All Photos by Gail
Recently, while vacationing in San Diego, I made a stop at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) campus, where I discovered one of the most wonderfully unusual library buildings I’ve ever seen. Meet Geisel Library, a futuristic concrete-and-glass landmark that looks a little like a spaceship that has landed in the middle of campus.
The building is named for Theodor Seuss Geisel and his wife, Audrey. You probably know Theodor better by his pen name, Dr. Seuss, the legendary author and illustrator whose wonderfully strange, colorful and often surprisingly wise children’s books were a part of my own childhood. The library was renamed in their honor on December 1, 1995, following a $20 million gift from Audrey Geisel. Before that, it had been known as the Central University Library and, after a 1993 expansion, as University Library.
But the building itself is every bit as interesting as its namesake.
A Library Designed to Look Like the Future
Geisel Library was designed by architect William L. Pereira, who was commissioned in 1965 to create the university’s Central University Library. Construction began in 1968 and the building opened in 1970. Pereira envisioned something far more ambitious than a conventional library. He wanted the architecture itself to convey the power and permanence of the knowledge contained inside.
The result is an extraordinary example of Brutalist architecture with a decidedly futuristic personality. The upper levels appear to hover dramatically above the massive concrete base, supported by four enormous angled concrete columns. More than 17,000 cubic yards of concrete and 38,000 square feet of glass went into the original structure.
There is even a practical bit of engineering behind all that drama: the building’s cantilevered sections are supported by those four massive angled “bents,” which rise at roughly 45 degrees and are connected by hundreds of high-tensile steel rods. In other words, the spaceship isn’t just a cool-looking spaceship — it is a remarkably engineered one.
Pereira’s original design was later expanded underground by architect Gunnar Birkerts, who added space on three sides while preserving the distinctive silhouette of the original building. Cleverly, the subterranean areas incorporate glass and skylights to bring natural light into spaces below ground.
A Little Seuss Magic
Inside, the connection to Dr. Seuss goes well beyond the building’s name. UC San Diego’s Dr. Seuss Collection is housed within Special Collections & Archives and contains thousands of original drawings, sketches, manuscripts, advertising artwork, political cartoons, books and other materials documenting Geisel’s creative life.
Visitors may encounter selections from the collection in rotating exhibitions. The displays can be relatively small, but they’re a lot of fun, particularly when you get to see the evolution from Geisel’s early political cartoons and commercial illustrations to the fantastical characters that eventually populated his beloved children’s books.
And then there is the statue.
On the third-level forum outside the library is a life-size bronze sculpture of Theodor Geisel seated at his drafting table, created by sculptor Lark Grey Dimond-Cates, Geisel’s stepdaughter. Geisel is shown in a relaxed pose at his desk, with the Cat in the Hat looming playfully over his shoulder. The Cat stands an impressive 7½ feet tall, making the scene feel like a moment from one of Seuss’s own fantastical worlds.
Read. Write. Think. Dream.
One of my favorite details is at the entrance. The library’s glass doors have been transformed into READ / WRITE / THINK / DREAM, a colorful site-specific installation by artist John Baldessari, created in 2001 as part of UC San Diego’s Stuart Collection of public art.
The installation incorporates eight enormous glass panels featuring photographic images of UCSD students standing on stacks of books. The colorful glass panels overlap as the doors open and close, creating new colors and constantly changing the appearance of the entrance. Baldessari intended the four words above the doors as a reminder that education isn’t simply about absorbing information — it’s also about contemplating the unexpected and imagining new possibilities.
When you think about it, what better words could there be for the entrance to a library named after Dr. Seuss? Geisel Library manages to be serious architecture and playful cultural landmark at the same time. It celebrates engineering, art, literature, imagination and learning, all wrapped up in a building that looks like it might blast off at any moment. As someone who loves both art and architecture, it was definitely worth making a detour to see.
