HISTORY OF PHIL. ARCHITECTURE Milestones in Philippine Architecture Before we begin to study the architecture of the Philippines, you must first understand the people and the culture from which it arose, and also their historical background.  The first inhabitants of the Philippine Islands arrived between 3000 and 2000 B.C. They were of Malay-Polynesian descent called Austronesians.  The people lived in groups of 30-100 families in societies known as barangay. Headed by Datu or Raha/Hari or Lakan  They were mainly an agricultural and fishing people, others were nomadic. Trade with mainland Asia, especially China, was established by these people  In the 14th century, Islam was introduced in Sulu and the 15th C. in Mindanao  In 1521, Magellan stumbled upon the islands in his attempt to circumnavigate the world. This was the introduction of the Philippines to the western world. What followed was 300 years of rule by the Spanish and the acceptance of Roman-Catholicism, which led to the building of many great Baroque churches.  In 1898, sovereignty was given to the Philippines and rule by the United States began. The Philippines gained independence in 1946. Philippine Architecture: Pre-Spanish Era Our ancestors were called Austronesians - meaning people of the southern Islands . They were the first seafarers in the world. • Caves and rock shelters like the Tabon Cave in Palawan served as shelter for early Filipinos. Later on the invention of various tools allowed for the fabrication of tent-like shelters and tree houses. • Early pre-Hispanic house were characterized by rectangular structures elevated on stilt foundations and covered by voluminous thatched roofs ornamented with gable finials and its structure can be lifted as a whole and carried to a new site. Examples: Ifugao House Bahay Kubo Maranao’s torogan The Laguna Copperplate Inscription • In 1990, Antoon Postma, a Dutch expert in ancient Philippine scripts and Mangyan writing, and a long-time resident of the Philippines, translated the document that came to be known as the Laguna Copperplate Inscription . It became the beginning of Philippine History: Monday, April 21, 900 AD. • The emergence of Islam in the 14th C. in Sulu and the 15th C. in Mindanao led to the building of Mosques, the masjid and the Mnggar in Tausug and Yakan or ranggar in Maranao, Maranao • Pagoda shaped mosques such as that in Taraka, Lanao del Sur show Javanese and Chinese influence. Philippine Architecture: Spanish Colonial Era  In 1544 the Franciscans built the first hospital in the Philippines, Hospital Real.  The 1573 royal ordinances of King Philip II, known as Laws of the Indies was prescibed and stated that every town was to have a gridiron design (cuadricula) with a central square (plaza)  In 1583 Intramuros was destroyed by fire, requiring all new buildings to be costructed of stone and tile.  Jesuit Antonio Sedeno introduced stone and masonry construction.  Implementation of the hybrid type of construction called arquitectora meztisa:  Wood on upper floor and stone on lower floor  House posts or haligue supported the 2nd floor  Stone floors at the ground floor acted as a solid curtain concealing the wooden framework within  Wooden pegs and dovetail joints connected the wooden structural system together  The Bahay na Bato, typically two stories with the ground level made of massive cut stones or brick walls and the upper level built of hardwood, emerged from the 17th to the 19th centuries  The last quarter of the 19th C. witnessed the rise of accesoria (apartment dwellings), single or two stories high and having multiple units called viviendas.  School buildings surfaced: the colegio or universidad (urban areas) and the escuel primaria (pueblos), a cluster of multi-story buildings in rectangular configuration with acentral courtyard.  The leading edge technology available at that time was employed to build ports, roads, bridges, lighthouses, railways, and streetcar systems.