Philippines is home to hundreds of classical churches and is also the only catholic country in Asia. The community is concentrated and intense. Rituals are properly observed. But with such seclusion and conservatism, a retardation on architectural movement particular to this building type has also transpired. A contemporary place of worship is yet to be fully embraced as even most catholic priests support the fallacy that people only react with solemnity if confined within traditional walls. The project aims to prove that venerable architecture, nothing short of emphatic, will be strongly possible by adapting the concept of Phi, present in nature and inherent to human psyche, it is known to evoke positive imagery and emotion.

The golden ratio is cohesively applied in this design in order to create a structure that communicates the universal sense of beauty while satisfying its purpose above all – to manifest faith. The target is a Catholic church bearing an ecumenical appeal to all religion. The mastery of the Fibonacci numbers to that of the multi-faceted origin of the church creates an interesting marry and this exploration is long overdue.

Strategically located on the tip of a reclaimed property allowed the structure to exploit a 270-degree ocean backdrop tremendously complimenting the biomimicry intent of the design.

The Divine Spiral was put to the fore. The major difficulty of the design is termination as the model is biologically built to keep growing. This problem was solved by applying a grid derived from Phyllotaxis, the science of leaves and seed arrangement in plants. The presence of the spiral arm materializes the intent to introduce an unprecedented paradigm of a modern church with a curving nave leading to the altar. It shall rest on the eye of the spiral – diverse from the traditional cross plan where altar is laid center of the intersection. This binding discipline is organically carried out to also delineate the site landscape and commons.

The interior shall be subdued and aphotic. Drawing a powerful focus to the altar emanated by a twisting funnel rising to the apex of the structure puncturing the mass like a beaming light cannon. This unyielding atmosphere of the interior is contrasted by the dynamic exterior. By combining spinning spiral blades to make the roof and morphing precast concrete slats for the body, the sculpture appears in motion as you walk along its edges, dramatically exposing itself and its elements by every degree of a turn satisfying its intent to create a dialogue between itself and the observer.