The traditional Blaan house is known as āBong Gumneāor Long House. The House is constructed on stilts and a gable roof with only two sides having a window. There is a wall that serves as both a wall and a fenestration. Instead of partitions, the dwellers determine the spaces of the Bong Gumne by its…
The Miagao Church reflected Spanish influence over architecture in the Philippines, and the direct connection at the time between faith, idenity, and even warfare. The Miagao Church is an architectural gem. Built in 1786, this structure was not just built as a worship place but also as a fortress. This UNESCO World Heritage site was…
Patented in 1901 by Thomas J. Metzger, the Jalousie window is one of the most common and popular window types in modern buildings. These windows let wind come in while also protecting interiors from rainwater, making this type of window ideal for tropical areas like ours. It is also space saving and can allow natural…
For those who have walked the grounds of Silliman University, perhaps there have been many memories at the Silliman Hall worth hundreds or thousands of words. Built in the early 1900s, the Silliman Hall is a building inside the complex of Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Negros Orientatl. It was the first building to be built…
Starting 2017, the Davao City local government set up the Kadayawan Cultural Village at the Magsaysay Park to popularize the traditional houses in the ancestral domains of cultural communities. This way, visitors to the annual Kadayawan Festival could see and experience for themselves the traditional homes of the 11 tribes predominant in the city. For…
Despite its elegance, not much is written about the Batibot Chair, a Filipino counterpart of the Vienna Bentwood. Originally made from bent iron rods, the batibot lives up to its namesake, the etymology coming from a history of sturdiness and firmness. In fact, the word batibot apparently means small but hard and sturdy. This seat…
If youāve ever wondered what typhoon resilience looks like, look to the Ivatan of Batanes and how their homes have been designed to withstand the strongest of elements. The traditional house of the Ivatan is called the Rakuh. It is the main house that serves as living quarters. Its ceiling is higher that could store…
A roof is a roof, but for the Tausug traditional Bay Sinug, it is so much more. It is an expression via architecture, the roof not merely serving as protection from heat or rain. The Bay Sinug roof features horn-shaped finials called Tadjuk Pasung, an accent losing prominence in favor of the more modern galvanized…
Back in the days when we could regularly go to garden events, we would see vines crawl across a part of the venue. We sometimes mistake pergola for a trellis and the other way around but they are actually two different elements of hardscapes. While both involve the use of vines or similar plants, the…
We refer to that ledge or canopy that sits about windows outside Spanish colonial homes as the media agua. It was used in traditional houses in the Philippines and in ancestral Spanish Colonial houses. Usually, the Spanish-influenced window canopy is made from scallop-bordered cloth. In the bahay kubo, the traditional media agua is an awning…
