Philippine Indigenous Design Patterns that Create Compelling Architectural Designs

EDITOR’S TIPS AND OPINION:

People who know me know I avidly advocate for creating culturally sensitive designs. This means that I am one of those architects who believe that cultural identity should be emphasized in designs not only in fashion but also in the built environment. In other words, Philippine Indigenous Design Patterns should also be celebrated

The Philippines is a country of textures and patterns, and when it comes to patterns, it means culture. Normally, when we think about patterns, we think about patterns in traditional fabrics such as the T’nalak of the T’boli people. However, there are also other compelling cultural patterns found in vernacular Filipino dwellings.

I made a compilation of them here in this post. These patterns have inspired me to make architectural designs for my projects. I have provided examples of how I translated them to the architectural designs I have made in the past and at the end of this article.

Whether you are a designer or an enthusiast, I hope these patterns and design translations inspire you. If you are a designer, use these patterns as a sketch-up texture.

Here are some examples of how I have translated these patterns into my architectural designs.

Here I put some Bamboo weave patterns on the roof as well as a superimposed V pattern for the skylights. This is an out of the box house that one my clients wanted.

This is one of my cultural designs project for an institutional building. I put some diamond shapes closely related to the weaves of bamboo diagonal, which are the amakan patterns for the trellis areas in this walkway.

In another apartment project, I put the Okir patterns as railings in the roof deck areas.

The last example is a design where I put patterns of Bamboo. I also added bottles to the columns.

I hope that through this, you will be convinced that the Philippines has more to design than we normally see in our streets. Shoot me a message or comment if you have more to say.