Concrete

Interior of a brutalist library atrium, with cascading terraces lined with planters, in which lush green interior plants grow. Students are working at cubicles. Boxy staircases lead from one level to another. A person stands on top of the topmost staircase and looks at the atrium below.

Scott Library, York University, Toronto

Built on a field and filled with rare books bought by the truckload, the quick rise of the Scott library is emblematic of the 1960-70s higher education boom.
Universitätsbibliothek Basel

Universitätsbibliothek Basel

Completed in 1968, the Basel University Library was a controversial replacement of an earlier neo-Baroque building that has now become an architectural icon.