Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (December 15, 1907) is a Brazilian architect specialized in international modern architecture. In the 1940s, '50s and '60s "he established himself as one of Modernism's greatest luminaries, while reshaping Brazil’s identity in the popular imagination and mesmerizing architects around the globe". He is a pioneer in exploring the formal constructive possibilities of reinforced concrete for its aesthetic impact. He was still working at the age of 104.

Niemeyer is most famous for his use of abstract forms and curves that specifically characterize most of his works; he didn’t stick to traditional straight lines, for he is not attracted to straight angles or lines but rather he is captured by ”free-flowing, sensual curves… on the body of the beloved woman.”

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I am not attracted to straight angles or to the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. I am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves. The curves that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman. Curves make up the entire Universe, the curved Universe of Einstein.

”

Both lauded and criticized for being a "sculptor of monuments", he has been praised for being a great artist and one of the greatest architects of his generation by his supporters. He claims his architecture was strongly influenced by Le Corbusier, but in an interview conducted by Fritz Uteri, he assures that, “didn’t prevent architecture from going in a different direction”.

Some of his most famous works include the civic buildings he design for the new capital city of Brazil, Brasília. These include the National Congress of Brazil, the Cathedral of Brasília, the Palácio do Planalto and the Palácio da Alvorada. He was also one of the main contributors of the team which designed the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

Given the worldwide fame of his monumental projects and the plastic emphasis which Niemeyer believed were an inherent part of their program, a large portion of his work before the 1960's is usually neglected. This body of work shows Niemeyer's great ability in dealing with the human scale, adressing the building's surroundings and marrying technical and aesthetic aspects, taking into account the thermal confort of the buildings, usually through the use of cross-ventilation and brises-soleil, which he helped to popularize.