The Bahay Kubo
http://theworldsureisamazing.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/the-bahay-kubo/
Everything has a beginning; everything would have started from something, some say that there is nothing that’s original, because everything is based on something else; some say that things are created because of it being needed. We transport ourselves to the past, and look at what was there before us. As for us Filipinos, when it’s the origin of our architecture being question and asked, we always answered, that it’s the bahay kubo, a structure that is created with the use for very organic and all natural building materials that are the only things where available at that time, no use of technology being made and build by the hands of the people before us.
The bahay kubo was made because of its necessity, a need for the people to where they could live, they made the bahay kubo a boxed shaped structure, so that no space is wasted, all is used and all will be occupied. The bahay kubo has been the symbol of Philippine architecture, but could we say that it was first of its kind? Of course not, we have seen such structure present at other countries long before we ourselves have created our own. Could we say that our bahay kubo is a copy of those overseas, but we have no means to go to other countries, let alone see their structure then copy it, no we have created our own, our own style, with our own twist, made for our own needs, made from the materials that are only available to us, that is what made it ours.
The bahay kubos is only such simple structure, nothing special compared to our super hi-tech mega huge cool looking buildings of today. The bahay Kubo an all organic building, no techno gadgets used, no metal, concrete or plastic, but a very interesting fact is that the bahay kubo has been using something very advance for its time, because being advance is not just being hi-tech and having all that newest material in your structure, but the bahay kubo posses functions far beyond its time. It could all be an accident or a coincidence that the people have created such use and function for it building, or maybe they know all along what they were doing, and intentionally did so to further the use in their buildings, we will never know or we may yet to discover their true intentions.
As I have said who would have thought to make something so simple to something so efficient, the things that made bahay kubo very convenient, and functional first is that, they have already established that even if the bahay kubo is just a big large square in terms of its interiors, they made it so that space would be multifunctional, a living room, a dining room, and a bedroom all together. As we all know there in no electric fans, airconc not even pamaypays where available back then, but the bahay kubo has a secret, it was made to that the bahay kubo possesses passive ventilation, that it regulates the air inside the bahay kubo, they just modify the bahay kubo depending on the location where the bahay kubo will be stationed, because different terrain always presents different weather, they either raise or lower their bahay kubo to properly regulate air. Some version of the bahay kubo even have its own version of a chimney, and uses its smoke to make their version of the oven, and the bahay kubo is very efficient compared to our building of today, wasting energy even thou it is something you can prevent.
I think the bahay kubo has become the basis of the architecture of today, when people have discovered its new technology, it parted ways with its past, because it’s always better to have something that’s new. But now that we have established our technology after using it so much, we have discovered that what we have now is destroying all that is natural, that why after gaining technology now we are searching for a way to go back to the past, that’s why we could see that now we have people going for something they call green architecture and energy efficient things.
It also goes to show that again, that the bahay kubo is again becoming a basis for our new structure, getting its feature of being multifunctional, having a big room with many different uses, is an example of copying the bahay kubos functions. As well as passive ventilation, that saves everything from being used on aircons and electric fans. Also we are again using more organic material that will not pollute and destroy our nature. With all that we can see that the shadow of the bahay kubo still lingers in our structures of today, its functions being used, it may be different in materials but its uses are still the same in its use.
As a design concept for a structure that is inspired by bahay kubo, I would call it designing with the time. It basically means that I will design with the technologies that are available in my time and the time before me. I would make use of the functions that the bahay kubo has presented to make my structure both functional and efficient, but I will also need the use of the technologies today to make a structure that both respects the past and the present.
Everything has a beginning; everything would have started from something, some say that there is nothing that’s original, because everything is based on something else; some say that things are created because of it being needed. We transport ourselves to the past, and look at what was there before us. As for us Filipinos, when it’s the origin of our architecture being question and asked, we always answered, that it’s the bahay kubo, a structure that is created with the use for very organic and all natural building materials that are the only things where available at that time, no use of technology being made and build by the hands of the people before us.
The bahay kubo was made because of its necessity, a need for the people to where they could live, they made the bahay kubo a boxed shaped structure, so that no space is wasted, all is used and all will be occupied. The bahay kubo has been the symbol of Philippine architecture, but could we say that it was first of its kind? Of course not, we have seen such structure present at other countries long before we ourselves have created our own. Could we say that our bahay kubo is a copy of those overseas, but we have no means to go to other countries, let alone see their structure then copy it, no we have created our own, our own style, with our own twist, made for our own needs, made from the materials that are only available to us, that is what made it ours.
The bahay kubos is only such simple structure, nothing special compared to our super hi-tech mega huge cool looking buildings of today. The bahay Kubo an all organic building, no techno gadgets used, no metal, concrete or plastic, but a very interesting fact is that the bahay kubo has been using something very advance for its time, because being advance is not just being hi-tech and having all that newest material in your structure, but the bahay kubo posses functions far beyond its time. It could all be an accident or a coincidence that the people have created such use and function for it building, or maybe they know all along what they were doing, and intentionally did so to further the use in their buildings, we will never know or we may yet to discover their true intentions.
As I have said who would have thought to make something so simple to something so efficient, the things that made bahay kubo very convenient, and functional first is that, they have already established that even if the bahay kubo is just a big large square in terms of its interiors, they made it so that space would be multifunctional, a living room, a dining room, and a bedroom all together. As we all know there in no electric fans, airconc not even pamaypays where available back then, but the bahay kubo has a secret, it was made to that the bahay kubo possesses passive ventilation, that it regulates the air inside the bahay kubo, they just modify the bahay kubo depending on the location where the bahay kubo will be stationed, because different terrain always presents different weather, they either raise or lower their bahay kubo to properly regulate air. Some version of the bahay kubo even have its own version of a chimney, and uses its smoke to make their version of the oven, and the bahay kubo is very efficient compared to our building of today, wasting energy even thou it is something you can prevent.
I think the bahay kubo has become the basis of the architecture of today, when people have discovered its new technology, it parted ways with its past, because it’s always better to have something that’s new. But now that we have established our technology after using it so much, we have discovered that what we have now is destroying all that is natural, that why after gaining technology now we are searching for a way to go back to the past, that’s why we could see that now we have people going for something they call green architecture and energy efficient things.
It also goes to show that again, that the bahay kubo is again becoming a basis for our new structure, getting its feature of being multifunctional, having a big room with many different uses, is an example of copying the bahay kubos functions. As well as passive ventilation, that saves everything from being used on aircons and electric fans. Also we are again using more organic material that will not pollute and destroy our nature. With all that we can see that the shadow of the bahay kubo still lingers in our structures of today, its functions being used, it may be different in materials but its uses are still the same in its use.
As a design concept for a structure that is inspired by bahay kubo, I would call it designing with the time. It basically means that I will design with the technologies that are available in my time and the time before me. I would make use of the functions that the bahay kubo has presented to make my structure both functional and efficient, but I will also need the use of the technologies today to make a structure that both respects the past and the present.
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