History of architecture | Philippine architecture

EARLY PERIOD or pre-Spanish

ARCHITECTURE
900 AD

Philippine architecture is very complex, since

only few records have been saved, we are still
not sure of our own architecture. In our
contemporary era, many buildings are of the
Spaniards and above inspiration. Multiple
countries colonized us, as this affects our
architecture. Let us lapse to the period before
the Spanish came. What are the edifices
seeable? Unlike other countries with records,
we may have a bad time discovering.
Fig 1. The Negritos
EARLY PERIODS

• The indigenous tribes of the Philippines CAVE DWELLINGS

that were quite a diverse group and of • Cave dwellings is the earliest human
nomadic nature had little art of building to
habitation.
speak of.
- The Tabon Cave, Palawan had been
• Their architectural art was revealed in their inhabited for 30,000 years
houses of nipa, cogon and bamboo. - Tabon cave are a set of caves in
• Suitable to the tropical conditions of the Quezon, Palawan, Philippines. They
islands. are famous for the found skullcap
• During this period, Filipinos established remains of the Tabon Man, which are
their villages near bodies of water where 22,000 years old. Bones of elephants
mostly food were taken from the sea, also have also been found in the area
from agricultural environment. signifying that the Philippines was once
• In both environment houses were not built connected to mainland Asia.
permanently & therefore light & flexible
materials were used.
• 25,000 B.C. Ancient Negroid people
immigrate to the Philippines over a land
bridge then still connecting the archipelago
with the Asian mainland.
• They are food gatherers and hunters, and
the forefathers of today's Negritos. These
people use bows and arrows and stone
made implements. They live in caves.

Fig 2. The Tabon Cave

All rights reserved © Claudia Isabelle Montero PHILIPPINES: EARLY DW ELLINGS | 1

 History of architecture | Philippine architecture

• Wind breaks or windscreens as the first

attempt at building
• Served as shelters during a hunting or food-
gathering journey
• Made of light branches and fronds, but
strong enough to Mindanao & Sulu Region
withstand a storm

TREE HOUSES

• Perched on forked branches of trees, up to

Fig 3. The Angono Petroglyphs 60 feet above the ground
• Prevented attack by animals and human
- Caves in Angono, Rizal with ancient enemies
petroglyphs

LEAN-TO

Fig 4. Early Tree Houses

Fig 4. Lean-To Houses

-End of Section-
• However, earliest type of shelter which
man built is called Lean-To, consisted of a
simple, single pitched roof resting on an
inclined series of rafters made- up of tree
branches w/ the end resting of the ground
& the other end resting horizontal wooden
lintel supported by tree trunks and roofed
with grass

All rights reserved © Claudia Isabelle Montero PHILIPPINES: EARLY DW ELLINGS | 2