The EDSA Shrine is the northernmost tip of the Ortigas Center, a financial and commercial district occupying large tracts of land in Quezon City, Mandaluyong, and Pasig.

Sin made the proposal as an act of thanksgiving to the Virgin Mary to whom devout Catholics attribute the success of the peaceful revolution.

[5] The concept for a commemorative shrine developed when Sin and Bishop Gabriel Reyes were en route to Camp Aguinaldo to preside a Thanksgiving Mass.

At a corner of Epifanio de los Santos and Ortigas Avenues, Reyes pointed out to Sin the site where a group of protesters, which included Catholic religious sisters, offered flowers to soldiers during the revolution.

[6] Cardinal Sin convinced the Ortigas and Gokongwei family to donate the corner lot where the EDSA Shrine now stands today[4] The shrine was initially planned to be built inside Camp Crame, but plans were scrapped because churches built on government-owned property had to be ecumenical in nature.

[4] The construction was almost finished by November 1989 and the shrine was set to be inaugurated by December 8, 1989, the date of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

However such plans were interrupted by a coup attempt which began on November 29, 1989[6] by the Reform the Armed Forces Movement against President Corazon Aquino.

Mary, crowned and clad in golden robes, has her arms outstretched and her Immaculate Heart exposed, while two or three white doves rest at her hands and feet.

[9] The EDSA Shrine's design consisted of a promenade, the People's Plaza, with a statue of the Virgin Mary sculpted by Virginia Ty-Navarro as its focal point, and an underground church which was inspired from the Cathedral of Brasília.

The architect's vision for the shrine, which he dubbed as the "People's Basilica" is derived from the concept of the bahay kubo but on a larger scale.