Bauer Wurster Hall, also called Wurster Hall, is the home of the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley. It houses the departments of architecture, landscape architecture, environmental design, and city and regional planning. Planning began in the late 1950s, and the building was completed in 1964.
Dean William Wurster appointed faculty members Donald Olsen, Vernon DeMars and Joseph Esherick to design it. From 1958 to 1960 they met with a faculty committee and campus architect Louis DeMonte, and the final plan was approved in 1960. Wurster wanted a "rough building, not a sweet building."
The Brutalist building is named for its raw concrete, or béton brut. It has a monumental lobby staircase and a rear courtyard. In the early 1970s its spaces were used to produce antiwar protest posters. The building received architectural and seismic improvements in 2000.
This building has no Wikipedia article. Facts come from UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design exhibit, UC Berkeley Capital Strategies.
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