Farewell to Oscar Niemeyer

Born in 1907, Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho died yesterday (december 5th). He is considered one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete and use of unconventional, abstract patterns were highly infuential on the architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

 

Niemeyer launched his solo career designing a series of buildings for Pampulha, a new suburb of Rio de Janeiro. His work, especially on the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, received critical acclaim, and drew him international attention. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Niemeyer became one of Brazil's most prolific architects, designing a range of buildings both within the country and overseas. This included a collaboration with Le Corbusier on the design of the United Nations Headquarters, which provoked invitations to teach at Yale University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.  

In 1956, he was invited by Brazil's new president to design the civic buildings for Brazil's new capital: Brasilia, a Modernist civic metropolis being built from scratch in the center of the country, far from any existing cities. His designs for the National Congress of Brazil, the Cathedral of Brasília, the Cultural Complex of the Republic, the Palácio da Alvorada, the Palácio do Planalto, and the Supreme Federal Court, all completed by 1960, were largely experimental in nature, and were linked by common design elements. This work led to his appointment as inaugural head of architecture at the University of Brasília, as well as honorary membership of the American Institute of Architects. Due to his largely leftist ideology, and involvement with the Brazilian Communist Party, Niemeyer left the country after the 1964 military coup, and subsequently opened an office in Paris. He also turned to designing furniture, which also included his trademark use of sinuous curves. He returned to Brazil in 1985, and was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1988, for his Cathedral of Brasilia.

Niemeyer continued to press for a better world through better design: "It is important, that the architect thinks not only of architecture but of how architecture can solve the problems of the world. The architect's role is to fight for a better world, where he can produce an architecture that serves everyone and not just a group of privileged people."