Project: Cathedral of the Northern Lights

Architect: schmidt/hammer/lassen Architects

Location: Alta, Norway

When the competition for a new cathedral in the Norwegian town of Alta was announced, the city council did not want just a new church; they also wanted an architectural landmark that would reaffirm the town’s role as a premier viewing place for the natural phenomenon of the Northern Lights. The spiraling shape of the recently opened cathedral suggests the undulation of the lights, while the titanium-clad façade reflects their dazzling glow during the long winter months north of the Arctic Circle. The cathedral can accomodate 350 people in the church room and also has administrative offices, classrooms, exhibition areas, and a parochial area. Read more about this project in the Architizer database.

Photos: Adam Mørk

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Image: Andrea Tognoli

One of the most breathtaking structures in the world, the Duomo di Milano is the symbol of this great city and its history. It took six centuries (!) to build this amazing cathedral, the fourth-largest world-wide, all clad in intricate decorations carved in white Candoglia marble. Its grandeur is surpassed by few other structures, with some even comparing it to the Pyramids. Now, you can have your name engraved under its 135 spires if you support its restoration! Continue.

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Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California has won numerous awards since it opened in 2008. A stunning jewel on the corner of Lake Merritt , the church has a powerful yet gentle presence in the neighborhood. Read more.

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Photos and story by Gregory Hurcomb. See more images on our Facebook page.

Floating atop Cathedral Hill in San Francisco, the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption (1971) is an amalgamation of post-modern pastiche elements and extraordinary engineering. Read more.

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In what seems the opposite of the “primitive cathedral” land art project in Almere, Holland, the nave of York Minster has been sown with 1,500 square meters of grass lawn. Where the former recreated Reims Cathedral in a nature reserve, translating the landmark structure’s stone columns into tall Italian poplars, the latter has been seemingly invaded by a wave of greenery.

Constructed in the 14th century and famous for its expansive medieval stained glass, York Minster functions as the second-highest office of the Church of England, making it a top venue for state proceedings and events. The purpose for the so-called “living carpet” is the York Minster Rose Dinner, to be held Friday night on the royally frivolous occasion of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Over 900 guests are expected to wine and dine on the lawn, which, does, in fact, require maintenance (see the lawnmower). The “carpet” was grown in recycled felt then installed in successive layers, a technique that has been used at similar events, as Sky News points out, to lawn Trafalgar Square and create grass furniture for the National Trust.

All photos: John Giles/PA Wire

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Construction has been approved and will soon commence on Shigeru Ban’s cardboard Christchurch Cathedral project, renamed the “Transitional Cathedral” as it will come with an expiration date of 20 years. Ban’s church will replace Christchurch’s grand 1864 Anglican Cathedral which was damaged beyond repair after a February 2011 earthquake devastated the city. As we described it last year, the cathedral is an A-frame structure that will be fleshed out with a diverse material palette, including cardboard tubes, timber beams, steel, and a concrete floor. The NZ$4 million (US$3.8 million) church, expected to be completed in time for Christmas, will host the St. John’s parish until sufficient funds have been raised to build the permanent successor.

The parish expressed great enthusiasm about the project, praising it for its elegant form and its sustainable structure. They are confident that the Cathedral will “attract interest nationally and internationally drawing additional visitors to the city,” and thus actively contribute to the fundraising. Ban reacted swiftly with his church design, which he had donated to the community–just as he had done with the Takatori Catholic Church at Kobe after the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995–and whose  use of cardboard follows in the architect long series of experiments with the material.

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A bookstore is something of a sacred place these days. The few independent outlets that remain are rare opportunities to retreat from the churning of the city and peruse an infinite number of worlds. It is no wonder that the vast library presents such an image of escape; its stores of scripts, represented by endless spines of books lined one after the other, suggests the suspension of time and a chance to retreat to places carved out by words and crafted in one’s mind.

Dutch book retailers Selexyz decided that there was no better place for their latest bookstore to occupy than a 13th century Dominican cathedral in Maastricth, Holland. According to MyModernMet, the architects at Merkx + Girod jumped on the opportunity to fuse the old with the new and created a design for Selexyz Dominicanen Maastricht that integrates a thoroughly modern bookstore within the preserved historic structure. More after the break.

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It’s  been a horrible year for earthquakes (NY felt another during Hurricane Irene on Saturday!), and architects have been on the defensive — donating services pro bono, building temporary shelters for earthquake survivors, and so on.

Now, the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, has tapped one of the most active individuals in the aid effort — Japanese architect Shigeru Ban — to build a temporary church on the site of the city’s original 1864 cathedral, destroyed in the massive February earthquake.

Ban is famous for using paper and cardboard as load-bearing structure, and his Christchurch Cathedral builds on his previous research (he built a similar project in Kobe). But the most interesting thing about this project? It explores the murky territory between permanent and temporary, with a “use by” date of ten years from its construction. More info below.

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