Handout 3

• Vernacular


  Domestic, native, derived from the language or dialect spoken by ordinary people in a particular country or region. From an architectural perspective, vernacular means domestic, local and functional rather than the large public, classical monumental buildings traditionally built by trained architects.
• Vernacular architecture


  • Structures built by and for people, related to their environmental contexts and available resources, customarily owner- or community-built, utilizing traditional technologies, built to meet specific needs, accommodating the values, economies and ways of life of the cultures that produce them
• Vernacularization


  A general approach of localizing architecture by alluding to indigenous social, cultural, political and historical contexts. Through vernacularization, a foreign concept is made understandable to the local audience by referring to familiar local materials and ideas.
• Indigenous


  Referring to, or relating to, the people who originally lived in a place, rather than people who moved there from somewhere else.
• Indigenous design


  • Strives to be more than the sum of its parts, evaluating buildings on their cultural meaning and embodiment of practices and principles informed by the culture of the community, rather than just style, function, and form.
• Folk art


  Predominantly functional or utilitarian visual art created by hand (or with limited mechanical facilities) for use by the maker or a small circumscribed group and containing an element of retention—the prolonged survival of tradition. It is the creative expression of the human struggle toward civilization within a particular environment through the production of useful but aesthetic buildings and objects.
• The ethnic tradition of houses and settlements in the Philippines refers to folk and vernacular forms
• Vernacular


  Domestic, native, derived from the language or dialect spoken by ordinary people in a particular country or region. From an architectural perspective, vernacular means domestic, local and functional rather than the large public, classical monumental buildings traditionally built by trained architects.
• Ethnic architecture


  • Draws inspiration mainly from the environment, specifically, the climate, terrain, vegetation, and fauna around it. It also responds to communal and social needs—the need to be safe from hostile and marauding tribes and to interact with fellow human beings.
• Vernacular architecture


  • Structures built by and for people, related to their environmental contexts and available resources, customarily owner- or community-built, utilizing traditional technologies, built to meet specific needs, accommodating the values, economies and ways of life of the cultures that produce them
• Ethnic architecture is created by the different ethno-linguistic communities in the Philippines, from lowland communities to communities in the Cordilleras, the Visayan islands, Mindanao, and other adjacent islands
• Ethnic structures


  • Dwellings
  • Places of worship
  • Granaries
  • Fortifications
  • Temporary structures
• Vernacularization


  A general approach of localizing architecture by alluding to indigenous social, cultural, political and historical contexts. Through vernacularization, a foreign concept is made understandable to the local audience by referring to familiar local materials and ideas.
• Ethnic architecture


  • Informal and intuitive, usually designed by the owner and executed with human resources provided by the family and the community
• Indigenous


  Referring to, or relating to, the people who originally lived in a place, rather than people who moved there from somewhere else.
• Indigenous design


  • Strives to be more than the sum of its parts, evaluating buildings on their cultural meaning and embodiment of practices and principles informed by the culture of the community, rather than just style, function, and form.
• Ethnic house


  • Multipurpose one-room structure, light and airy, comfortable and functional, yet durable and structurally stable
• Folk art


  Predominantly functional or utilitarian visual art created by hand (or with limited mechanical facilities) for use by the maker or a small circumscribed group and containing an element of retention—the prolonged survival of tradition. It is the creative expression of the human struggle toward civilization within a particular environment through the production of useful but aesthetic buildings and objects.
• Decoration in ethnic architecture is often a happy marriage between aesthetics and socio-politico-religious factors
• The ethnic tradition of houses and settlements in the Philippines refers to folk and vernacular forms
• Criteria for categorizing ethnic architecture

  • Structure
  • Function (place of worship, dwelling, temporary structure, fortress)
  • Cultural groups
  • Historical periods (pre-Hispanic, Pre-Islamic, Islamic, Hispanic, American, modern and contemporary)
• Ethnic architecture


  • Draws inspiration mainly from the environment, specifically, the climate, terrain, vegetation, and fauna around it. It also responds to communal and social needs—the need to be safe from hostile and marauding tribes and to interact with fellow human beings.
• Oido


  "Playing by ear", the tradition of building through intuition or the builder or designer relies on aesthetic insight and chance by making adjustments as he goes along.
• Ethnic architecture is created by the different ethno-linguistic communities in the Philippines, from lowland communities to communities in the Cordilleras, the Visayan islands, Mindanao, and other adjacent islands
• Space within a space

  All of the space under the roof is regarded in terms of vertical containment or "space upon space." The interior of the archetypal Philippine house does not have walls. The partitioning of areas, based on the concept of "spaces within a space," is a feature of more advanced interior design.
• Ethnic structures


  • Dwellings
  • Places of worship
  • Granaries
  • Fortifications
  • Temporary structures
• Space surrounded by space


  The walls of the house are also often extended outside the basic structural frame to the limit of the roof eaves, creating "space surrounded by space." Territorial spaces are suggested by symbols, never stated with fences nor walls; these are respected by the passersby and other residents in the area.
• Ethnic architecture


  • Informal and intuitive, usually designed by the owner and executed with human resources provided by the family and the community
• Types of Pre-Hispanic architecture according to structure

  • Cave dwellings
  • Lean-tos
  • Elevated One-room Huts over Land or Water
  • Multi-level Houses
  • Longhouses
  • Tree houses
  • House boats
  • Land houses
• Ethnic house


  • Multipurpose one-room structure, light and airy, comfortable and functional, yet durable and structurally stable
• European chroniclers provide a glimpse into 16th century Philippine houses, describing them as being "built like a hayloft", constructed of wood and bamboo, raised high from the ground on large logs, with rooms and areas for keeping animals underneath
• Decoration in ethnic architecture is often a happy marriage between aesthetics and socio-politico-religious factors
• Considerations for categorizing ethnic architecture

  • Structure
  • Function (place of worship, dwelling, temporary structure, fortress)
  • Cultural groups
  • Historical periods (pre-Hispanic, Pre-Islamic, Islamic, Hispanic, American, modern and contemporary)
• 16th century Philippine houses had little or no furniture, with people sitting on bamboo mats and sleeping on reed or palm leaf mats, but contained imported porcelain ware, storage jars, and bronze gongs
• Oido


  "Playing by ear", the tradition of building through intuition or the builder or designer relies on aesthetic insight and chance by making adjustments as he goes along.
• When the Spaniards reached Manila some 50 years later, they saw a large, prosperous, and fortified town, with the house of Manila's ruler Raja Soliman being "very large, and it contained many valuable things"
• Space within a space

  All of the space under the roof is regarded in terms of vertical containment or "space upon space." The interior of the archetypal Philippine house does not have walls. The partitioning of areas, based on the concept of "spaces within a space," is a feature of more advanced interior design.
• Space surrounded by space


  The walls of the house are also often extended outside the basic structural frame to the limit of the roof eaves, creating "space surrounded by space." Territorial spaces are suggested by symbols, never stated with fences nor walls; these are respected by the passersby and other residents in the area.
• Cebuano houses are built of planks and bamboo, raised high from the ground on large logs, and one must enter them by means of ladders. They have rooms like ours; and under the house they keep their swine, goats and fowls
• Cave dwellings


  • Habitation in the Tabon Caves of Palawan