light and sends them into the world
to share that light. Yet for all its
porosity, the building has been
constructed to last 300 years or
more.
T
he architect Craig Hartman of
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill,
L.L.P., a firm known for large
commercial structures, intended
to design an inspiring space made
from light and humble materials.
In all important ways, he has
succeeded.
This cathedral is “not meant to
impress through its consumption of
resources and display of spectacle,
but to achieve a generosity of spirit
with modest means,” Hartman said.
He emphasized wood, concrete and
glass, three materials used since
antiquity. Rendered to reveal their
essence and intrinsic beauty, they
cause us to reconsider in the face
of stressed natural resources what
is truly precious and rare. If church
builders once expressed reverence
by using the costliest materials,
then Oakland’s cathedral offers
prescient commentary on how
luxury will soon be defined.
Structurally too the cathedral
touches the earth lightly. Its
concrete base floats on a series of
isolators to protect the building
from seismic damage. A louvered
wooden structure rises above the
base, cupping the sanctuary and
revealing snippet views of the
sky. Its unusual elliptical plan was
inspired by a variety of influences,
from the ancient Christian symbol
of the fish to the torqued sculptures
of Richard Serra. The open-weave
structure reflects the diocese’s
desire to create a “kinetic worship”
experience that draws people into
the vibrant space to receive Christ’s
Much like a basket, the cathedral’s
structure and many of its
furnishings are woven, evoking
scriptural imagery, from Moses’
infant journey to the miraculous
leftovers collected after Jesus fed
the multitudes. Its form also recalls
the exemplary baskets made by the
Pomo and other Californian tribes
and those carried by agricultural
workers who have powered the
state’s economy. The reredos and
confessionals, made of latticed
wood, encourage openness between
clergy and laity and underscore the
cooperative nature of worship. The
exterior glass panels that protect
the internal wooden structure
are patterned with vertical lines
that visually intermingle with the
horizontal mullions. Along the
top of the cathedral, aluminum
extensions reach upward, looking
much like the warp ends of a
basket before the weaver’s work
is finished, reminding us that our
lives are not completed here on
earth.
18 . wood architecture