The Cathedral of Christ the Light

The Cathedral of Christ the Light

Skidmore Owings & Merrill, San Francisco, California, 2008

Description

The Cathedral of Christ the Light celebrates the liturgical traditions of the Catholic faith through the vocabulary of 21st-century design and technology. Architecturally scaled graphic elements highlight the Cathedral’s play of light and its integration of Catholic symbols. The Omega Window resonates with the surrounding structure metaphorically and physically. An algorithm was developed to translate the subtleties of shade and shadow into pixels of light and to replicate a 12th-century image of Christ. The digital information guided laser technology to cut over 94,000 pixels of 100 different diameters into the window’s triangular aluminum panels.

Primary thresholds throughout the Cathedral incorporate the written word using custom technologies to embed cut stainless-steel type into the floor plane. Incorporating the names of the Apostles, the consecration candles provide a permanent indication of where the walls of the Cathedral were anointed. The Great Doors are inscribed with embedded and adjoining circles. The surface texture of the cast stainless-steel door handles is a topographic map of the spiraling Fibonacci sequence.

Juror Notes

We appreciate true integration of architectural and environmental concepts. There is a dedication to design from an urbane scale to human interaction. The attention to detail is exquisite and considered on all levels of execution. Religious vocabulary is transformed in a new and contemporary way through material, craft and typography. 

Collections: AIGA 365: 30 (2009)
Repository: Denver Art Museum
Discipline: Promotional design and advertising
Format: Exhibit, Promotion
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