DUNGHIT, Vladimir Bon F.

03 September 2014
Pre-Colonial Architecture
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Responsive to naturebased on several works done by historians, these words best
describe the type of architecture that dominated the Philippine islands way before the arrival
of the Spanish influences in the 16th century. As we all know, a Philippine year is one-half
torrential rains, one-half dehydrating heat, thanks to the proximity of the countrys location to
the equator. While in the contemporary setting flooding and ventilation problems do not really
possess any shock value, the pre-colonial Filipinos may have found these problems as slight
nudges to their daily living through architecture; by utilizing local materials in building stilted
dwellings with high roofs, they faced heavy downpours with relative ease.
Aside from the adaptive nature of the pre-colonial settlements in the Philippines, a
Filipino community in the Pre-Spanish era also lacked the road-dependent layouts of its
colonial counterparts as depicted by some illustrations. Although some might argue that these
features are ideal for the countrys atmospheric make-up, these were altered upon the arrival
of the Spanish culture and continued to evolve as other foreign influences take over 300 years
later. While it is impossible to rebuild everything and fully revive the pre-colonial Filipino
architectural landscape, it is quite interesting to think of the possibilities that may have arisen
if the Philippines was never occupied by any alien culture.
Taking the subject into a subjective point of view, I see the Philippines as a society that
has long mastered the craft of swaying in harmony with whatever the local climate has to

offersomething that Filipinos admire with their local bamboos. Aside from the flexibility of
the Philippine bamboo, this very common bunch has been proven to be just as helpful as any
lumber in catering to our sheltering needs. With the abundance of bamboo in the islands, the
Filipino structures would have had the same concept as the bamboo house designed by the
Vietnam-based architectural firm H&P Architects (see image below)had it not been the
Western way, of course. More so, without any
cultural interventions from the westerners the
Filipinos would have been very proficient in
making their structures naturally ventilated and
lighted through well-designed windows and windcatchers, thus, avoiding the costly use of artificial lighting and ventilation. Also, heavy rains
might have also been much less of a deal than it is in the present times because of the more
appropriate high roofs. Although thatched roofs might have still died without the foreign
involvement, Filipinos would have still used the roofing materials the younger generation has
been accustomed tothink galvanized iron sheetsin pitched roofs. Ultimately, the Filipinos
might have learned to equip their edifices with rain-catchers that are more efficient than the
ones existing today.
Context-wise, the Philippine architecture might have been so in-sync with the way
Filipinos live their daily lives that the phrase Filipino architecture might not have become as
vague and as difficult to picture as it is now. Without any foreign philosophy embedded into
the physical setting, the Filipinos might have developed their architecture into something that
they can consider as their ownas their identity. The one-room bahay kubo set-up might be
too countryside for todays urban-centric society but in the un-colonized version of the
Philippines, this might have prevailed even in the high-end structuresthe maharlika-owned
lofts. Also, the plaza as we know it might not have existed, thanks to the absence of the Spanish

intervention. Instead of the Catholic churches, common houses are the ones that might have
dominated the barangays. These common houses might also serve the same purpose the reallife malls does today. Surrounding these common houses are the residential units radiating
away from itfrom the maharlikas just outside them to the timawas encircling the community,
serving as defense units for the community. Also, road system might not have been as rigid
and as grid-oriented as the ones the Philippines have today. The path ways might have still
existed, though, only in the foreigner-free alternate reality, roads are just as flood-ready as the
architectural structures. Who knows? Maybe they can be even transformed into canals when
the monsoon season arrives. And speaking of canals, rivers and beaches might have been the
center of the Filipino communities after the small kingdoms and barangays continued to expand
throughout the entire archipelago. Instead of jeepneys that are just derivatives of the American
war vehicles, the Filipinos might have embraced their river-dweller roots and utilized
waterways as form of mass transit. And instead of the air-polluting factories, agricultural
facilities might have been more evident. With the possibility that Filipinos might have invested
their time and effort in mastering the science of rice-planting, the Cordillera rice terraces might
not just be the only beautiful farmland existing within the countrys boundaries. There are so
many possibilities, really. Bottom line: the Filipino adaptivity might have brought them some
place better than what they have today, had it not been interfered with by the alien forces that
colonized them throughout their history.
In a nutshell, what the Filipinos have now might have been so different from the reality
present in this paperthe one where foreign influences were never a part of the Philippine
history. These foreign influences are not essentially bad, though, but some of the
philosophiesespecially the architectural onesthey embedded into the Filipinos way of life
just do not fit with their cultural make-up as evidenced by todays reality.