Hospitality Industry Association

The Cathedral of Christ the Light, located on Lake Merritt adjacent to downtown Oakland, is an impressive and unique work of architecture designed by Craig W. Hartman, FAIA of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), of San Francisco.

Hartman’s vision for “Christ The Light” was likened to the image of a bishop’s mitre shaped by steel and filled with glass frit. The worship space is “Vesica Pices” (Fish Bladder)—the shape formed by an intersection of two circles. The walls are overlapping panels of wood and glass rising skyward to form the vault, much like scales of a fish.

Our tour leader, Chris Kimball, also of SOM, has project experience encompassing a diverse-spanning, wide spectrum of building types including corporate, cultural, residential, and mixed-use. Chris graduated from Rice University with a Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 2003.

His key projects with SOM include:

The Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California which incorporates themes of light and lightness into a unique and symbolic home for the Archdiocese of Oakland.

The new master plan for Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay which will act as a new sustainable neighborhood for San Francisco and a destination for recreation for the entire area.

The Rice University Collaborative Research Center in Houston, Texas which creates flexible lab space for university students and institutions in the Texas Medical Center to conduct collaborative research.

The Wuxi Times Square mixed-use super tower in Wuxi, China which combines a signature hotel with office, residential, and retail spaces into a vertical city defining the new skyline of Wuxi.

Come join us for a remarkable tour of a spectacular building.

We will meet Chris in the Plaza in front of the Cathedral at 6:00 PM on December 10, 2008. The combined tour of the Exterior at 6:00 PM and the tour of the Interior will last one hour.

Parking available on the street or in the Kaiser building Parking Lot across the street.

[Print Meeting Announcement]