For years the so called "Philippine architecture" started with a simple lean-to. Then it has developed into the famous Bahay Kubo. A one room house made of indigenous materials (e.g. bamboo, nipa, cogon, etc.) tied and fit together. It’s elevated from the ground with the use of stilts. Such kind of construction was made for reasons of protection, storage and hygiene.
 
 

After the advent of the Chinese traders, by the early sixteenth century, the Spaniards rediscovered the archipelago and named it " Las Islas Filipinas" after the king of the former superpower. Thus the name Philippines came about.
 
 

Soon after that,, the indigenous bahay kubo was conjugated (as to follow the Spanish language that is fond of conjugation) into the Bahay na Bato. Same concept as the bahay kubo, bigger area, plus a plentiful number of rooms, each room given appropriate Spanish names (e.g. cucina-kitchen, sala-living room, comedor—dining room and so on) .
 
 

Spain ruled the Philippines for three hundred years making it a reputable extension of Europe. Thus western patterns and designs became a trend for a long time in a tropical country in Southeast Asia. With such climate and geography, these patterns and materials where somehow adjusted to fit the locality.

Soon after the reign of the Spanish crown, the Philippine has been occupied by a number of countries from different parts of the globe name Japan, US and Great Britain. But the mentality of borrowing and acquiring customs, culture and arts continued. Such activity though did not neglect the reality that the country is situated in the tropics, and so adjustment and modifications had been made.
 
 

Thus came about a certain kind of style that is Filipino. A heterogeneous and exotic mixture of the east and the west. Filipino, as scholars may debate on, started only after Spain’s rediscovery, such may not include the indigenous art of the different cultural minorities that had been flourishing hundred of years even before the Chinese came. Though this account has been debated over and over by the people from the academe, Philippine architecture still remains faithful to the cultures that fertilized it to grow to a rich solid and massive Corinthian column to the eloquence and grace of a Sarimanok.