The Oakland Museum has been called the the most brilliant concept of an urban museum in America (Arthur Drexler) and one of the most thoughtfully revolutionary structures in the world (Ada Louise Huxtable), noted above all for its integration of landscape with structure. The multi-level, multi-volume structure is a fine, early, and rare example of a New Brutalist civic building. It occupies a four-block site treated as a park, with much of the building's three gallery levels underground and each gallery's roof forming a terrace for the level above. The landscaping counterpoints the sparest of palettes in the actual building: exterior of concrete with sandblasted finish and plate glass in oak frames, the interior of sandblasted concrete and oak paneled walls. Its three levels are arranged symbolically in ascending order from Natural Sciences to History to Art. Part of a cluster of civic and cultural buildings, the museum is a primary symbol of Oakland and the city's only designated modern landmark.