The building itself is gorgeous, but what I still can’t get past (as a neighbor of the new cathedral) are the stark concrete walls that line the street. We watched them go up and kept thinking, surely this is just staging of some sort for construction…. Yes, they have vines planted to help cover them, but still—why on earth did Oakland approve such an awful design for pedestrians? (And more puzzling, why did the church want this in the first place, given that cathedrals should be welcoming people in?) I can’t help but wonder how long it will be until the neighborhood kids tag those wide concrete canvases….

I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords.

Seriously, what’s wrong with traditional cathedral construction, and I agree that the bare street-level concrete walls are hideous.

It’s much more impressive in pictures. In real-life, and closer up, it’s really ugly.

Art: I can see I’m going to have to go and check the cathedral out in the real world. Meanwhile, do you have any photos of those ugly walls?

I don’t, unfortunately—all of the photos I’ve seen are either of the dome or taken from a distance, and it is quite beautiful from there. Here’s one (if links work) that does have a better view of the concrete, though; consider the bus stop, streetlight, and street signs as you look at the height of the walls, which look much smaller when people photograph the whole building:
http://i.pbase.com/o6/57/469257/1/82416801.PmqufCSZ.71407_DSC9609.jpg

If you google the cathedral and then check out the drawings that pop up, though, they do seem to show the vision of green walls….unfortunately I don’t see that happening even if the vines do take well.

Art: Thank you for the link, but I can’t open it.

If anyone out there wants to send in pics of other aspects of the cathedral, feel free.

Hmm, try this one instead—looks like they took the other one down: http://bluele.blogspot.com/2007/07/oakland-cathedral-keeps-growing.html

In that photo, you can see the real wall behind the stepped barriers–it’s the one with grids and what look like holes in it. That looks like it ought to have something attached to the outside of it….

OK, now I see what you mean. I wonder if there is a longer term plan for the wall — you mentioned vines. It does look forbidding. Thanks you for ferreting out the photo.

Yes, it’s covered by the barriers in the older photo, but there are in fact small squares cut out of the sidewalk along the wall that currently have young plants in them. I did dig up the City review of the project, and apparently the walls were shortened and the vines added in response to City concerns about the height at street level. So I guess it could be worse! Let’s just hope they aren’t grape vines, which lose their leaves in winter….

It’s an impressive construction achievement.
The part that doesn’t work or me are the barcodes etched onto the exterior of the glass. The fringe at the top looks unfinished.
The expanse of concrete would be a great canvas for a colorful tile mural. With all the artistic talent in the Bay Area, particularly muralists, this could be a main attraction.

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