Comments on: A glimpse below

By: Naomi Schiff

Naomi Schiff — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:26:41 +0000

Interesting aspects were that a) originally the Diocese wanted to build on the Kaiser Auditorium parking lot at 12th Street, which is on 100% fill, and atop the old waterway between bay and what is now Lake Merritt; b) that they had to pump water out of the construction hole at this site for so many months, reminding me of construction of Moscone Center; c) that the prominent corner of Grand/Harrison is treated dismissively, like an incidental back door, d) that it re-uses a historic Catholic site, the original location of College of the Holy Names.

The sanctuary itself is impressive but the concrete podium is dreary. (Since it is also a mausoleum maybe this is appropriate.) To me it ignores the original topography in an unfortunate way, separating itself from the sidewalk pedestrian and from the historic grade level. You can get a sense of how the area originally consisted of streams running into marshes, with wide flat areas. The slope up doesn’t really start until 27th Street.

By: Erik

Erik — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:40:09 +0000

I think it’s safe to assume that the designer was aware of the earthquake risk.

By: farmlady

farmlady — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:28:03 +0000

Very interesting. I saw the completed Cathedral when I visited my son a few months back. It amazing!
I would hope that it holds together in the coming “big one”. Future geologist may find a small layer of petrified glass between the layers of golden sand and aboriginal sediment.
I hope Jesus’ image in the glass protects all those parishioners that believed building a structure like this in an earthquake prone area was a wise idea.