Everywhere: Articles: Concrete Vision

Catch the University of California, Berkeley's Art Museum before it's gone forever.

Interior, Berkeley Art Museum by Colin Fernandes

Across the Bay from San Francisco, nestled in a City known for its radicalism and liberalism, the Berkeley Art Museum is a perfect example of brutalist concrete architecture. Controversial since the day it opened in 1970, the building inspires admiration and hate alike.

I fall in the former group, and never tire of visiting the Museum to see the building as much as the art it houses. No two visits are ever the same. Light plays off the uneven walls and ramps, offering an ever-changing view and mood.

Unfortunately, the building was recently deemed seismically below grade, and the Museum will be relocated to a new structure designed by Toyo Ito & Associates.