Opening of new Christ Cathedral (formerly Crystal Cathedral)

[dUSt]

https://www.ocregister.com/2019/07/09/christ-cathedral-a-jewel-box-of-artwork-and-hidden-treasures-ready-for-grand-opening/

I don't hate it.

I do question why the tabernacle looks like some kids painted it.

Do I prefer this to a traditional style cathedral? No way. But, I do try to see the beauty in all things--including modern design and architecture. I also see the ecumenical beauty in taking over a former Protestant church.

Update: Found an old thread discussing this way back in 2011 before the diocese bought it:

 

[CatherineM]

That’s a lot of windex. 

[dUSt]

6 minutes ago, CatherineM said:

That’s a lot of windex. 

[DukeToma]

It does look like the budget ran out when it came to the tabernacle doesn't it?

[Hna.Caridad]

https://www.ocregister.com/2015/05/13/christ-cathedral-acquires-prestigious-tabernacle/

[KnightofChrist]

Looks like the inside of a refrigerator. All the stoneworks, look cold. Blank but not blank, minimalistic. Although with all the glass it's likely very hard and expensive to keep cool in summer.

So many clashes of design. The crucifix, clashes with the tabernacle. The bottom of the tabernacle clashes with the top. The top of the tabernacle clashes with e v e r y t h i n g. The stations of the Cross clash with the crucifix and tabernacle.

It's not ugly over all but it's not beautiful.

I wonder if Mass here feels like a indoor outdoor Mass. Would I need my Ray-Ban's®?

 

[dominicansoul]

yuck....but.....okay...

[dUSt]

14 hours ago, KnightofChrist said:

It's not ugly over all but it's not beautiful.

+1

[chrysostom]

I also appreciate the ecumenical gesture. I like the station of the cross depicted, too. The place is, uh, very bright.

I find the "baldacchino" kind of weird. Is that even supposed to be one? A baldacchino hiding in plain sight? Split into a gigantic door frame and a hanging rectangle? Pretending it's something else?

Not going to say anything about the tabernacle. It speaks for itself...

Look, if you're going to drop 76 million dollars on a cathedral, there should be no excuse - none - for not making the entire thing as beautiful as you can. There are craftsmen enough to build something worthy for the ages at that price point. Unfortunately, that continues to seem too hard. The trend is to make it "accessible", while rejecting the fact that the beautiful is inherently accessible.

[Seven77]

 Well, they really didn't have anything pretty to work with from the beginning. But it is an improvement overall I guess. It still looks modern and cold and sterile though...  I think they could have possibly tried a bit harder, creatively, to make it look more Catholic, traditional looking-ish than it is now. I mean, the outside is pretty hopeless and that's just how it is, but the interior---it could be worked with, and they tried…  I guess?

[cappie]

 

the first "televangelist" back in the 1950's and the person who Reverend Robert Schuller said was his inspiration to go on television, Archbishop Sheen preaches three messages from the former sanctuary before the Crystal Cathedral was constructed. This video is now more pertinent than ever considering that the Roman Catholic Church now owns the property and has completed a loving multi-million dollar restoration of the Aboretum (the old sanctuary) and is in the midst of renovating the Crystal Cathedral (now Christ Cathedral)

 

[CatherineM]

I wonder what the acoustics are like? 

[Anomaly]

I hear they’re sound.  

[Papist]

I'd get a headache from all the bright lighting. 

[dUSt]

20 hours ago, Papist said:

I'd get a headache from all the bright lighting. 

But they added all those blinds. 

[dUSt]

The original designer's vision looks better...

[Seven77]

4 hours ago, dUSt said:

The original designer's vision looks better...

Yeah, that looks a little better I guess. But i wish they would have Taken Notes from La Sagrada Familia, in Spain…I think that there is something that can be done to the interior of  a church like Crystal Cathedral to make it look more like a actual church…

And then look at this… Lovely…

Edited July 25, 2019 by Seven77

[dUSt]

TOTALLY agree. I don't know why they didn't do something behind the altar to really raise it up vertically like in your examples. They could have totally worked with the crystal/glass theme and created something beautiful and rising.

Nope. They just put a big concrete rectangle door frame. Smh.

Also, looking at your pictures. How cool would it have been for them to replace some of the clear windows with vertical, rising stained glass windows on either side of the organ?

[Seven77]

3 hours ago, dUSt said:

TOTALLY agree. I don't know why they didn't do something behind the altar to really raise it up vertically like in your examples. They could have totally worked with the crystal/glass theme and created something beautiful and rising.

Nope. They just put a big concrete rectangle door frame. Smh.

Also, looking at your pictures. How cool would it have been for them to replace some of the clear windows with vertical, rising stained glass windows on either side of the organ?

They could have made something truly epic. And they could just replaced only a few windows.  I'm imagining a new kind of synthesis between something modern with the traditional--- harmony that works, is reverent, and not so cold looking.

All of a sudden I just thought of the "fortress of solitude" from Superman, Superman 2 the movie...  Or you know those ice churches, crossed with a design of one of those dwarves' city caves from the Lord of the Rings.

[dUSt]

My remodel.