lumen 5

The Catholic Cathedral Corporation of the East Bay... 

instituted a design competition for Christ the Light. 

 

Various designs were judged and the corporation announced Santiago Calatrava, of Valencia, Spain as the winner. He designed the post–September 11 World Trade Center Port Authority Trans-Hudson station in New York City. Calatrava's design for The Cathedral of Christ the Light was chosen before a site was appropriated for the project.

By the time a site was chosen, a parking lot formerly dedicated to the construction of the tallest building in Oakland, Calatrava's design fell out of favor and was instead replaced by a design of competition runner-up Craig W. Hartman of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill offices in San Francisco.

Hartman, designer of the international terminal at San Francisco International Airport, created a 20th-century abstract building from the family of styles developed by architects like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, famous for creating steel shapes filled with glass. Hartman's vision for The Cathedral of Christ the Light was likened to the image of a bishop's mitre, shaped by steel and filled with glass frit.

Like the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels which serves the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, The Cathedral of Christ the Light is built with protective measures against earthquake damage.

A small garden... 

on The Cathedral of Christ the Light's grounds... 

is intended to serve as a place of healing for survivors of clergy sexual abuse. 

Designed by a Survivors' Group in collaboration with the Oakland Diocese and famed architect Dr. Aryan Sarkar, the garden features a basalt sculpture and a plaque inscribed:

"This healing garden,

planned by survivors

is dedicated to those innocents

sexually abused by members of the clergy.

We remember, and we affirm: never again."

[bron]