bahay kubo/ early settlements

• Precolonial architecture in lowlands & coastal areas


  • The home is the first built space that one creates
  • DIWA (Filipino spirit of Oneness) will most readily be experienced in this building type
• Lowland vernacular dwelling - Bahay Kubo


  • Reflects the Filipino spirit of Oneness
  • House on stilts is not unique or original to the Philippines, other Southeast Asian countries also have house on stilts
• Settings of Bahay Kubo


  • Mainland bahay kubo community
  • Coastal community
  • Riverside community
• Mga taga ilog = Tagalog


  Refers to mountain houses
• Bahay


  • Evolved from the Austronesian ancestry vernacular term BALAI
  • Spanish term "cubo" which pertains to the cube because of the obvious overall cubic geometry
• Early accounts of Bahay Kubo based on the book of a Franciscan friar Pedro de San Buenaventura, OFM and an Augustinian friar Diego Bergaño, OSA
• Building materials


  • Timber
  • Bamboo
  • Thatch
  • Fibers
  • Rattan
• Bahay Kubo


  • Steeply pitched thatched hipped roof
  • Voluminous roof cavity to combat humidity
  • Pile foundation for flooding + under floor for ventilation and humidity
  • Nipa or sawali wall siding in herringbone design
• Wall lattice work options


  • Bamboo, split, flattened or cut into strips
• Filipino anthropometry


  • Dangkal (distance from thumb to middle finger)
  • Dipa (length of outstretched arms)
  • Dati (breadth/width of a finger)
  • Damak (length of open hand)
  • Dapal (length and width of palm and fingers)
  • Tumuro (distance between thumb and forefinger)
• Bahay Kubo building anatomy


  • Kilo (rafters, major roof support)
  • Kahab-an (connects bottom of rafters)
  • Soleras (floor joists)
  • Gililan (floor sills)
  • Haligi (posts/columns, main structural support)
• Bahay Kubo roof classifications


  • Binalay (hip)
  • Palayas (gable)
  • Palusod (extension)
  • Kinapiya (shed)
• Silong


  Used as enclosure for keeping domestic animals, storage for household implements, goods, crops and in some cases, as a burial ground for the dead
• Bahay Kubo in Panay Island


  • Dingding at balcon (walls and balcony)
  • Bulwagan with silid kainan (living-dining area)
  • Batalan (back entry)
• Bahay Kubo fenestrations


  • Awning type windows or TUKOD
  • Sliding windows
  • Fixed with lattice work to keep children from falling out
  • With ledge
• Bahay Kubo interior space

  • Living-dining (Bulwagan with silid-kainan)
  • Kitchen-storage (Lutuan/Abuhan with Batalan)
  • Open gallery (balkon infront or batalan back)
• Natural disasters/fire are problems for Bahay Kubo
• Urbanization


  The process through which cities grow, and higher and higher percentages of the population comes to live in the city
• Informal settlers/Urban Shanty


  Descendant of the Bahay Kubo, one room dwelling built by inhabitants using available materials
• Where informal settlers are from


  • Migrants from provincial areas to big cities (in-migration)
  • Forced to build urban shanties due to poverty
  • Only available option is vacant land
• Lack of basic services and infrastructure for informal settlers


  • Water supply
  • Sanitation
  • Electricity
  • Drainage
  • Education
  • Health services
  • Market place
  • Psychology/social issues
• Locations of informal settlements


  • In vacant lands
  • Along railways
  • In marshy lands, canals, coastal areas & riverbanks
• Esteros


  Tidal channels used as drainage canals in populated districts, part of Manila's history
• Almost all esteros have disappeared either by encroachment of informal settlers or commercial establishments
• Informal settlements are prone to fire and flood