The new Greek church near the WTC in NYC is interesting for a couple of reasons… for one, it’s designed Santiago Calatrava in a very restrained way that is decidedly uncharacteristic for him:

For two, it is clad in sections of translucent marble.  Which is always mind tweaking for me; whenever I think of stone the first thing that comes to mind is light passing through it such that it can become downright luminous, and yet, that is a thing that some stone amazingly can do. Such that, at night, this building very much becomes a lantern:

Unfortunately, this ends up not being carried through to be used in an interesting way on the interior.  Unlike the alabaster panels at the LA cathedral I visited some years ago, only a ring of fingerling arches around the base of the dome allows any of the light pass through into the inside:

Still, it is a nifty little architectural gimmick.

St Nicholas Church and Shrine, photos by Field Condition, by Santiago Calatrava.