CHAPTER 1: PROJECT BACKGROUND

1.1 Introduction

A church is a building used for Christian religious activities, particularly for worship services. The

term is often used by Christians to refer to the physical buildings where they worship, but it is sometimes

used (by analogy) to refer to buildings of other religions. In conjunction with this desire, cremation was

becoming widely accepted and is now a growing trend. Members not only were choosing secular burial,

but were moving toward cremation as an option to offset these secular costs. This was yet another need of

the members that the church had to address. The idea of a columbarium within a church memorial garden

was the answer.

The concept of the church columbarium is simple in function, yet powerful in both mission and

ministry. The columbarium option answers the needs of many of its members: Inurnment within a

columbarium allows members to remain within the church community and it is a fraction of the cost of

secular burial.

We are born into the church, our lives are spent involved in the church community and now, in

death, we can be welcomed back. The memorial garden offers departed members a true homecoming on

the sacred ground of the church.

The idea of reinforced concrete as a frame construction, capable of bridging great spans and

window openings because it worked in tension as well as compression, was a boon for factory construction,

but its decorative potential was also proven in church architecture . Reinforced concrete has an important

role in the many Roman Catholic churches built in the post-war years. The program of church building was

strengthened in the 20th century by many architects from overseas. Concrete, is an important construction

material used extensively in building, bridges, roads and etc. Due to its property that can be easily molded

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into various shapes, it can take the shapes of formworks. It is also a high compression resistant material

which makes it very suitable for load carrying structures. The use of concrete now raises more popularity

because of new innovations that are now applied in the field; there are what we call, self-consolidating

concrete, roller compacted concrete, high compressive strength concrete and many more, and it will grow

more due to continuous advancements. On the other hand, concrete is weak in resisting tensile forces but

due to innovations, various reinforcements are added to compensate this weak point of the concrete. The

most common reinforcement we use today is steel, the cheapest material in the market that can withstand

high tensile forces. The combination of the two materials makes a design endure both tensile and

compressive forces, which is called reinforced concrete design. Reinforced concrete design incorporates

the applications of the principles of the Theory of Structures with the inclusion of the governing stipulation

of the National Structural Code of the Philippines 2015, where the design must be based.

Advantages of reinforced concrete can be summarized as follows (Hassoun, 1998).

1. It has a relatively high compressive strength.
2. It has better resistance to fire than steel or wood
3. It has a long service life with low maintenance cost.
4. In some types of structures, such as dams, piers, and footing, it is the most economical structural
material.
5. It can be cast to take any shape required, making it widely used in precast structural components.
Disadvantages of reinforced concrete can be summarized as follows:
1. The tensile strength of reinforced concrete is about one-tenth of its compressive strength.
2. The main steps of using reinforced concrete are mixing, casting, and curing. All of this affects the final
strength.
3. The cost of the forms used for casting RC is relatively higher.
4. For multi-storied building the RCC column section for is larger than steel section as the compressive
strength is lower in the case of RCC.
5. Shrinkage causes crack development and strength loss.

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1.2 The Project

This project is a Church with columbarium with an area of 924.3 square meters to be constructed in

Batangas. It will be located at Imelda, San Juan, Batangas. The project will have a performance based

design, aesthetics, health and safety, occupant comfort and convenience, functionality and maintainability.

The project will have a columbarium in basement, while altar, nave and chancel on ground floor level and

offices. Included in this design are the important elements of the building like beams, columns and slabs.

Due to this specifications, the building is said to be safe to withstand the carried loads: dead loads, live

loads, wind loads and earthquake loads.

Fig. 1 Perspective of the Proposed Church

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1.3 Project Objectives

The main objective of this project is to analyze and design a reinforced concrete structure in
accordance with the principles written in NSCP 2015. Other objectives of the project are as follows:
a. To design a church that will have an acceptable probability of performing satisfactorily during
its intended life time.
b. To provide all the necessary architectural plans, structural plans, and the estimate of the
building cost.
c. Use modern applications in the design process such as AutoCad, Staad Pro and MS Excel for
design computations.

1.4 The Client

The client of this structure is a set of religious people lead by Fr. Celestino Yoldi, a Recollect. He is
the assigned as a Diocese of Batangas.

1.5 Project Scope and Limitation

The following were the scope covered by the design project:

1.) The project was designed in accordance to the National Building Code of the Philippines and the
National Structural Code of the Philippines.
2.) Analysis of the loads and moments was done using STAAD Pro.
3.) All architectural plans such as floor plan and perspective of the church were provided.
The following were the limitations of the design project:
1.) Only beams, slabs, and columns were considered in the design.
2.) The cost estimates for the mechanical, plumbing and architectural plan were not included.
3.) The plumbing and electrical plans are not included in this design.
4.) The interior design of the structure was not considered.

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1.4Project Location

The project area is located in Imelda, San Juan, Batangas, which is included in the areas under
seismic zone 4. The figure below shows the distance of the planned structure from the nearest fault line
which is the Makati Valley Fault System.

Fig. 2 Distance of the nearest Fault Line to the structure

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Fig. 3 Vicinity Map of the Church

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