35th UAP National Convention
The Power of Architecture
DREAM • C REAT E • T RANS FO RM
The okil VLS of this a pre-war residence in
Sta.Cruz, Davao del Sur gives a lace-like
ornamention to its plain exterior wall.
The Antonio Estioko House
in Pantukan, Compostella
Valley, built in 1938, shows a
fine specimen of the okil VLS.
An extant house in Hagonoy, Davao del Sur has
okil VLS on the ventinalla and above the transom.
An abandoned house in
Gov. Generoso, Davao Oriental
still displays its nice okil VLS.
From the inside, the okil VLS makes a wonderful silhouette against the outside light.
ornate shadows inside. From the outside, the VLS provides an attractive
lace-like ornamention to a humble wooden structure.
A recent documentation of ancestral homes in Mindanao revealed
that this architectural feature developed in the southern parts of the island
in the early 1900s and eventually disappeared around half a century later.
This was the period when large plantations were established in Mindanao,
which brought an influx of migrants from different parts of the country. The
region, thus, became an melting pot of cultures, bringing together varied
building traditions.
During the study, the researchers were able to locate in the sleepy town
of Baganga, Davao Oriental, a living artisan of the okil VLS, Hipolito Mulato,
who, with other apprentice carpenters from Bohol, travelled to Da vao in
the 1930s in search of livelihood. Later, becoming a master carpenter, Mr.
Mulato, now an octogenarian, would incorporate Mindanawon motifs into
his carpentry know-how. His masterpieces, proud residential structures of
yore, now dilapidated, can still be found around Bangaga.
Artistic details, though not imperative in building function, plays an
important role in architecture. The okil venting light screen was able to
fuse both. Indeed, its an outstanding architectural detail that combines
fascinating ornamentation with the important demands of tropical design.
Ericson P.
Europa
Arch. Ericson P. Europa is a faculty
of the BS Architecture Program
in UP Mindanao and was part of
a NCCA-funded research grant,
entitled “Philippine Pre-World War II
Period Architecture in the Mindanao
Context: Focus on Architectural
Venting Light Screens.” He is a past
Chapter President of UAP Davao and
currently Corresponding Editor of the
UAP Post.
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