18-On Architecture

The first week of December was National Architecture week here in the Philippines. So this seems like appropriate time for a long overdue blog post on the Architecture of the Philippines. My research is predominantly based on a fabulous book I found in the library of the Architecture School here in Bacolod and have subsequently bought my own copy. It’s entitled “Lugar: essays on Philippine Heritage and Architecture”, by Augusto Villalon.

When the Spanish arrived in the Philippines, they found a society based on agriculture and seafaring. The people lived in clusters of single-room houses, known as Bahay kubo (square house) / Bahay na nipa (house of nipa palm). These structures were built of bamboo, rattan and palm with steep roofs and raised above the ground on stilts. These materials are readily available locally and are expertly woven and lashed together.

“The traditional house responded perfectly to the tropical island environment. It was a lightweight pliant structure that was easily replaced if it burnt or was blown away in the yearly monsoon rain and wind or if it collapsed helplessly with the massive upheavals of earthquakes that periodically ravaged the country. Designed as an impermanent structure, it was always at the mercy of the severe and demanding tropical environment. However, it was a structure with many lives. Soon after its destruction, the owner and his neighbours always rebuilt it. Working on the reconstruction together, they would rebuild each of the destroyed houses in their village swiftly and with ease, until the next calamity would again destroy their homes”.

Large stone structures for religious, civic, residential use were not built in the Philippines unlike neighbouring Asian countries (e.g. Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Great Wall of China) as the lifestyle and religious beliefs had no need for monuments.

“Filipino structures were not intended to last forever. Impermanence in architecture was a difficult concept for westerners to accept”.

The Spanish built churches to reinforce their presence and the Christianization of the colony. Stone construction was unknown in the Philippines before the 16th Century. The Churches were a product of collaborative work carried out by a group of highly skilled Filipino and Chinese artisans unfamiliar with western construction, directed by the parish priest (folk architecture:- cannot be ascribed to a single designer or architect). This Fusion of East and West became the Filipino style.

In terms of commercial architecture, before the American influenced mega malls, trade was conducted from private residences, which was the preferred method of conducting business in Asia.

“The head of the family held his office in a room on the ground level of his home. When necessary, storage areas for merchandise were accommodated on the ground level. Therefore, during the 18th and 19th Centuries, although Manila had its established commercial districts, the scale of the city remained residential”.

This can still be seen today in the form of sari sari stores fronting the street. They specialise in selling individual single use sachets of everything from shampoo to cooking oil.

When it came to residential architecture, the Spanish adapted the design of the Bahay na nipa (house of nipa palm) into the colonial Bahay na bato (house of stone).

“The non-load-bearing stone walls on the ground floor protect the house, but are not part of the overall structural system. Freestanding tree trunks, set a distance inside the stone walls, form a grid of main posts to support the upper floor and the heavy, high-pitched terra cotta tile roof. The entire structure is of simple basic post-and-beam construction. Vertical posts hold horizontal beams together, exactly as in the Bahay na nipa”.

The most unique element of the Bahay na bato is the layered window system, improving air circulation and handling light more efficiently while screening out heat.

“The principal layer, sliding panels of capiz shells framed in a wooden grid, kept rain out while allowing diffused, sepia-toned light to filter in. Inside the capiz layer, sliding panels of adjustable wooden louvres (persiana) screened away the heat of the sun while allowing currents or cooling air to enter the house”.

This layering of materials also transcends into the layering of spaces themselves:

“The Filipino culture traditionally regards space as a limitless series of layers that define, without totally enclosing, a series of volumes and spaces. These spaces extend from the most private that are situated deep within a structure, proceed outdoors to embrace the immediate environment, and finally reach towards the horizon to include the sky within its limitless bounds”.

One thing I’ve had difficulty accepting within GK is the perception that bamboo construction is parochial and ugly, and concrete hollow blocks and metal roof sheeting is beautiful and the way of the future. The cultural connotations of bamboo and nipa cannot be ignored. This is the material used by the slum dwellers to construct their shanties – the very thing that GK is trying to ‘fix’.

From a technical perspective, there are plenty of good arguments as to why bamboo should be avoided – the time and cost involved to cure it properly, it’s limited lifespan when exposed to the elements, it’s vulnerability to termites/borers. Yet there are equally plenty of good arguments why bamboo should be used – environmentally sustainable, locally available, culturally appropriate and maintaining the craftsmanship.

The choice of construction material for GK villages is obviously heavily influenced by cost as the priority is housing the most number of families for the least cost. However, the choice is also influenced by location. In some areas where there is a prevalence of lime in the soil, compressed earth blocks have been manufactured and used like bricks (and they don’t require render or paint). In other areas, particularly coastal locations prone to flooding, post and beam construction is more appropriate as a cost effective method to elevate the houses above the flood waters. In most cases a fibre cement sheeting is used to clad the timber framed structure. But from all the trial and error so far, hollow blocks with steel reinforcing bars, still remain the most economical, durable and practical. They are readily available, sometimes even made on site, although the quality is generally quite poor (ie crumbles in your hand). They are also a good option in terms of volunteer labourers with limited skills.

I have now visited about 15 existing GK villages and what interests me the most is going around the back of the houses and seeing how the families actually cook and wash. These activities are culturally and practically always a back of house thing and the cooking is more often than not done outside on wood stoves. GK provides the basic 1 room house with toilet and offers suggestions on how the occupant may wish to extend at the back (at their own cost), which must be approved by the sites project director before proceeding. But in my observation, this is an area where there is a lot of room for improvement.

This week I had the privilege of meeting and hosting in our house, Bebet Gozun, the former Secretary of the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources who now is the full time head of “Green Kalinga”, GK’s Environment arm. She visited Bacolod for 2 days to advocate for better integration of environmental design in GK villages and to visit several of our sites. As I did my thesis on environmentally sustainable design I was particularly interested to hear what she had to say. Some of the initiatives that “Green Kalinga” is pushing include undertaking geohazard assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments on new sites, moving away from septic tanks and towards biodigesters, anaerobic baffled reactors or reed bed systems; improved passive ventilation in the house designs, rainwater harvesting instead of reliance on artesian wells, waste segregation, recycling, composting, parks, solar street lighting, retaining existing trees, planting indigenous species, agroforestry and organic farming.

Bebet’s visit gave me renewed enthusiasm and a clearer direction on what is feasible within the context of GK.