Celebrating its 25th year in December of 2024, this project is mainly used during the Christmas season for the traditional Simbang Gabi (evening masses) and was inspired by the story of Christ’s birth. The design is an attempt to bring images of the manger with the baby Jesus in the center surrounded by the faithful, representing the shepherds who were witnesses to the first Christmas. Solid timber “light rays” adorn the facade and the altar to symbolize the glorious light emanating from the Child Jesus.
The chapel was designed to be as open as possible so that people who are on the street - as the chapel gets filled to capacity – can still attend the evening masses. Black steel grilles above the stone fence allude to the musical scale suggesting the choirs of angels singing at the birth of the Messiah: "Gloria in Excelsis Deo!"
The adobe stone fence continues those from the Chapel’s neighbors, unifying the project with its community. Colored stone from the interiors continue to the exterior to create the illusion of a bigger space. Trees on both sides of the chapel will shade the outdoor seating areas, especially during the hot Lenten season when the community again gathers to celebrate the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus.
Designed to blend with the close-knit community, wood-framed capiz shells are used as light diffusers surrounding the interiors to echo the traditional windows of Filipino homes as seen in the chapel's neighboring houses.
The nave is finished in green rustic tiles while the alter is in red, referencing the traditional colors of Christmas. Above the altar, mirrors between the wooden sunburst reflect the Chapel’s ceiling as if another space is beyond the walls. The Crucifix on the altar is flanked by two large wooden “doors,” a reference to the biblical verses where Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
During the Chapel’s blessing in December 1999, in time for the coming of the second millennium of Christianity, the parish priest who dedicated the chapel said “this feels just like home.” Indeed, the Chapel was designed to blend well with the community, to blur the line between inside and outside, to invite and welcome everyone to celebrate and rejoice the birth of the Savior!
The Chapel of the Nativity is Hearth Group's Principal Architect Jimmy Hermogenes' first free-standing project.
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