TROPICAL DESIGN THEORIES,

CONCEPTS AND STRATEGIES

Vernacular Architecture
Vernacular Architecture or folk
or popular architecture/
Vernacular Architecture may
not so much be defined in
terms of style, but rather in
terms of process, how it is
design and built.
The process of vernacaular
design is adjusting an existing
model to particular needs and
results to variations of the
original.
(e.g. Primitive dwelling to
adapts to local climate, thus,
bahay kubo)
Bahay Kubo
In the tropical setting of the
Philippines, passive cooling
techniques have ben in use since
pre-historic times.
Bahay kubo is designed as an
adaptation to its tropical
environment.
Among the bahay kubos
adaptations:
The living platform is
elevated on stilts.
The flexible framing
system and materials
allow the bahay kubos
frame to sway during
earthquakes.
The Bamboo flooring
material creates gaps
between the slats which
allows air to breeze.
upward into the living

space.
.Among the bahay kubos
adaptations:
Large windows
facilitate cross
ventilation.
Operable window
awnings provide shade
from sun and rain.
Roof provide wide
overhangs for the
windows to protect them
for solar radiation and
rain.
The walls and roof are
constructed of
thatch(nipa) with low Uvalues.
Time lag for the porous
materials becomes
negligible.
Bahay na Bato
When the spanish colonization
of the Philippine began,
numerous construction
projects had to be undertaken
by the colonizers.
Successive earthquakes
destroyed many building
forcing the designers to
rethink their structures.
Over a period of time, their
architecture evolved in order
to adapt to local
environmental conditions in
the Philippines. To some
extent, the designers had
tocopy some of the adaptive
features of the bahay kubo.
This became the evolutionary
birth of the Philippines
Ancestral house or more
commonly known as the

Bahay na Bato
Characteristics:
The bahay na batos living
platform was elevated from
the damp ground by a stone
base on the ground floor.
The roof has a high pitch just
like the bahay kubo so that
rain water can be drained
quickly
The high pitch roof created a
large air space between the
roof and the ceiling.
The Bahay na Bato has wide
eaves (alero) that provides
the necessary sun shading for
its window openings.
The Bahay na Bato has large
windows and ventanillas
below the windows to take full
advantage of cross
ventilation.
The underside of the wide
eaves was fitted with latticed
vents that allow breeze to
enter rof cavity preventing hot
air fro accumulatuon within
the cavity.
To further protect the space
from heat gain, a double wall
system was built into the
Bahay na Bato
This feature is now known as
a DOUBLE LAYERED FACADE
system used in many of our
moderm buildings
While the venting of its cavity
between the DOUBLE
LAYERED FACADE (volada) is
now known as VENTILATED
DOUBLE FACADE (VDF)
In certain cases, the volada
had operable louvers or

jalousies on its exterior.

The operable jalousies
operate on the principle we
now recognize