BALE: IFUGAO HOUSE

Ifugao house building is one of the most admired

ethnic architectural designs for having employed an
indigenous system of construction that is more complex
than its seeming simplicity.

LOCATION
o It is harmoniously located with the contour
of the rice terraces.
o The one-room house of
the Ifugao commonly known to them as fale.

VIEWS OF THE IFUGAO HOUSE

o EXTERIOR VIEW
The exterior of the house seems to be
almost nothing but a pyramid resting on
four posts.
o INTERIOR VIEW
The interior space is enclosed by slanting
walls and ceiling that appears to be
spherical that are formed by the
loft. Inside the house was embellished
rows of skulls of animals offered to gods
during their annual rituals and also as a
source of pride to the homeowner

FLOOR LEVELS OF THE IFUGAO HOUSE

The concept within the house can be
conceptualized as Three-Leveled Dwelling:
o GROUND LEVEL
It has four post supporting the house.
The posts have wooden discs which was
called oliang to prevent rats from entering
the house.
o SECOND LEVEL
It is the living area that was accessible
through a removable ladder.
The social affairs, eating, cooking and
sleeping are all done in this area.
o THIRD LEVEL
There was the patie, it is a shelf that extends
from the wallboards outwards to the
underside of the roof.
It serves as the storage area and as a
structural support to the roof.














ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

o Structural Frame
The Ifugao house is sturdily crafted of timber
from amugawan trees raised on four posts,
which was buried 50 centimetres below the
ground and locked in with stones. It reveals a
complex technology that renders it a tensile
strength capable of withstanding devastating
typhoons, torrential rain, and violent
earthquakes.
The four wooden posts that rest upon the
pavement and support two wooden girders,
which also supports three wooden transverse
joists.
The floor joists, floor silts, vertical studs and
horizontal beams rests on the post and
girders at about head level from a cage.
The floor boards were fitted between the
joists.
The wooden sides of the house slant outward
and rise up to the waist, this forms the lower
half of the wall.
In its entirety, no nails and bolts are used for
all connections.
The upper half of the wall is formed by the
inner side of the roof. This creates a dark,
windowless chamber which suggests a
womb.
The roof system rests on the house cage.
The steeply pitched pyramidal roof is covered
with thick layers of thatch or cogon, this
insulate the house from the heat of the sun
and from the torrential rail.

o Size and Floor Plan
The Ifugao house has a square floor plan.
Although the size of the house is determined
by the socio-economic status of the people,
an average Ifugao house is approximately 12-
14 feet wide and 12-14 feet long.

o Parts of the House
1. Posts (tukud). The house is erected on four
strong posts which are usually made of large
round logs having an approximate size of 8-
12 inches wide by 6-10 feet in length. These
are buried about 2-3 feet below the ground
and locked in with stones as foundation.
Some posts have intact roots. These are
simply set on the ground with the truncated
roots acting as footing.
2. Wooden Discs (lidi). Around the four posts
are wooden discs to prevent rats from
entering the house. The discs are about 2 to
14 inches thick and 36 to 40 inches in
diameter. Either a square opening or a bore
hole is created at the middle portion for the
posts tip to fit in.
3. Transverse Girders (kuling). Two transverse
girders are attached at the front and rear
posts. They support the two floor beams and
center floor joist. Girders may be 12-14
inches thick with 14-16 inches depth and 12-
14 feet long. The top surface of each girder is
flat while the base is rounded.
4. Side Floor Beams (mundilig). These are
the outer two floor beams through which the
tenons of the secondary posts and
wallboards are mortised. They have right
angled grooves to receive the floorboards.
5. Center Floor Beam (gawaan). It is the center
floor beam upon which the floorboards are
fastened. Both sides of the center floor beam
have right angled grooves for attaching the
floorboards.
6. Front and Rear Floor joist (hakpo). These are
the first two floor boards upon which the
other boards are affixed.
7. Secondary Posts (bagat). These are the posts
at the houses main level. Each post is
mortised at the base with the outer floor
beam. Likewise, each upper tenon of the
secondary post is mortised with the purlin.
8. Floor (dotal). The wooden planks of the floor
are about 2 inches thick and 7 feet 7 inches
long. The width varies from 12 or 16 to 30
inches wide that covers the whole floor area.
9. Purlin (wanan). The wanan is a horizontal
timber supporting the rafters of the roof. It
also carries the central cross-beam .
10. Intermediate Post (pamadingan). These
support the ceiling beam and the lintel beam
or purlin.
11. Wall Header (huklub). This chest level
transverse beam is where the wall boards are
rabbeted.
12. Wall boards (gaob). These measure about
1 inches thick, with varying width and
height. Each board has a v-shaped bottom
and top to fit the grooved floor beams, joists,
and wall header.
13. Shelves (patye). These are built at the sides
of the walls. From the wall header to the
roof, boards are fitted horizontally to form a
shelf. The space is wide enough to
accommodate many clothes, mats, blankets
and other household belongings. The shelf
above the wall header serves as a cupboard.
14. Attic Central Beam (pumpitolan). It is upon
this attic central beam where one or two king
posts are positioned.

15. King Post (taknang). The king post holds the
roof from collapsing. It stands at the attic
central beam and its tip as attached at the
center of the apex frame.
16. Apex Frame (ambubullan).
The ambubullan supports the upper ends of
the rafters, the roof a pyramidal shape. It
also serves as the smoke exhaust of the
house.
17. Attic (palah/palan). A stick mat (atag) is
fitted between the crossbeam and purlin to
serve as a platform for the attic.
18. Rafters (kaho). These are long, round tree
trunks or chopped flat boards held by the
square roof apex frame. Small tree branches
are chiseled and pegged into the apex frame
to hold the top rafters in place. The lower
ends of the rafters are also pegged to the
purlins. They are equally spaced and
cantilevered to the level of the floor area.
19. Cross rafters (ibat). Split bamboos and stick
of ronos are laid out across the longitudinal
rafters and are tied by rattan vines.
20. Roofing (atop). Bundled cogon grass roofing
are laid begining from the base to the
top. These are tied over woven slit bamboos.
The eaves of the roof may descend to the
level the floor. The door is constructed facing
south so as not to face directly the rising of
the sun from the east. Doing otherwise will
expose the occupants to accidents and death.
Sliding panels of wood are used to close
doorways. Entrance to the house is gained by
means of a ladder that is removed at night.
21. Fireplace (pamalakngan). It is composed of a
hearth (pundapulan), fire wood shelf
(huguhug), and rice stacking shelf (pala-
an). Except for houses used as rice granaries,
the Ifugao house is equipped with an earthen
fireplace about 3 to 5 square feet. Above it
are layers of open shelves. The lower shelf is
used for drying firewood. A shelf above it is
used to dry stacks of rice and other food
staples to be dried and preserved.
22. Door (panto). Movable door shutters are
hanged to a rattan vine tied to the end of
the wallboards of to the intermediate posts
and door jambs. It is locked in place by a
wooden bar to a hook-shaped wood.
23. Ladder (tete). It is a wooden or bamboo
ladder with wooden rungs. It provides
access to the house. For the safety of the
occupants, the ladder is pulled inside at
night.


Sources:
Ifugao House, http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Ifugao_House
Ifugao House, http://www.nikeprogramme.org/index.php/ik-database/researches/82-knowledge-we-wrote/109-ifugao-house.html
Ifugao, House, Rosario S. Encarnacion, et. al., FOLK ARCHITECTURE