Rare Opportunity

Crews focus on excellence with replacement cathedral project

By David Silva

Nearly 20 years after the Loma Prieta Earthquake rendered Oakland's Catholic cathedral unusable, its $190 million replacement is on target for a September Dedication Mass and Consecration ceremony.

The Cathedral of Christ the Light -- the first cathedral to be built entirely in the 21st century -- is the product of a competition begun in 2000 among some of the world’s top architectural firms. According to Mike Brown, cathedral communication director for the Oakland Catholic Diocese, architects from North America to Europe jumped at the chance to put their stamp on history.

“There’s nothing typical about building a cathedral – it’s hardly ever done," Brown says. “Most cathedrals have already been built. The architects saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

A review panel appointed by Diocese selected from among the entries a design by Craig Hartman of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of San Francisco. Webcor Builders of San Mateo is general contractor, with Conversion Management Associates of San Francisco serving as construction manager. Construction began in June 2005.

advertisement

When completed, the Cathedral of Christ the Light will be the foremost sacred space for Oakland’s 500,000 Catholics, and serve as the seat of Bishop Allen H. Vigneron. The 224,000-sq-ft site in downtown Oakland will feature a 1,350-seat sanctuary; residences for both Bishop Vigneron, the cathedral pastor and visiting clergy; a 500-seat conference center rising from the lower level to the main floor; and two retail spaces -- one for a Catholic bookstore and the other for a cafe. On the lower level below the sanctuary will be a large mausoleum with 1,300 crypt spaces and 1,450 niches. Also on the lower level will be administrative offices -- known as the Chancery Office -- for approximately 100 church employees. A 1 1/2-level parking structure will provide spaces for 200 cars.

The cathedral sits in a landscaped plaza area, essentially a public park that, according to Brown, extends Oakland’s downtown to nearby Lake Merritt.

Hartman described the project as a work of passion.

“It takes an enormous amount of passion to accomplish this effort, which is certainly very easy when you have this kind of opportunity in front of you,” he says. “With works like this, people will often point to the architect. But this complex was the work of many, many hands. Engineers, the people of the parish who supported it financially, and certainly the workers from the carpenters to the people pouring the concrete understood that they were part of a very significant undertaking and have done their absolute best to make this worthy of their submission. Everyone put their heart and soul into it.”

Glass panels baked in ceramic fitting enclose the wood lattice frame of the cathedral. Curved douglas fir beams, 110 ft at their highest points, and other design elements make for an oval-shaped worship space -- part of Hartman’s philosophy that the cathedral’s physical structure should draw all eyes to the altar area.

Webcor recently installed behind the altar the cathedral’s Omega window, a 90-ft high aluminum construct with 94,000 perforations that allow light to pass through to illuminate a 58 ft-high image of Jesus Christ. The image was borrowed from a sculpture at Chartres Cathedral in France.

Project Team

Owner: Catholic Cathedral Corp. of the East Bay
Construction Manager: Conversion Management Associates, San Francisco
General Contractor: Webcor Builders, San Mateo
Design Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, San Francisco
Mechanical Engineer: Taylor Engineering, of Alameda
Electrical Engineer: The Engineering Enterprise, Alameda

Click here for next Feature Story>>