History of Architecture 4:Primitive Architecture

MAN AND HIS ARCHITECTURE

The study of man and his architecture goes beyond the period of existence. The different architectural characters in the different periods of architecture is shown in the interests of man at that time as shown in their buildings.

In this 20th Century, our social structure has become so complex that confusion rather than simplicity is its chief characteristic.

The automobile has made it possible for us to live many miles from our work but has created a traffic problem.

The movies, radio, t.v. and transportation have brought us knowledge of foreign countries. Standardization is more prevalent than individualism.

Congestion, economic pressure requires proximity of allied fields of endeavor and adds to the problems of the architect and city planner.

This complexity of our social system is reflected in our architecture.

Two basic characteristics of human life:

Movement Settlement

MOVEMENT

If life is to exist and civilization is to develop, there are fundamental impulses or desires, which must be satisfied. These forces may be called the stimuli or action.

1. Desire for Preservation - in obtaining food, shelter, clothing and security, civilized man must have commerce, government and religion. These activities call for their accompanying structures, or architecture.

2. Desire for Recognition - this is a desire for prestige, pride and ambition, social status, physical supremacy, intellectual attainment, personal or civic, results in the-struggle for position.

As a result, man build palaces, skyscrapers, or communities may erect cathedrals or public buildings and monuments.

3. Desire for Response - This arises from the gregarious nature of man, from his wish for love, friendship, and sociability.

4. Desire for Self-Expression - This is the urge of man to assert himself as an individual, to do things in his own particular way.

SETTLEMENT

In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. A settlement can range in size from a small number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities with surroundin urbanized area. Settlements may include hamlets, villages, towns and cities.

In the field of geospatial predictive modeling, settlements are "a city, town, village, or other agglomeration of buildings where people live and work“.

A settlement conventionally includes its constructed facilities such as roads, enclosures, field systems, boundary banks and ditches, ponds, parks and woods, wind and water mills, manor houses, moats and churches.

Early stages in development of human beings tender to gather in groups. The early prototypes of the most primitive kind of permanent human settlement, hamlet or village.

PRE-HISTORIC PHILIPPINE ARCHITECTURE

The earliest records of pre-colonial architecture in the Philippines are rock shelters and caves in Palawan. Early Filipinos are nomadic since they are constantly in search for food through hunting or fishing so they mainly rely on nature when creating shelter and do not need to build permanent structures.

Caves and rock shelters like the Tabon Cave in Palawan served as shelters for the early Filipinos.

Cave dwelling gave early man his first conception of architectural space. This walled eclosure was made for practical and material consideration of physical survival namely;

To intensify spiritual receptivity and Emotional exaltation

Tabon caves (Palawan)

The Tabon Caves, dubbed as the Philippines' Cradle of Civilization, are a set of caves located on Lipuun Point, north of Quezon municipality, in the south western part of the province of Palawan on Palawan Island, in the Philippines. The caves are named after the Tabon scrubfowl. It is bordered on the south by the town proper of Quezon, Bgy. Panitian on the west, and the South China Sea on the north and east. Out of 215 known caves, 29 have been explored and seven of these are open to the public. The seven include Tabon, Diwata, Igang and Liyang Caves. One of the oldest human bones found in the Philippines, the Tabon Man, was found here in 1962. Other excavated, unexamined remains are stored onsite.

Duyong Cave

The Duyong cave in the southwest coast of the Palawan Island is a site of the earliest intact burial ever discovered in the Philippines which shows traces of man's humanity during the New Stone Age. Excavated in the cave were a 179-centimeter skeleton in a flexed position, bronze tools, glass and gold beads, glass bracelets, shell adzes and ornaments, and nut-chewing paraphernalia which dated between 300 to 500 B.C.

PRIMITIVE DWELLING/BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE THEORY

Ancestral Crude Building

The fact that there is not, and never has been a characteristically Philippine Architecture, is not necessarily a reflection upon the genius of the Filipinos. Geography, religion, and time were responsible for the admixture of our ancient culture. Originally a part of the great continent of Asia, the Philippines became an archipelago of 7,100 islands after the postglacial period.

Strategically located, it lies along the borders of the West Pacific and the South China Sea. Before the 16th century, it was an archipelago of independent kingdoms, intermittently invaded by Negritos, Indonesians, Proto-Malays, Malays and swept by the tide of the Southeast Asian Empires - the Shri-Vishaya, the Madjapahit, the Mohammedan-Malay Empire of Malacca, and the Chinese of the Mings.

Filipino Architecture is not indigenous. It is an admixture of the Muslim, Malayan, Chinese, and Spanish influences. The indigenous tribes of the Philippines, which were quite a diverse group, and of nomadic nature had little art of building to speak of. Their architectural art was revealed in their houses of nipa, cogon and bamboo. Although these simple buildings were not as enduring as the colossal pyramids of Egypt or as magnificent as the grand temple of Greece, yet they were suitable to the tropical conditions of the islands.

The earliest shelters of human beings were probably not built by them. They simply found these shelters or found themselves in them. It was nature which fashioned hollows on cliffs and mountainsides that offered protection from heat, rain, and wind. Communities before lived near bodies of water. Houses were lined across the seas, rivers, lakes, and bays. Why? This is because:

1. There is food from the water sources2. The water source is an easy access to food3. It is also a means of transportation4. It is not easily attacked by enemies.

Early Shelter

1. Caves - Caves and rock shelters, like the Tabon Cave in Palawan, served as shelters for the early Filipinos. Early Filipinos lived in caves because they think caves were safer. The Tabon Cave in Palawan yielded the earliest-known remains of human beings in the Philippines.

TRIVIA: In Angono, Rizal, evidence of ancient cave dwellers exists in carved figures on cave walls which were declared the earliest known Philippine mural.

But later then they moved to plains and coastal areas for fishing.

2. Lean-to - Meanwhile, the food gatherers, the fishers, or the hunters, who moved from one place to another in their search for food and game, needed a portable shelter. Thus, they fashioned the lean-to from a frame made of tree branches and twigs, using leaves and fronds for sidings. A screen resting on the ground and help up at an angle by one or several poles, the lean-to is both roof and wall, protecting dwellers from rain the heat of the sun.

A lean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free standing lean-to structures are generally used as shelters. It is roof and wall combination made to protect dwellers from rain the heat of the sun. The floor can be the ground itself, or a bed of leaves, or a platform slightly above the ground. The lean-to is light enough to be carried to another site. However, the dweller can simply abandon it and build another. A pair of lean-tos can be joined together to form a tent-like shelter, or a double-slope roof, which, in effect, is the beginning of a house.

TRIVIA: Swidden farming or commonly called kaingin led to a relatively settled life. After making a clearing in the forest, the swidden farmer could cultivate it for two years, let it lie fallow, the return to it a few years later. Although dwellings became larger and were better built, they were neither permanent nor durable because sometimes, the kaingin farmer had to move on.

Modern Lean to

3. Tree Houses - These are platforms or buildings constructed around, next to or between the trunk and branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. For added protection from floods, wild animals, and enemies, houses were built on trees, anywhere from 2 to 20 meters above the ground. Such houses have been found among the Ilongot, Tinguian, and Gaddang in northern Luzon, and among the Mandaya, Manobo, Tiruray, and Bukidnon in Mindanao. One type of tree house nestles on the branches of a tree. Another type rests partly on a tall tree stump and partly on a cluster of tall stilts. Moreover, Houses have ladders hoisted in at night to keep safe from enemies and wild animals.

Ifugao Dwellings

The people of the Cordilleras in northern Luzon are swidden farmers. But some, particularly the Ifugao, Bontoc, and Kalinga, are known for their rice terraces. With massive, towering walls and a skillfully devised irrigation system, the rice terraces are a wonder of primitive engineering. The terrace builders constructed sturdy dwellings remarkable for both simplicity and ingenuity.

Introduced to the Philippines by Late Neolithic People (Indonesia B), a seafaring group, came directly to the archipelago from South China to Northern Indo-China (2000-1500 BC), the one-room Ifugao house, known as fale, is a little marvel of construction. Outside, the Ifugao house seems to be nothing more than a pyramidal roofs raised on four posts. The interior space—enclosed by slanting walls, sloping roof, and ceiling formed by the loft—appears nearly spherical. The dark, windowless chamber suggests a womb. Four wooden posts rest on a pavement and support two wooden girders which, in turn, support three wooden transverse joists. On the posts are wooden discs that prevent rats from entering the house. The ladder is drawn up at night or is hung across the front when the occupants are away. The floor joists, floor sills, vertical studs, and horizontal beams at about head level form a cage that rests on the posts and girders. Floor boards are fitted between the joists. Wooden sidings slant outward and rise to waist height to form the lower half of the wall. The upper half of the wall is formed by the inner side of the roof.

Wave Migration Theory

The most widely known version of the peopling of the Philippines during the prehistoric times is the theory of Prof. H. Otley Beyer. The theories of Prof. Beyer about Philippine prehistory on the waves of migration are now under attack by the new breeds of historians and anthropologists. Indeed the migration of ancient Filipinos cannot now be held tenable due to many questions about the manner in which this theory was postulated, and the be archaeological evidence which

challenge many of Dr. Beyer’s hypotheses. These are presented below on the ancestors of the Filipinos came in different” waves of migration.

1. The Cave-man “Dawn Man” Group

This type was similar to the Java Man, Peking Man, and other Asian homo sapiens of 250,000 years ago. Beyer called the first Filipino the “ Dawn Man,” for he appeared at the dawn time. It is claimed that he reached the Philippines through land bridges.

a. Thickly haired and brawny had no knowledge in agriculture.

b. He lived by means of gathering wild plants, by fishing and hunting.

c. Hunting, for that time many Pleistocene animals such as boars, deer, and rhinoceros, small and giant elephants.

2. Negritos Group

The aboriginal pygmy group, who came between 25,0000 and 30,000 years ago, again they walked across the land bridges from the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and the Australian connection. Hence they looked like the aborigines. After their arrival, the land bridges became submerged under the seas, and the Negritos lived permanently in the archipelago and became its first settlers. They are also known as Aeta, Ati or Ita. The Negritos are among the smallest people on earth. They are usually 5 feet tall, with black skin, dark kinky hair, round eyes, and flat noses. The Aetas are primitive people with culture belonging to the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic)

a. They had no permanent dwelling but wandered in the forests, living by hunting, fishing, and foraging for wild plants.

b. Their homes consisted of temporary sheds made of tree branches and jungle leaves.

c. They wore little clothing.d. They had no community life and only

practiced the crudest religion, with a belief in charms, amulets, fetishes, or even animal and human sacrifices.

e. They were among the world’s best archers and herbalists.

Wave Migration Theory: Study of people migrations gradually coming into the Philippines from neighboring countries.

1. First Wave: Indonesia from the South

These were the maritime Indonesians, who belonged to the Mongoloid race with Caucasian feature, who came about 5,000 -6,00 years ago. They were the first immigrants to reach the Philippines by sea. They were tall, with height ranging from 5’6” to 6’2”. According to Beyer, the Indonesian came in two waves of migration, with type “A” arriving about 3,000 to 4,000 BC and the second about 1,500 to 500 BC.

Indonesian ”A” was tall and slender with light complexion, thin lips and high aquiline nose.

Indonesian “B” was shorter, with bulky body, dark complexion, thick lips, and large nose.

It is said that the descendants of the Indonesians are the terrace-building tribes of Northern Luzon (Ifugao), and also Igorots, Apayaos, Gaddangs, Kanlinga and Ibanags; the Mangyans of Mindoro; the Tagbanuas of Palawan; and the Bagobos, Bilaans, Bukidnons, Manobos, Mandaya, Subanuns, Tirurays, and other tribes of Mindanao.

a) They brought a more advanced culture than the Negritos, for they belonged to the New Stone (Neolithic) Age, and they displaced the Negritos who moved to the mountains.

b) They had permanent dwellings, wore clothing and personal ornaments, and knew agriculture, mining and copper tools.

2. Second Wave: Direct from Malaysia

The Malays migrated from 300 BC to as late as the 14th and 15th centuries AD. There were several waves of Malay migration to these islands: (1) The first group representing the Bontoks, Ilongots and Tinggian of Northern Luzon;(2) The second group representing the alphabet-using Malays who became the Tagalogs, Bicolanos, Pampangenous, Visayans and other Christian Filipinos; and (3) The Third group representing the Muslim Malays who were descendants of the present day Muslim.

a. The seafaring, more civilized Malays who brought the Iron Age culture and introduced new industries like iron metal smiting, pottery making, cloth weaving by loom and jewelry making.

b. They were the real colonizers and dominant cultural group in prehispanic Philippines.

c. They had organized settlements and better weapons, clothes and ornaments than the two previous groups.

d. They had the Mongoloid features representing an ancient mixture of Indonesian and mongoloid elements coming from the south.

The presentation of the waves of migration was further provided by Beyer Table of Philippine Ancestry in its result of population in 1942.

Bahay Kubo/ Nipa Hut

Bahay Kubo/ Nipa Hut- a raised house on stilt by four posts brought by the southern Tagalogs from the southern part of the Philippines. The idea of house from gradually adopted everywhereThe three-layered structure of the Bahay Kubo with few exceptions arising only in modern times, most Bahay Kubo are raised on stilts such that the living area has to be accessed through ladders. This naturally divides the bahay kubo into three areas: the actual living area in the middle, the area beneath it (referred to in Tagalog as the "Silong"), and the roof space ("Bubungan" in Tagalog), which may or may not be separated from the living area by a ceiling ("Kisame" in Tagalog).

Characteristics of the Bahay Kubo:

Roof - The traditional roof shape of the Bahay Kubo is tall and steeply pitched, ending in long eaves. A tall roof created space above the living area through which warm air could rise, giving the Bahay Kubo a natural cooling effect even during the hot summer season.

Silong - Raised up on hardwood stilts which serve as the main posts of the house, the most important of which are to create a buffer area for rising waters during floods, and to prevent pests such as rats from getting up to the living area. This section of the house is often used for storage, and sometimes for raising farm animals, and thus may or may not be fenced off.

Living Space - The main living area of the Bahay Kubo is designed to let in as much fresh air and natural light as possible. Bahay Kubo may be built without a kisame (ceiling) so that hot air can rise straight into the large area just beneath the roof, and out through strategically placed vents there.

Walls - The walls are always of light material such as wood, bamboo rods, or bamboo mats called "sawali." As such, they tend to also let some coolness flow naturally through them during hot times, and keep warmth in during the cold wet season.

Windows - In addition, Bahay kubo are typically built with large windows, to let in more air and natural light. The most traditional are large awning windows, held open by a wooden rod.

Three (3) Study Importance of the House Form:

1. Replacements of the primitive structures build ground.

2. Demonstrate persistence, Tenacity or Form Resilience.

3. Functional and Technical consideration.

PRIMITIVE BUILDING

• Defined as an act of building practiced in societies based on a low technological and economic level.

It also reflects a precise and detailed knowledge of local climate conditions and a remarkable understanding of the performance characteristics of the building materials locally available.

The first buildings ever constructed were primitive shelters made from stones, sticks, animal skins and other natural materials. While they hardly resembled the steel and glass that make up a modern city skyline, these early structures had the same purpose - to provide a comfortable space for the people inside. There was ingenuity and patient labor in work of this kind; but there was no planning, no fitting together into a complex organism of varied materials shaped with art and handled with science.

• Common ways and means of primitive building:

1. Body-Heat Shelters

In its simplest form, a shelter is nothing more than a shell that traps a pocket of dead air warmed solely by body heat. In tree belts, such shelters are constructed of decomposing leaf litter and other organic debris; in barren, polar regions, they are made of snow.

Heap up a big mound of duff and detritus from the forest floor, then excavate a pocket that is large enough to crawl into. After getting inside, partially block the doorway to minimize air circulation. If it isn't cramped and dirty, you've made the air space too big for your body to heat it sufficiently.

2. Open Shelters

Bough structures that reflect a fire's warmth are the most important shelters to know how to build. They can be erected without tools in an hour provided you are in an area with downed timber-"less if you find a makeshift ridgepole such as a leaning or partly fallen tree to support the boughs.

Pole and Bough Lean-toOne of the most ancient shelters, the single wall of a lean-to serves triple duty as windbreak, fire reflector, and overhead shelter.

A-frame

The pitched roof of the A-frame bough shelter offers more protection against the wind than a lean-to and can still be heated by fire at the

entrance. One drawback is that the occupant can't lie down parallel to the fire for even warmth.

3. Enclosed Shelters

These take more time to build than open shelters (at least three hours), but your efforts will be doubly rewarded. Not only can the shelter be warmed by a small fire, reducing the need to collect a huge pile of wood, but the firelight reflects off the walls, providing cheery illumination for sitting out a long winter night.

Wicki-up - This forerunner of the tepee remains the quintessential primitive shelter-"sturdy enough to blunt prevailing winds, weatherproof, quickly built for nomadic hunters, but comfortable enough to serve as a long-term home. It can be partially enclosed or fully enclosed and vented to permit an inside fire.

Wigwam - A complex version of the wickiup, this is built with long, limber poles bent into a dome-shaped framework to maximize interior space.

• Besides practical and physical consideration, there are forces of cultural and superstructure. It is influenced by the following five factors:

1. Beliefs2. Myths3. Religious4. Social Organization5. Symbolic and Cosmic Interpretations

Tipi (Teepee) - A conical tent, traditionally made of animal skins upon wooden poles. A tipi is distinguished from other conical tents by the smoke flaps at the top of the structure. Historically, the tipi was designed and largely used by Indigenous people of the Plains in the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies of what is now North America. Tipi lodges are still in use by these peoples, though now primarily for ceremonial purposes.

Women were in charge of the teepees: It was up to the women where to place a tepee. The tepee was their castle, and they were in charge of anything to do with it, including building it, erecting it, breaking it down for transports. She was in charge of behavior inside the tepee, as well.

Painted Skins: Men were in charge of the outside of the tepee. It was up to them to bring back the skins necessary to cover the poles. It was up to them to either bring back horses or hides to trade for poles, or to make the poles themselves. The men often painted the outside of the tepee they called home. The painting was often symbolic of their achievements. Each tribe had their own style.

Inside the Tepee: There was a small fire in the center for cooking and for warmth when needed. Tepees had an open space at the top, a little off center, to let the smoke out. When it rained or snowed, the men were sent outside to wrap an extra piece of hide around the top of the tepee. The men always left a little room for the smoke to get out. The Plains people used little furniture. They slept on buffalo skins on the floor of their homes.

Tepee Etiquette: If the entrance flap was open, it was an invitation to enter. If the flap was closed, you needed to announce yourself and wait for an invitation to enter a tepee, even if you lived there. A guest always sat to the left of the head of the family, who always sat the farthest from the door flap. These were rules that everyone knew and everyone followed.

• The Foundation of Primitive Architecture is physical space; its various cultural relationships predominates over Four (4) Concrete Factors such as;

•1. Form2. Dimension3. Material4. Technical Solutions

• First Building Act: Made in reference to check the Four (4) Elements of Architecture;

1. Human Condition

- Survival in hostile environment- Geographic Condition (Climate, Social and Economic)

Human Geography is the relationship between the man and his environment. It is the nature of these relationships, such as conditions, influences, controls, principles and laws.

2. Architectural Reality - The Pole, marks the surroundings territory,

it defines a space.

Poles supplied the framework; wattles, skins, or mud the walls; thatching or stamped earth the roof.

3. Form and Meaning

- Architectural reality acting in purposeful way.- Form is an expression of meaning.

Building first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter, security, worship, etc.) and means (available building materials and attendant skills). As human cultures developed and knowledge began to be formalized through oral traditions and practices.

4. Function and Technique

-Building materials and methods of construction

• Examine the critical role of materials and methods for the design and construction of buildings.

• The primary focus is on materials and systems, their properties and connections, and their intrinsic relationship to structural systems and environmental performance.

PRIMITIVE BUILDING IN THE PHILIPPINES

Simple act of construction as observed among the primitives, are in the following forms;

A. Lean-to/Wind break/Wind Screen:

- Wind is an important climatic aspect, as such windscreen will take away its adverse effect, and gives shade from the sun.

- Made mostly off Pala leaves or woven straw made of tree barks of the naked earth having a surface area of 25 to 30 square feet.

- Popularly used among the Aeta, Negrito, Dumagtas, Mamanua and other native tribes.

B. A Tent Form Negrito Hut:

- Easy to build and nothing lost by abandoning it. Avoid North West from

storms, face the shelter South East. It takes an hour less to construct it.

- Consists of several pieces of bamboo sticks and grass, no knotting and no nails.

- Composed of two-wind screen brought together to form a gable at the ridge (114cm) from the ground, sloping at (25cm) above ground with a total length of 400cm and no flooring.

- The settlement patterns, typically located near a good water supply. And because also of lowland settlers, has forced the Negritos to adopt semi sedentary life in contrast to their previous practice as bands in mountainous regions.

C. Tree House:

- Huts on trees used by the Mamanua (Surigao and Agusan) and Semang Tribes (copied from the Malay) built with the primary purpose of protection.

- Variant High Stilted hut of the Manobo Tribes.

D. Communal House:

- Several families living together and sometimes used for prayer meetings.

- A gable roof structure with each section assigned to a family, leaving a central portion vacant for dancing and ceremonies.