The Church Hierarchy at Bkerke commissioned a large ceremonial space for special occasions, where tens of thousands of people could attend a Liturgy celebrated by up to 900 priests around a covered Altar space. The project was designed in accordance to the available area in the site facing the Patriarchal See at Bkerke. The design takes into consideration many factors:

– The developed space serves as an extended open air cathedral for the largest congregation possible (up to 50,000 people).
– The focal key of its composition is the Altar space developed under a 30m diameter cupola that hosts all the servants during the Liturgy.
– The cupola extends its arms sideways, along the profile of the slope of the natural terrain in order to house two choirs of 150 people each in the exedras set alongside the large enveloping arms. These extensions give the impression of grasping the assembly during the ceremony, in a semantic symbolism of gathering, protecting, and above all inviting them to procession towards the Altar, in a sanctified feeling architecture is able to suggest.
– The visual motion towards the altar unites the assembly in a sense of participation to the Liturgy around one focal point, the holy sacrament, which is at the centre of the cupola, symbolic link between the assembly and transcendence. The feeling of transcendence is accentuated by the light flooding the Altar from the glazed capping of the dome (19 m diameter glazed structure being the first laminated timber application in Lebanon).

The development of the cupola and its extensions were meant to be reintegrated in nature, where vegetation should have covered partially this structure. This part of the project was unfortunately not completed. Later on the project was modified beyond the will of the architect to become a closed spherical church.