LESSON 1 THE FILIPINO BAHAY KUBO

BEHAVIORAL ASPECT OF HOUSING -Houses of the Filipinos are usually made of

wood and nipa.
-The Behavioral Aspect of Housing is Man’s
view of its environment and the built spaces. Later, galvanized iron replaced nipa as roofing.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE -In some towns, barrios, and cities, houses made
of nipa and bamboo are still to be found. Some
• ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULI
have sawali walls and cogon roofing.
- Environmental stimuli are things that happen in
-Most of the houses especially the older ones are
the environment that elicit a response or reaction
situated high above the ground for better
from a person.
ventilation and reduced humidity. In the past,
• SIZE AND HEIGHT OF SPACES building houses was fast and inexpensive.
• COLOR -Houses were built then through the help of
friends and neighbors. (Bayanihan)
• TEMPERATURE
• NOISE
PARTS OF TRADITIONAL FILIPINO HOUSES
TERRITORIALITY
(BAHAY KUBO)
- A pattern of behavior and attitudes held by an
individual or group that is based on perceived,
attempted or actual control of definable physical Pasibi, lean to roof
space, object or idea and may involve habitual
-Single slope extension of a gable or hip type
occupation, defense, personalization and
roof
marking of it.
PRIVACY
Banguerahan
• Solitude – being alone
-Elevated counter made of bamboo strips usually
• Intimacy – the ability of a small number of
projecting beyond the kitchen wall
people to be by themselves undisturbed
– used to store food and kitchen utensils
• Anonymity - the ability to interact or be with
others without releasing full
information about oneself to avoid being sagang, railing
identified or accountable
-Waist-level railing, made using bamboo, used as
• Reserve – The ability to limit communication an enclosed and protected porch area
about oneself to others
• CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
hagdan, stair
-The main access to the house
– made from bamboo or combined with wood
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE OF FILIPINO
HOUSES
Balangkas, framework
-The skeletal structural element of a roof or wall,
assembled or fitted together to handle the
nipa, roof
exterior elements or finishes
-*nypa fruiticans” a tropical palm with a short
trunk and brood pinnate leaves that grows
Batalan, washing area abundantly along rivers and estuaries

-The small space adjacent to the cooking area

with a service door leading outside. For washing
dingding, wall
hands, feet, bathing kids, washing pots & dishes
-The wall siding is either
bamboo latticework (sala-sala),
abuhan, cooking area
interlaced bamboo (amakan)
-Elevated earthen fireplace with a stone stove for
cooking woven bamboo (sawali) or
woven coconut leaves (silirap)
bulwagan, main house
-The main section of the house used as living, yawi, main beam
dining and sleeping areas.
-A whole bamboo, horizontally laid to define the
perimeter of the house and tied firmly on each
post with rattan strips
silong, underneath the house
-Storage for: harvest, tools, livestock
haligi, post
-A post buried on the ground is called
Batalan
binaon(buried) and a post set up above a stone
-still a part of the house in Luzon and is used as slabv is referred to as pinatong (placed on)
an open bathroom, a place for water jars or
tapayan and a place of washing. The modern
batalan is made of concrete and is still adjacent sahig, flooring
to the kitchen
-Bamboo strips laid perpendicular to the floor
joist either closely laid or with ample spaces –
natural air to enter through the floor
banguerahan,
-a storage shelf and drainer before the dish rack
was introduced, is still a part of a few modern
houses. The Modern banguerahan is no longer
enclosed with bamboo spikes by is screened.
patukuran, secondary beam
-Whole bamboo laid over the main beam (yawi)
bubong, roof
to carry the floor joist (soleras)
-Made from either bamboo cogon grass, anahaw
leaves or nipa shingles
soleras, floor joist -One of the series of square or rectangular
lumber to which the ceiling is fixed.
-A whole bamboo laid parallel with each other of
about 12 to 15” over the secondary beam
(patukuran) as support for the flooring.
artesonado, artesonado
-A coffered,carved, or highly patterned wooden
gililan, floor sill ceiling.
-A whole bamboo laid around the perimeter of
the house used to hold and support the walls
espeho, espejo
-A penl between the window header and the
BAHAY NA BATO eaves for exterior wall and above the door jamb
and ceiling for partition.
-The old houses were built high on the ground
and space below called silong
were fenced with bamboo to keep pigs, dogs and persiana, perciana, louver window
chicken outside.
-A window with wooden frame and thin slanting
wooden slat that is either fixed or movable as
solar protection to admit natural ventilation.
kerosene lamps were used in most houses. Now
electricity has found its way in almost all houses.
The old kalan or native stove has been replaced
Silya, silla, chair
by electric ranges. The palayok or native pot by
aluminum pots and pans. Firewoods and -A seat use for relaxation, recreation and
charcoal are still used by some filipino entertaining guest
housewives especially now that gas and
electricity have become very expensive.
Sahig, zuelo, floor
-The horizontal, levelled surface in a room on
kalado, calado, fretwork
which one walks and stand
-One of the upright ornamental wood panels with
decorative patterns formed by perforations above
window headers or doo jambs as wall decoration.

Azotea or open porch

kisame, quisame, ceiling -The veranda or porch is still part of today’s
houses. It is usually provided with ceramic
-The overhead, after horizontal surface in a room
balustrade, and it bears much of the household
either made of wood or metal.
traffic.
Pots of ferns and flowering plants surrounded the
kostilyahe, costillaje, ceiling joist wall. The artistic touch of the Filipino is still
evident in the house. In a one-room house, you
can see curtains hanging on the walls and
windows, a family picture, and a saint
prominently displayed in one corner of the room.
30% of the country's total population is reported
to live in informal settlements, with some 2.4
million people or over 0.5 million families residing
in informal settlements in Metro Manila and are
BAHAY NA BATO considered informal settlers by the National
Housing Authority (NHA) and the National
There is the salary of soft broom for sweeping
Economic Development
the floor; a smaller one for dusting wall carvings
and picture frames, the walis tingting or stiff (NEDA).
broom for cleaning and stone floors. And plumero,
a broom made from chicken feathers for dusting.

Buckets, wooden scrub brushes with thick

bristles, bunot or coconut husk, dustpans, bar
soap, gugo or native shampoo, is-isleaves,
banana leaves, kerosene andcoconut oil are also
used for cleaning the house.

Floor wax
-prepared by homemakers from candles, atsuete
and kerosene, melted from glowing embers.

hardwood floors were swept then scrubbed with

is-is before wax was applied. When the sticky
wax is dry, the floor is scrubbed again until it
becomes very
shiny. The furniture, windowsills, staircases and
walls were also scrubbed with is-is leaves or
polished with wax.

Kitchen tables were cleaned with is-is leaves,

water, sand and ash. Those made of zinc were
wiped with kerosene.

HOMELESSNESS
-Latest data from the Philippine Statistics
Authority (PSA) shows that about 4.5 million
Filipinos are homeless.