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Bahay kubo drawing: how to draw one, with its plan, elevations and section

Bahay kubo drawings: six steps to draw one from the front, then its plan, front and side elevations, a section naming every part, a cut-away and exploded view.

A pen drawing of a bahay kubo in three-quarter view, raised on posts, with woven walls, propped awning windows, a ladder to the door and a tall thatched roof
Illustration A bahay kubo in perspective, drawn in pen: the view most people are asked to draw. Generated line drawing: it is an illustration of the type, not a measured drawing, a built house, or the practice's work.

This page is a set of bahay kubo drawings. It starts with a way to draw one from the front in six steps, then shows the house as an architect would draw it: a plan, the front and side elevations, and a section with every part named in Tagalog and English. A cut-away and an exploded view show how it goes together. The line drawings were drawn for this page. They are illustrations of the type, not to scale and not measured from a real house.

For what each part does and why, read the bahay kubo guide. For layouts you could build, read the bahay kubo design guide.

How to draw a bahay kubo, step by step

How to draw a bahay kubo from the front, in six stepsSix small panels, each adding to the one before, with the new part drawn in the accent colour. One: a ground line and a box for the walls. Two: three posts from the box down to the ground and a floor beam. Three: a tall triangular roof wider than the box. Four: a door, two windows and a ladder from the door to the ground. Five: rows of thatch on the roof and a woven pattern on the walls. Six: grass along the ground and a band of shade under the eaves.1 the wall box2 posts, floor3 a tall roof4 door, ladder5 thatch, weave6 shade, ground
DrawingThe order that keeps the proportions right: box first, then the posts that lift it, then a roof that is taller than the walls and wider than the box. Texture goes on last. Illustrative, not to scale.
  1. Draw the ground and the wall box. Rule a ground line across the page. Above it, a little to the side of centre, draw a wide rectangle for the walls. Leave room under it for the posts and above it for a roof taller than the box.
  2. Add the posts and the floor. Drop three posts from the bottom of the box to the ground: one at each corner, one in the middle. Draw the floor beam along the bottom of the box, running a little past each side. The gap between the box and the ground is the silong, the shaded space under the house.
  3. Draw a tall roof. Mark the apex above the middle of the box, well above it: the roof is the tallest part of the house. Run both sides down past the walls so the eaves overhang. A roof that only just covers the walls is the most common mistake, and it makes the house look like a box with a lid.
  4. Add the door, windows and ladder. Put the door in the middle of the wall and a window either side. A short line from the bottom of each window shows the rod that props the awning open. Draw the ladder from the door to the ground as two rails with rungs.
  5. Add the thatch and the weave. Draw rows across the roof, parallel to the eaves, for the layers of thatch. Fill the walls with a small crossed pattern for the woven bamboo, stopping at the door and windows.
  6. Add shade and ground. A band of short lines on the wall just under the eaves shows the shade the roof casts. A few strokes of grass along the ground line finish it.

To draw it in perspective, start with the corner post nearest you and draw it longest. Every vertical stays vertical. The lines of the floor, the wall tops and the eaves run back toward two points on the horizon, one to the left and one to the right. The roof apex sits above the middle of the box, so find the middle of each side by drawing its diagonals before you place the ridge.

The plan

Plan of a traditional bahay kubo: one main room, a hearth, a batalan, a porch and a ladderA floor plan seen from above. A near-square main room, the bulwagan, has posts at its corners and midpoints, windows on three walls and a door at the front. A small porch sits outside the door with a ladder down to the ground. Inside, a hearth sits in the back corner near a side door that opens onto the batalan, a slatted platform that projects from the side wall with a water jar and its own steps down. Part of the floor is drawn with parallel slats.plan: the main floorwindowhaligi: postbulwaganone main roomslat floorhearthdoorbatalanwet areastepsporchhagdan: ladder
DrawingOne room for living, eating and sleeping, with the wet work pushed out onto the batalan beside it and the hearth placed next to that door. Illustrative, not to scale: sizes varied with the family and the materials to hand.

A plan is the house seen from above with the roof taken off. The bahay kubo plan is one main room, the bulwagan, with posts at the corners and along the walls. Windows sit on three sides so a breeze can come from any direction. The hearth sits at the back corner by a side door, and through that door is the batalan, a slatted platform for washing with a water jar and steps of its own. At the front, a small porch with a rail and a ladder down to the ground.

The plan variants on the design page show the same room with and without a porch, a batalan and a second room. On a real plan, walls, doors, windows and stairs are drawn with standard marks, which the guide to reading a house plan explains.

Front and side elevations

Front and side elevations of a bahay kuboTwo drawings side by side. On the left, the front: three posts lift a woven-walled box with a door and two windows, a ladder runs from the door to the ground, and a tall roof rises to an apex with eaves reaching well past the walls. On the right, the side: the same box and roof, with a lower batalan platform under its own sloping roof attached at the right, carrying a water jar and steps.angkub: apexbubongroofsibieaveshaligipostssilongbatalanfrontside
DrawingFront and side. The roof is the tallest part of the house and reaches well past the walls on every side; the floor is lifted clear of the ground on the posts. Illustrative, not to scale.

An elevation is one side of the house drawn flat, with no perspective. From the front, the roof makes a tall triangle over the woven walls, and the ladder rises to the door between the posts. From the side, the batalan shows up as a lower platform with its own sloping roof. The open space under the main floor is the silong.

A clean line drawing of the front of a bahay kubo: a hip roof with straight thatch lines over a woven wall with a door and two windows, raised on posts with a short ladder
IllustrationA front elevation drawn as flat lines, the easiest version to copy and the one a plan set would carry. Generated line drawing: it is an illustration of the type, not a measured drawing, a built house, or the practice's work.

The section, with every part named

A bahay kubo in section, with the name of every partA cross-section through a bahay kubo. Two posts rise from the ground to the top of the walls; the left one is buried in the ground, the right one stands on a flat stone. A horizontal beam joins the posts, joists sit across it and a slatted floor sits on the joists. Woven walls rise from the floor to a top beam. Above them a roof frame rises to an apex, covered in thatch, with eaves far past the walls. There is no ceiling, and an arrow shows warm air rising into the roof. The open space under the floor is the silong.angkub: apexbubong: thatchbalangkas: framesibi: eavesno ceilingheat risesdingding: wallsahig: slatssoleras: joistsyawi: beamhaligi: postsilongopen space belowbinaon: buriedpinatong: on stone
DrawingEach part with its Tagalog name. The posts run from the ground to the wall top, so the frame stands before any wall goes on, and the room is open to the roof with no ceiling, so the heat has somewhere to go. Illustrative, not to scale.

A section is the house cut straight through and seen from the cut. It is the drawing that shows how the house is put together. The posts (haligi) run from the ground to the top of the walls; one is buried (binaon), one stands on a stone (pinatong). A beam (yawi) ties them together, joists (soleras) sit across it and the slat floor (sahig) sits on those. The woven walls (dingding) rise to a top beam, and the roof frame (balangkas) rises to the apex (angkub) and carries the thatch (bubong) out to the eaves (sibi). There is no ceiling, so warm air rises into the roof.

A pen drawing of a bahay kubo cut open from the front, showing the posts, the floor on its beams, woven wall panels and the bamboo roof frame under the thatch
IllustrationA cut-away: the front taken off so the floor beams, the wall panels and the roof frame show at once. Generated line drawing: it is an illustration of the type, not a measured drawing, a built house, or the practice's work.

The exploded view

An exploded view pulls the house apart so each layer can be seen on its own. Read it from the bottom up and it is the order the house is built in: posts, floor frame, walls, roof frame, thatch.

An exploded line drawing of a bahay kubo, its parts pulled apart vertically: posts at the bottom, then the floor frame, the walls, the roof frame and the thatched roof at the top
IllustrationAn exploded view: the house pulled apart into the parts it is built from, in the order they go up. Generated line drawing: it is an illustration of the type, not a measured drawing, a built house, or the practice's work.

Drawing a modern bahay kubo

A modern version keeps the raised floor, the tall open roof, the deep eaves and the walls that let air through, and builds them in concrete, steel, timber and glass. The modern bahay kubo guide has a section and a plan of one, and design concepts showing how it can look.

When the drawing is for a real house

A drawing like the ones on this page is fine for a school project or for showing a builder what you have in mind. A house you will actually build needs a set of plans for the building permit: site plan, floor plans, elevations, sections and the structural, electrical and plumbing sheets, each signed by the licensed professional whose field it is. The architectural sheets are signed by a licensed architect. The guide to reading a house plan explains each sheet and who signs it, and the building permit requirements guide lists what the office asks for. Our custom house design service draws that set for a bahay kubo-style house on your lot.

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