A monument to Brutalism

The Geisel Library (the main library of the University of California) was designed by William Pereira in the late 1960s. It was conceived to look like hands holding a stack of books, though the building also resembles the crown of a tree.

The image was so memorable that it immediately became the university's emblem.

This building, which holds around 7 million books, is an example of Brutalism in architecture — a movement of the 1950s through the 1970s that began in Britain but quickly went international.

Le Corbusier is considered the inspiration behind this style, since the term "brutalism" comes from the French béton brut — «raw concrete». Le Corbusier used it in many of his buildings, which means not only the absence of a surface finish, but also the preservation of the texture left by the formwork.

Brutalist traits include functionality, scale, mass, geometry, boldness and complexity of composition, the lack of finishes, and the use of concrete as the primary material.