New Cathedral in Oakland, CA

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sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2005/05/22/BAGU0CSU631.DTL&o=0

The above link is to an article about the new Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, CA.

The Cathedral dedication is Sept 25, however, this weekend, we are blessing the artwork. A procession from the grounds of the old cathedral, irreparibly damaged in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, to the new Cathedral will take place this weekend. We will fill the holy water font with water from the Jordan River, St. Peter’s Basilica, Lourdes, the lake on which the Cathedral sits (Lake Merritt), and water from every parish in the diocese.

I am not going to comment on the building itself, I’ve been to the grounds and inside. It’s nice, but not great. The architect also designed the international terminal at SF Airport. But it is an impressive sight, and if you understand the symbology incorporated, it fits.

More information at ctlcathedral.org
 
Congratulations on your new cathedral!

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Last photo is of a model of the cathedral, courtesy of SFGate.com
 
Boy, I don’t know. I don’t care for the entrance being shapped like a Bishop’s Miter: yeah, a cathederal is the seat of the bishop, but he isn’t suppose to be the one being worshipped.

There was a time when even a small church was a ‘catechism in stone’, new ‘sacred’ architecture is often pretty, but I’m not seeing the catechism.

Based on these photos, I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it either. It’s light years ahead of LA’s white boxcar.

If I get to your city, I’ll have to pay a visit.

Just wondering: did you need a new Cathederal? Has the Catholic population increased, or was the old one falling down?
 
Sam_Maloney said:
Just wondering: did you need a new Cathederal? Has the Catholic population increased, or was the old one falling down?
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From post #1:
A procession from the grounds of the old cathedral, irreparibly damaged in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, to the new Cathedral will take place this weekend.
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Nohome
 
Not my taste, yet an interesting building. My only question is the use of all that glass in an earthquake area. If the old stone building was so badly damaged in the last moderate quake what would a big quake mean to this glass building?
 
KathleenElsie said:
Not my taste, yet an interesting building. My only question is the use of all that glass in an earthquake area. If the old stone building was so badly damaged in the last moderate quake what would a big quake mean to this glass building?
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Maybe the idea is that the steel structure will resist a quake and whatever glass is damaged will be easily replaced?
Just a guess.
 
This is a horrific piece of architecture, does not even look like a Church. With Churches and schools closing across the country where does the Archdiocese get the gall to pay 131 mil for a building that does not even look like a Church. Disgusting.
 
I’m sorry if this sounds kind of mean, but that is a monstrosity. It in no way whatsoever resembles a church, let alone a Catholic church. Why oh why do people feel the need to bring “modern” architecture to churches???

In Christ,
Rand
 
Hmm… it looks like an office building! Are they going to at least put a cross on top of it?

To the person saying this looks much better than the LA Cathedral, at least the LA Cathedral can be clearly identified as a Catholic building by looking at it. I know I’m in a very small minority, but I actually really like the LA Cathedral (except a few things like the hermaphadite Mary, the lack of a tabernacle in the main sanctuary, and a “table” as an altar, but those are all easily fixable in the future).
 
DeusEratVerbum said:
Hmm… it looks like an office building! Are they going to at least put a cross on top of it?

To the person saying this looks much better than the LA Cathedral, at least the LA Cathedral can be clearly identified as a Catholic building by looking at it. I know I’m in a very small minority, but I actually really like the LA Cathedral (except a few things like the hermaphadite Mary, the lack of a tabernacle in the main sanctuary, and a “table” as an altar, but those are all easily fixable in the future).
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I think it looks a little bit like some of the venues at the Beijing Olympics.

In fairness, if the internet existed since 300 AD, I suspect we would document many of the same comments as architecture has changed through the ages. Many of the ancient churches could hardly be identified as Catholic building either. Imagine the comments when the first romanesque church appeared, it must have caused quite a stir.

Nohome
 
MoBeck said:
Maybe the idea is that the steel structure will resist a quake and whatever glass is damaged will be easily replaced?
Just a guess.
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How do you replace those cut with the falling glass? You can’t evacuate for an earth quake with todays technology unless you never use the building. Just look at Galveston and Houston, TX and all the glass that fell from the windows onto the sidewalk or roads.
 
KathleenElsie said:
How do you replace those cut with the falling glass? You can’t evacuate for an earth quake with todays technology unless you never use the building. Just look at Galveston and Houston, TX and all the glass that fell from the windows onto the sidewalk or roads.
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While glass is brittle, it is stronger than steel. When was the last time Oakland was subject to hurricane winds? I suspect that the glass of this structure, isolated by rubber seals against steel, would fare quite well in an earthquake. Just my opinion, though I am an engineer.

Nohome
 
Nohome said:
Imagine the comments when the first romanesque church appeared, it must have caused quite a stir.
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I’m not sure about Romanesque churches, but apparently Gothic architecture wasn’t universally liked:
The Italians, who never really adopted the Gothic movement, deemed the style as crass and licentious. As opposed to its predecessor [Romanesque] which was magnificent and classic, the Gothic period laid inferior.
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designtaxi.com/features.jsp?id=434
 
Nohome said:
While glass is brittle, it is stronger than steel. When was the last time Oakland was subject to hurricane winds? I suspect that the glass of this structure, isolated by rubber seals against steel, would fare quite well in an earthquake. Just my opinion, though I am an engineer.

Nohome
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From constructionequipmentguide.com/story.asp?story=9251&headline=Oakland%92s
…A big earthquake is likely in the San Francisco Bay Area in the next 100 years, the USGS said. So “faith” is placed in some new earthquake technology.The entire structure sits on 36 innovative “friction pendulum double-concave bearing isolators,” consisting of two facing concave surfaces.
Each one of the hollow ball bearing-like structures weighs 4,200 lbs. (1,900 kg). The concept being used was actually first patented in 1870 by Jules Touaillon but practical uses have only been possible since a breakthrough at the turn of the millennium. This is the first time the technology has been used in the United States, project managers said.
The $190 million, 224,000-sq.-ft. (20,800 sq m) complex is the most expensive cathedral in U.S history, according to published sources. Prototype and production testing for the seismic isolators was completed in March at the Earthquake Protection Systems facility on Mare Island in Vallejo, according to Cathedral Communications.
Since sliding can occur on both the upper and lower concave surfaces, the Double Concave Friction Pendulum bearing has a displacement capacity that is substantially larger than a traditional Friction Pendulum bearing of identical plan dimensions, studies of the innovate concepts state. This key feature of the behavior results in significant savings in terms of the material cost of isolators. This may also lead to seismic isolation being a viable option in applications where very large displacement demands would have precluded its use in the past, a study by Michael Constantinou, supported by the Earthquake Engineering Research Centers Program of the National Science Foundation, showed…
Click to expand...
 
Cobbfmly said:
From constructionequipmentguide.com/story.asp?story=9251&headline=Oakland%92s
Click to expand...
…A big earthquake is likely in the San Francisco Bay Area in the next 100 years, the USGS said. So “faith” is placed in some new earthquake technology. The entire structure sits on 36 innovative “friction pendulum double-concave bearing isolators,” consisting of two facing concave surfaces.
Each one of the hollow ball bearing-like structures weighs 4,200 lbs. (1,900 kg). The concept being used was actually first patented in 1870 by Jules Touaillon but practical uses have only been possible since a breakthrough at the turn of the millennium. This is the first time the technology has been used in the United States, project managers said.
The $190 million, 224,000-sq.-ft. (20,800 sq m) complex is the most expensive cathedral in U.S history, according to published sources. Prototype and production testing for the seismic isolators was completed in March at the Earthquake Protection Systems facility on Mare Island in Vallejo, according to Cathedral Communications.
Since sliding can occur on both the upper and lower concave surfaces, the Double Concave Friction Pendulum bearing has a displacement capacity that is substantially larger than a traditional Friction Pendulum bearing of identical plan dimensions, studies of the innovate concepts state. This key feature of the behavior results in significant savings in terms of the material cost of isolators. This may also lead to seismic isolation being a viable option in applications where very large displacement demands would have precluded its use in the past, a study by Michael Constantinou, supported by the Earthquake Engineering Research Centers Program of the National Science Foundation, showed…
Click to expand...
Faith in its stability & innovative technology? I can only pray they are correct. As I said before it is not to my taste as a Cathedral but it is pretty.
 
That’s a pretty cool looking cathedral! I guess sometimes modern architecture can be nice for churches 👍
 
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I love the picture of Christ! It will be beautiful if there is background lighting at night.
Other than this,* I do not care for the design of this Catholic Church*** at all!!
 
Neither the LA Cathedral or this monstrosity compare in beauty to the new Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston.
 
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