1.

TOROGAN HOUSE ( Lanao Del Sur)

LOCATION: Hills, along the river, road, or lakeshore of Mindanao
HISTORY
The TOROGAN was the traditional house of Maranao royalties. The sultan, along with
his wives, children & servants lived on it. However, it was more than just a residence, it was also a
communal house where affairs of the community were held.
There are three types of traditional Maranao dwellings. First, the torogan, the homes
reserved for nobilities. Second is the “mala-a-walay” or the big house. Finally, the “lawig” or the
small house.
The Maranao House arrange their house in a line pattern along a river, road, lake, or
shore. Like many ordinary houses in the south, the old Maranao house is simply one big partition
less room.
Bed spaces are created by using several carved sheets. The woven split rattan “Sapiyay”
or mosquito screen, used as dividers or headboards.
Bundle or rice stalks are placed under woven mats to serve as bed.
A long pillow stuffed with dried la’ing, or banana leaves is placed at the head and a long
mat at the foot of the bed.
FLOOR PLAN
o Raised on pilings from 0.31 to 2.21 meters above the ground.
o Roof, walls, flooring, doors are made of bamboo material lashed together with rattan.
o Usually has 9 to 12 post depending on the size of the house.
o The main room (without partitions) measure about 7.86 to 18.9 meters.

PARTS
o Tukod - Torogans were elevated from the ground using “tukod” or
hard tree trunks of huge girths.
o Tapuwilih - center post surrounded by twenty-five others at the
base. Each of it stands on a careful assemblage of huge stones half-
 buried on the ground. They also act as shock absorbers making the house sway in times of
earthquake or strong winds.
o Dorung - is the multi-purpose ground space created under the wooden beams.
o Poro - The main house on the second floor. It is an open space partitioned only with cloths &
chests.
o Barimbingan, Lantay (Flooring) & Dolog (Floor Joist) – Barimbingan planks make up the
lantay (flooring) held together by wooden floor joists called dolog.
o Towak (Stair) - The wooden staircase, as well as its stringer board
screams of the folk motif okir carvings.
o Tartek ( Wall Stud) & Dingending (Wall) - The walls made of
“gisuk” & wall studs called “tartek” hold the walling planks or the
“dingending”.
o Tinai-A-Walay (Center Beam) - The carved center beam inside
the house that supports the king post of the roof.
o Paitaw (Door) & Rowasan (Window) - More okir carvings fill
the door (paitaw) & sliding windows (rowasan). There are no
ceilings too. Instead, they used appliqued cloths.
o Atup (Roof), Rampatan (Beam) & Diongal - Traditional Maranao houses from ancient times
used cogon for roofing or “atup” supported by the “rampatan” beams & adorned by a “diongal” on
top. However, during the American times, GI sheets replaced the cogon.
o Panolong - the most distinct part of the torogan. These are carved end-beams. The serpent design
(niyaga) fill the front while the sides use the pako okir or the fern patterns.
o Lamin – or princess chamber, perched atop the roof or sometimes tucked at the back . In the
absence of a lamin, a “gibon” or a makeshift room of adorned fabrics inside the torogan replaces
it.
SPOT DETAIL & EXPLANATION
PANOLONG
o Naga -has the form of an elaborate
mythical serpent with a vigorous S-
curve and numerous curvilinear
motifs to suggest its scales.
o Pako Rabong – is a stylized growing
fern with a broad bas gracefully
tapering upwards.
o Sarimanok - the stylized design of a
bird holding a fish in its beak in the shape of fish. While its meaning derives from epics and
myth, it also alludes to Lake Lanao with its fertile water

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2. BONTOC HOUSE
LOCATION: Mountain Area of Cordillera
HISTORY:
The Bontoc is a group of former headhunters that has traditionally lived in the steep
gorge region along the upper Chico Rover system in the Central Mountain Province of
northern Luzon. Also known as the Bontok, Bontoc Igorot, Guianes, Igorot, they have
traditionally lived by hunting, fishing and farming. [Source: Encyclopedia of World Cultures,
East and Southeast Asia edited by Paul Hockings
House within a house shelter for rice, chicken, pigs and people.
Same form as Ifugao house except that the house cages serves as a granary.
Bontoc villages are organized in wards called ato. Ato is a large compact settlement
built among rice terraces and divided into wards. Each ato has 15 to 50 houses and communal
center
o Chap-ay- circular open spaced paved with flat stones
o Fawi – house where old men gather
o Pabafunan – dormitory for young men and boys in their adolescence
o Olog- dormitory for girls
PLAN:
o Square in plan and is designed to facilitates various
activities.
o Granary (Falig) – area of 2.00 square meter is elevated
on four post of 5’-0” high
o It has a fireplace located at the rear left corner.
o On the ground floor (ha-la-noi) the following areas are
arranged from the doorway to the rear as follows:
a. At the left side of the main entrane is a rice
threshing room about 5 sqm ft in area and sunk
 about a foot into the ground. Found at the center of this room is the mortar used for
threshing rice.
b. At the right side of the entrance is a bench 4’-0” wide, 12’-0” long and 1’-0” high where
baskets, utensils and other tools are placed. Chicken are kept underneath this bench.
c. Adjacent to the threshing room is the kitchen with an area of 5sq ft, it is provided with
three concave stove stones hacked by a low stone wall, wooden shelves, and water jars.
d. Across the only entrance, at the rear side of the house is the ang-an, which is used for
sleeping and storage. This is the only room with wooden flooring and ceiling.
PARTS:
o Falig -granary
o Cha-la-nan – through the doorway one enters the
ground floor, includes the space under the granary
o Ang-an – sleeping compartment
o Soklut – cooking area
o Choksu – utility bench
o Tap-an – pounding area
o Li-im – working area or eating area

DETAILS:
o sleeping compartment (wooden boards or
sleeping benches 4.0” 6 +.0” in si5e)
o board is slightly inclined on one end to allow the
sleepers head to be elevated on the other end is a
pole where the sleeper can rest his feet
o fire can be provided under this pole
3. IVATAN HOUSE
LOCATION: Slope of cliffs and villages built along the sides and tops of rocky hills of Batanes
Island
HISTORY:
The Ivatan people, an ethnolinguistic group of the Batanes province in the northernmost part
of the country, built the now-famous stone houses for a very good reason: to protect them against the
harsh environmental conditions.
Batanes is surrounded by major bodies of water including the South China Sea and the Pacific
Ocean, hence it does not have a very stable climate. The Ivatan houses are made of meter-thick
limestone and coral walls as well as cogon grass roofs, and it is sturdy enough to withstand strong
winds.
PLANS:
Walls- made of limestone, sometimes
embedded with wooden reinforcements to resist
the effect of a strong earthquake. The
reinforcements run from the base up to the roof
frame.
Doors and window – provided in the
rakuh house but the wall facing the direction of
the strongest winds are left solidly closed.
PARTS
4. IFUGAO HOUSE
LOCATION : Mountain of Cordillera, built on rice terraces near a spring or grove entry faces down
slope
HISTORY:
The Ifugao house is a multi-functional one-room shelter where the entire family
father, mother and pre-pubescent children- live, sleep, cook and eat. Built by local carpenters
called munhabats, these houses are architectural wonders of their own. The munhabats
employ the native axe called wahe for chopping timber, and a spool of string callled paltik
soaked in a staining solution to mark straight lines as guides for cutting and sawing. And they
use a clever method to estimate lengths and widths: they use their extended arms. Locally
known as a dopah, this method has been used by the Ifugao for generations and is
approximately around four to five feet. Another method is the dangan which is the length of a
person’s extended fingers from thumb to middle finger.
The exterior of the house seems to be nothing but a pyramid resting on four posts,
while the interior space is enclosed by slanting walls and ceiling that appears to be spherical
that are formed by the loft.
There are four types of Ifugao houses: regarded as temporary lodging during rice
cultivation season, the native hut:
o Abong is constructed directly on the ground while
o Inappal is considerably raised from the ground. However, due to financial constraints,
these structures become permanent dwelling place. A more permanent, durable and
elevated family house is called
o Bale a one room house with an attic for storage, it rather looks like an elevated
pyramid-like structure supported on four wooden post, or tukod. Built from
 indigenously found timbers, they are mortised, pegged and tied together without the
use of nails or bolts. Used as storage for harvested rice and rice gods and sometimes
as a grave,
o Alang or the granary house is built near the rice fields. The families from the upper
class are the only ones with this type of structure.
PLAN
o Enclosed structure which is square in plan
o Rests 2.00 high on the four tree trunks as column
o Contains a single room having an area of 45 m
o Interior space is used for cooking and sleeping
o Fireplace is located at the far right handcorner of the
house
o Shelves above the fireplace are provided for the storage of
palay and firewood
o Floor is about 1.50 to 2.00 above the ground made of
wooden planks resting on solid joists which overhang the
floor
PARTS
The Ifugao House have three functional levels: the
ground floor:
o The second level for the living quarters and the
third level which was used as the granary.
o The ground level the posts have wooden discs
which was called oliang to prevent rats from
entering the house. The second level or the living
area was accessible through a removable ladder.
The social affairs, eating, cooking and sleeping are
all done in this area.
o At the third level there was the patie, it is a shelf
that extends from the wallboards outwards to the
underside of the roof. It serves as the storage area
and as a structural support to the roof.
Inside the house was embellished rows of skulls of
animals offered to gods during their annual rituals and also
as a source of pride to the homeowner

DETAILS
o Carabao skull
o Pig’s jaws - used as indication of status & keeping
peace with gods
o ambubulan figure form placed on top of the roof - as a
protection against evil spirits, lightning & sign of
asking a favor from the god Kaunyan.
o Halipan/Oliang disk -The ground level the posts have
wooden discs which was called oliang to prevent rats
from entering the house.
5. KALINGA OCTAGONAL HOUSE
LOCATION : Steep mountain of Cordillera
HISTORY
It is the dwelling of wealthy families or the aristocratic class and this type of
traditional house could only be found in some part of Tanudan, Tinglayan and Lubuagan. The
octagonal house which is larger and older than the square house is made possible by 12 short
posts: four inner posts marking a square at the center and eight outer ones forming octagon.
The octagonal house is about 6 meters long and 5 meters wide. The floor of the living
area is 1 to 2 meters above the ground. The height from the ground to the roof ridge is about 4
to 5 meters.
The thatched, hipped roof is not high and steep,
and the eaves form a rough-edged circle. The octagonal
form is not clearly pronounced in the wooden and bamboo
walls.
PLAN
o Rectangular or octagonal
o Octagonal shaped is called binayon or finatuon
o Living area is elevated at 1.20 meters
o Attic is located underneath the roof which is also used as
granary
o Elevated fireplace is found at the left rear side
o Flooring elevated portions od the house is made of
removable reed mats resting on the floor joist

PARTS
DETAILS
6. BAHAY KUBO (NIPA HUT)
LOCATION
HISTORY
Nipa Hut or “bahay kubo” an example of vernacular architecture mostly found I tropical
places like the Philippines. It is once called “balai” or “balay”. In Ifugao area it is called “baleh”.
The term bahay kubo literally translate as “cube house”, “kubo or cubo” is a Spanish term for
a cube. Passive cooling is achieved in nipa huts by having large windows which literally allows
volume of air circulate the entire
Nipa huts are known for its freshness and its native aesthetic. Material used are vernacular
such as bamboo, coconut leaves (pawid) and is a need to have a shelter that gives comfort in terms of
passive cooling. Passive cooling is achieved in nipa hut by having large windows which literally
allows volume of air circulate the netire house, especially by having bamboo slats flooring and light
non-heat absorbing material.
PLAN
o Bulwagan – living room or multipurpose room
o Silid – bedroom
o Balkon – the porch that opens to the living room
o Kusina- kitchen with separate roof
o Batalan – the back porch and serve as the area for
cleaning washing, and sometimes use as
bathroom.
PARTS
DETAIL