The Cathedral of Christ the Light resonates as a place of worship and conveys an inclusive statement of welcome and openness as the community's symbolic soul. The glass, wood, and concrete structure ennobles and inspires through the use of light, material, and form.

Project Facts

Completion Year: 2008
Site Area: 2.50 acres
Project Area: 250,000 ft²
Building Height: 136 ft
Number of Stories: 1

Project Awards

2010 • AIA • National Honor Award for Interior Architecture
2009 • AIA • National Honor Award for Architecture
2009 • AIA - California Council • Honor Award
2009 • AIA - East Bay • Honor Award
2009 • AIA - San Francisco Chapter • Excellence in Architecture: Honor Award
2009 • American Institute of Graphic Arts • Annual National Award
2009 • American Society of Civil Engineers - Region 9 (California) • Outstanding Architectural Engineering Project of the Year
2009 • American Society of Civil Engineers - San Francisco Section • Outstanding Architectural Engineering Project of the Year
2009 • Architect Magazine • Annual Design Review
2009 • Chicago Athenaeum • American Architecture Award
2009 • D&AD British Design and Art Direction • Annual National Award
2009 • Faith and Form magazine and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture (IFRAA) • Design Award for Religious Architecture: Liturgical/Interior Design
2009 • Faith and Form magazine and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture (IFRAA) • Design Award for Religious Architecture: New Facilities
2009 • Forest Products Society • Wood Engineering Innovation Award
2009 • Institution of Structural Engineers • Award for Community or Residential Structures
2009 • Interior Design • Best of Year: Institutional Merit Award
2009 • International Interior Design Association • Best of Competition
2009 • International Interior Design Association • Interior Design Award
2009 • International Interior Design Association - Northern California Chapter • Best in Show
2009 • International Interior Design Association - Northern California Chapter • Honor Award
2009 • National Council of Structural Engineers Association • Outstanding Project, New Buildings Under $10 million
2009 • Pro AV Magazine • Pro AV Spotlight Award (led by Shen Milsom Wilke, Inc.)
2009 • San Francisco Business Times • Best Community Impact - Inner East Bay
2009 • San Francisco Business Times • Best East Bay Public or Cultural Space
2009 • Society for Environmental Graphic Design • Honor Award
2009 • Spark Awards • Architecture & Interiors Category: Gold Award
2009 • Structural Engineers Association of California • Award of Excellence: Landmark Structures Category
2009 • Structural Engineers Association of Illinois • Jurors' Favorite Honor Award
2009 • Structural Engineers Association of Northern California • Award of Excellence: Large Project, Landmark Structures Category
2009 • WoodWorks • California Wood Design Award: Landmark Category
2008 • California Construction Magazine • Outstanding Architectural Design
2008 • California Construction Magazine • Overall Top Project
2008 • McGraw-Hill Construction • Best of the Best Award
2008 • treehugger.com • Ten of the World's Most Beautiful Green Buildings
2008 • Wallpaper Magazine • Best Building Site of the Year
2008 • Wood Design & Building Magazine • Wood Design Awards: Honor Award
2007 • American Concrete Institute - Northern California and Western Nevada Chapter • Regional Architecture Award for Use of Concrete
2003 • AIA - San Francisco Chapter • Unbuilt Design Award

The Cathedral of Christ the Light resonates as a place of worship and instills a sense of solace, spiritual renewal and respite from the secular world—it provides a sanctuary in the broadest sense of the word. Located in downtown Oakland, and composed of an 1,350-seat sanctuary with side chapels, a baptistery and dependencies, the cathedral honors its religious and civic obligations to both the Catholic Diocese and the city.

With a building form based on an inner wooden vessel contained within a veil of glass—both of which are anchored on an architectural concrete base—the design conveys an inclusive statement of welcome and openness as the community’s symbolic soul. The design achieves an extraordinary level of lightness and luminosity through the highly innovative use of modest materials and sustainable design strategies.

The Cathedral is part of a larger complex woven together by gardens by landscape architects Peter Walker and Partners. Praising its design as well as its cultural and civic role within the city, the Oakland Planning Commission granted unanimous approval of the project in 2004. Construction began in spring 2005 and was completed in 2008.

Located in downtown Oakland on the edge of Lake Merritt, this house of worship offers a sense of solace, spiritual renewal, and respite from the secular world. The 1,500-seat sanctuary honors its religious and civic obligations to both the Catholic Diocese and the City. When it was dedicated in September, 2008, over 500,000 parishioners began to utilize a central Cathedral, something they have been without since the loss of the historic St. Francis de Sales Cathedral to the Loma Prieta earthquake.

The Cathedral of Christ the Light employs state-of-the-art technologies to create lightness and space. A non-linear approach honors the church’s 2,000-year history without forcing a specific point of view. By stripping away traditional iconography, the design positions symbolic meaning within contemporary culture. The result remains open to the future of the region’s ever-changing multi-cultural makeup. The most elemental qualities of light, material and form were used to create sacred space within an ethos of sustainability.

From the project’s inception, won via an international competition, a core design objective was achieving the lightest ecological footprint. Through the highly innovative use of renewable materials and other sustainable design strategies, the building minimizes the use of energy and natural resources. With the exception of evening activities, the Cathedral is entirely lit by daylight to create an extraordinary level of luminosity. The concrete in the structure makes use of industrial waste fly ash, a by-product of coal production that requires less energy to produce than cement. The reuse of this material provides a better adhesive while reducing waste. An advanced version of the ancient Roman technique of thermal inertia maintains the interior climate with mass and radiant heat. Through displacement heating, small ducts beneath the pews cool the building from the floor.

Douglas fir lumber, obtained through a certified harvesting process, has been integrated throughout the complex. This material choice has proven to be aesthetically significant, economically sound, and structurally forgiving—the wood’s surface adds warmth while its elasticity allows for the bending and returning of shape during seismic activity. Twenty-six 110 foot Douglas fir ribs curve to the roof, while horizontal Douglas fir louvers attach to the ribs. Green ceramic frit glass panels jacket the Cathedral’s outer shell to insulate the building, reduce glare, and change the quality of light throughout the day and seasons. With a building form based on an inner wooden vessel contained within a veil of glass—both of which are anchored on an architectural concrete base—the design conveys an inclusive statement of welcome.

The Diocese challenged the design team to create a building for the ages. Through the use of advanced seismic techniques, including base isolation, the structure has been designed to withstand another 1,000-year earthquake in hopes that the Cathedral of Christ the Light will endure for centuries.