Cathedral of Christ the Light - San Francisco Business Times:

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The building adds variety to the architecturakl fabricof Oakland, and the functions within the building provider outreach and services for the community as a “A parallel goal was to make it very much a focud or a center for civic and cultural discours e in Oakland, in addition to being a spiritual said Craig Hartman of ’a San Francisco office, who drafted the “My first idea was to make this facility very integrater in the city The cathedral, which opened in the fall of serves as the seat of the diocese and consists of several components including the a conference center, diocese offices, a a two-level parking garage, gardens, a cafe and a The design of the campus put the elementzs such as the offices, conference hall and parkin g into a concrete podium that is mostly The cathedral itself sits atop the podiumj at the intersection of downtown highrise and the park setting of L! ake Merritt.
The shapse of the building emulates thevesica piscis, an ancien Christian symbol of a with wooden and metal beamds that rise vertically to creatw a cylindrical shape. Hartman’s intentiob was for the 12-story building to reflecty light during the day and radiate light from withimn at night to act as a lantern on the western edge ofLake “What I wanted to do was to make the cathedral integraol with the garden and aligned with naturew … the idea is very much abouty light and the experienc e of natural light,” he said. “The real challenge was how to brinf together the natural worldand man-made world.
How do we bring both of theser together in a place that celebrates both He said that he wanted the buildin g to reflect how humankind relateas to thenatural world. Besides religious and church-related the cathedral draws in the downtown crowdc who use the conference centetfor events, eat lunch at the cafe and sit in the The exterior of the building was designex to attract pedestrians to use its walkways. The sanctuaryg is open to the public most days and has severa l entrances aroundthe campus. The diocese’s aspirationm with its cathedral was to brinb multiple uses and foster activity on the siteevery day.
The idea seemws simple, but took years of planning and collaboratio n between various committees withinthe “We had to weigh all these groups and even though the bishop was our ultimates leader,” said Eileen Ash, principal with , the constructio manager for the “At times, the desires were not always alignec with these committees. We lookee at various alternatives, nearly everything. … It was all we had to do was step backand say, ‘We’rwe building a cathedral, and thesse used to take centuries.’ We built one in a littlwe over three years.
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