The climate in the Philippines is a tropical monsoon climate. Philippine architecture responds to the climate.

Although there are many variations, generally the roof of the first Philippine houses, nipa huts, or bahay kubo, were high pitched and usually open gabled to allow for ventilation. The steeply sloping pitch also protected from the wind and rain in the typhoon season. The roof also provided wide overhang eaves, to provide shade from the hot sun. These houses were elevated three to four meters of the ground, supported by wood or bamboo. There were usually four or more of these support posts. This aids in air circulation beneath the house. This space underneath the house, called the silong, can also serve as a workspace, a storage space, a granary, a pen for livestock, and one source says it once served as a place to bury relatives (?). In addition, the raised structure sits out of the flooded ground if located next to coastal or riverine areas, and also keeps small rodents and other creatures from entering the main structure. A ladder, hagdan, is used to enter the main structure. It could be drawn up at night or when the owners went out. The structure was usually four-walled with tukod windows. These windows had swinging shades, which could be propped open during the day. There was usually one simple multi-use space on the interior. This open interior again provided ventilation, but also gave the simple dwelling a spacious feel. This space could be used for cooking, eating, and sleeping. Sometimes the cooking was done over an open fire built on the heap of earth in one corner or partitioned off in a space in front of the ladder. Sometimes, there was an open front porch, pantaw or batalan, where jars of water would be kept to wash dishes. This gallery also served as an anteroom or lounging area. The structure could easily be added to, should the need arise. a bahay kubo (probably from Spanish CUBO meaning cube) is the original Filipino ancestral home, and still is the home of many in the rural poor with pitched roof warding off the sun; hinged windows propped up by sticks and most often with stilts keeping the house high and dry. literally means a "Nipa Hut", a Bahay Kubo is of prehispanic architecture which was perfectly adapted to the climate, could easily be repaired or rebuilt after the frequent typhoon, flood or earthquake using simple tools and native materials. Moisture, or the lack of moisture, modifies temperature. The more moisture in a region, the smaller the temperature range, and the drier the region, the greater the temperature range. Moisture is also influenced by temperature. The traditional bahay kubo follows the centuries-old Southeast Asian rural archetype of the single-room dwelling where all family activities happen in one space. After sleeping mats are rolled up in the mornings, the same space is given over to daytime activities that sometimes spill outdoors to the shaded areas underneath the house. The rural bahay kubo evolved into the bahay na bato, where the size of the house was enlarged but much of the single-room lifestyle remained. It was not uncommon for sleeping mats to be laid out in the living room for the children every night. Typical houses within the area were called bahay na bato (house of stone) described as twostorey, red-tiled edifices of quadrangular form which is entered through a massive arched gateway. Living space is located in the second floor while the basement storey is built of thick walls to resist earthquake and is seldom used as a dwelling-place but frequently appropriated as mercantile establishments, offices or store-rooms.

Bahay kubo, Bahay-na-bato Twostorey houses made of wood with cane and palm, later on utilized masonry using adobe However, geography and climate, available natural building materials and local construction skills, could be also said to be the determining factors of the bahay kubo. Responding to climate, the most dominant element of the house is its thick roof of thatch that insulates the interior from the tropical sun, rain slides off its steep roof and wide overhangs protect the walls from water, the floor of bamboo slats conducts air into the house even if all openings are shut. The houses, therefore, are a result of many influences: cultural, environmental and technological. This is a case where form does not necessarily follow function because the form of the house dictates how its inhabitants function within it. Climate Elements 1. Sun. The sun's movement on the site will be the same as that shown in the sun diagrams in "Appendix C". Existing elements (natural or man-made) on and around the site will have definite shading patterns. Understanding those patterns can help in determining the building location and configuration. For any given spot on the site, one can draw the existing elements on the sun graph grid provided in "Appendix C". Just as the sun path was plotted by knowing the azimuth and altitude of the sun, existing site elements can also be drawn on the graph from any one spot on the site. The diagram now shows which locations on the site receive sunshine and shade. These same diagrams can be used to determine shadow patterns to be drawn in plan. 2. Wind. Wind at the site and at different locations on the site can vary from the general wind data given for your area. A better understanding can be obtained by testing a true scale model of the site and buildings in a wind tunnel. When wind testing is not feasible, the designer can understand wind direction and speed by using five basic principles of air movement: velocity, direction, pressure, density and the venturi effect. 3. Humidity. Sites located near large bodies of water or rivers tend to be more humid than inland areas. Wind direction also affects humidity. Downwind from the water is more humid than up wind. Vegetation will also increase moisture in the air. Water vapor is a gas that occupies the same space with other gases that together constitute air. But in some ways, water vapor acts independently of the air. For any given temperature and degree of saturation, water vapor in the air exerts its own vapor pressure. It flows or migrates from areas of higher vapor pressure toward areas of lower vapor pressure in air or in materials. Moisture, driven by vapor pressure, can even travel through porous materials through which air cannot pass. 4. Temperature. The microclimate temperatures of the site may be different from the general data collected at the airport and can vary significantly at the site. Again, large bodies of water will tend to stabilize temperatures on the land adjacent to them. During a hard freeze in the False River area of Louisiana, most of the citrus trees within a quarter mile of the lake survived, while most of those outside that area did not. Through evapotranspiration, trees and other vegetation cool the air around them. A moist lawn is 10 to 15F cooler than bare soil and 30F cooler than unshaded asphalt. The shade temperature of a large tree can be 10 to 15F cooler than the unshaded lawn during a summer day. Sites with a more southern slope will be warmer than a flat site because radiation from the sun is more perpendicular to its surface. Likewise, a northern sloping site would not receive as much radiation and would therefore be cooler.