from below, tight-fitting solid planks to
help keep upland huts warm. The multi-purpose one-room structure, light, airy, comfortable and
functional, yet durable and structurally stable would be in general in these houses. We have 2 types of
dwellings before, Upland and Lowland dwellings & Coastal and river dwellings consisting of 3 to 20 houses.