Bahay Kubo Architecture

The bahay kubo, also called a nipa hut, is a type of stilt house indigenous to the Philippines, and represents the traditional basic house design used by almost all of the country's lowland peoples. It is typically built of local materials such as wood, bamboo, palm leaves including nipa, anahaw and coconut, and cogon grass, raised on stilts and assembled with shaped and fitted wood or bamboo joined by lashings rather than nails. A bahay kubo is generally a single multi-purpose raised room beneath a steeply pitched roof with extended eaves. The later bahay na bato house form grew out of the bahay kubo during the Spanish colonial period, incorporating brick and stone into its foundation and lower walls in place of the bahay kubo's traditional bamboo materials, while keeping its predecessor's elevated design and ventilation principles.