Two Cheers for Brutalism

 A few years ago, I attended a lecture in which a learned professor complained that American universities are obsessed with ugly buildings. To illustrate his point, he used an example well known to those who traffic in sociology via architectural criticism. He asked us to consider the two main libraries of Georgetown University. The older one, Riggs Library, built in 1891, is a testament to the past glories of Jesuit education. Inside, it looks like something from a fairytale: The whole thing is one big room, with four floors of cast iron walkways, all decorated with intricate metalwork and containing shelves on shelves of rare volumes. Even in the middle of the night, light pours in from the ceilings and high windows, making the place seem especially airy.