COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE University of Santo Tomas HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 4 2nd Semester AY 2008-2009
Lecture 1 PRE-COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE •
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Referred to as: - FOLK Architecture - INDIGENOUS Architecture - PRIMITIVE Architecture - Vernacular (native or indigenous) architecture found among the ethno-linguistic communities in the country. Draw inspiration and demand mainly from: - Environment - specifically the climate, terrain, one’s vegetation and fauna - Available materials Responds to communal and social needs – to be safe from hostile and marauding tribes and to interact with fellow human beings.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Rooted in the Southeast Asian building tradition and share its characteristics: 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. 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.
Cultural Groups or Peoples (among others) Northernmost Island (Batanes)
Ivatan
Cordillera
Ifugao Kankanay Ibaloi Tingguian
Negroes Group
Agta Pinatubo Aeta Dumagat
Mindoro
Mangyans – Hanunuo, Alangan
Isneg Kalinga Bontok
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Palawan Mindanao-South Sea
Tagbanua Batak China
Maguindanao Yakan Tausog Samal Badjao Bogobo Tasaday
Mandaya Manobo Mansaka Bukdinon Maranao T’boli Tagbanua
EARLIEST TYPE OF DWELLINGS: 1. CAVE DWELLINGS • Earliest shelters in the Philippines • Natural habitat for people whose survival depended on food gathering and hunting a. The Tabon Cave, Palawan - considered to have sheltered the earliest men of the Philippines. - Bronze and Iron developed together - Soul boat burial jars b. Angono, Rizal evidence of ancient cave dwellers exists in carved figures on cave walls - Angono Petroglyphs - Site dates back to circa 3000 B.C., prehistoric Filipino work of art - earliest known Philippine mural. - Included in the World Inventory of Rock Art under the auspices of UNESCO, ICCROM and ICOMOS and nominated as one of the “100 Most Endangered Sites of the World. 2. LEAN TO • Mark of the first attempt to build- Food gatherer, fisherman, or hunter, moved from one place to another in search for food needed a shelter that was portable. - Single-pitched roof supported by rafters - Ridge rested on horizontal lintel supported by tree trunks - Other end rested directly on ground - With or without walls and flooring - Usually knee-high elevated floorings or 1.20 m flooring Used by the Negritos known as Ati, Ata, Aeta, Agta and Dumagat • • Materials - Walls, roof and floor – rattan and bamboo - Sheathing – nipa, palm leaves, banana leaves, coconut fronds or grass The lean-to is light enough to be carried to another site. The dweller can simply abandon • it and build another. A pair of lean-tos can be joined together to form a tent-like shelter, or a double-slope • roof, which, in effect, is the beginning of a house. 3. TREE HOUSES Generally built in forked branches of 6.0 -18.00 m. high trees or atop 4.50 - 6.0 m. high • stumps which serves as a foundation • Materials used: - Bamboo – most often used for framing, walls and flooring - Rattan – used for securing the whole framework - Nipa palm – roof covering • Used in places where violent intercommunity clashes occurred: - Ilongot and Gaddang in northern Luzon - Mandaya and Bukidnon in eastern Mindanao 2
OTHER TYPES OF DWELLINGS OR HOUSES: • The practice of Kaingin or swidden farming gave rise to a more settled life in a real house. • Introduction of wet-rice agriculture brought about a truly settled life and a need for permanent dwellings. • Types of dwellings: - Upland and Lowland dwellings - Coastal and river dwellings consisting of 3 to 20 houses. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS • Most ethnic houses conform to a general pattern: - 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. • Generally a multi-purpose one-room structure, light, airy, comfortable and functional, yet durable and structurally stable. Houses reflect the wisdom of vernacular building tradition of a long line of skilled artisans • blending aesthetics and utility into one harmonious whole. • Decoration, done sparingly is often a happy marriage between aesthetics and sociopolitico-religious factors. - Social prestige/position: Pig skulls – Ifugao houses Carabao horns and colorful panolongs (decorated beam ends) – Maranao house - Religion: Crescent moon and star motif – domes of Mosques serves as symbol of Islam • Ethnic houses express the indigenous ways of organizing space within and without. Territorial spaces are suggested by symbols without fences or walls. • Design and construction are affected by: • - Set of animistic beliefs and assumptions that govern the choice of site, time and season for building, - Rituals to be observed before and during the construction including the noting of certain signs and omens that affect the progress or abandonment of work, • Design and construction are affected by: - Orientation of house as well as distribution of spaces, - Other beliefs and practices that assure good health, prosperous and happy family life.
Reference: Alarcon, Norma-Ipac. 1991, rev. 2003. Philippine Architecture During the PreSpanish and Spanish Period. University of Santo Tomas Publishing House ____________. 1994. CCP Encyclopedia of Arts Vol. III . Manila,Philippines Fletcher, Sir Banister. 1996. History of Architecture 20 th edition. Architectural Press. Klassen, Winand. 1986. Architecture in the Philippines Filipino Building in a CrossCultural Contex t. Cebu City, Philippines: University of San Carlos. Tiongson, Nicanor, ed. 1991. Tuklas Sining, Essays on the Philippine Arts . Manila Valera- Turalba Cristina, 2005. Philippine Heritage Architecture before 1521 to the 1970s. Manila
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