Oscar Niemeyer was one of the founding fathers of modern Latin American architecture — a passionate polemicist, architectural theorist and committed communist. Throughout his life he fought for his architectural and social convictions. Oscar believed that beauty, not functionality, was the essential quality in architecture. Despite an enormous volume of criticism, the architect designed more than 600 buildings over his 105-year life — including the new capital of Brazil.
In this article you will learn about:
- the life of Oscar Niemeyer;
- 4 key principles of architecture;
- the most significant buildings in the history of Latin American modernism;
- fascinating facts from the architect's life and work.
Oscar Niemeyer: The Curves of a Life
1907 — 1930 Early Years
Oscar Niemeyer was born on 15 December 1907 in Rio de Janeiro, on a street named after his grandfather — a minister of Brazil's Supreme Court. His childhood and adolescence were carefree: he spent most of his time playing football and dancing, and rather less of it reading or attending the prestigious school he never managed to finish.
According to his parents, whenever he had a free moment — between classes or after them — Oscar was constantly sketching something; if there was no pencil to hand, he would draw in the air with his finger. When the time came to choose a path in higher education, the family council took particular note of this habit. Oscar was soon enrolled in Brazil's finest school of architecture.
1930 — 1940 The Start of a Career
At the school of architecture, Niemeyer struck up a friendship with its director — a young architect and innovator, Lúcio Costa. Lúcio set about reforming the curriculum, for which he was dismissed a year later. He introduced students to new building materials that had yet to be fully tested in practice, and taught the design principles of Le Corbusier — principles far removed from the traditional conventions of Brazilian architecture.
After his dismissal, Lúcio founded a design studio and invited Niemeyer to join him as an assistant. Their very first project brought the studio renown. The architects took on the construction of the Ministry of Health and invited Le Corbusier himself to act as consultant. Oscar worked as Corbusier's assistant for two years, and for the rest of his life called him his greatest inspiration and teacher.
Once Le Corbusier had finished his consultancy and left Brazil, Niemeyer — despite his boundless admiration for the great architect — revised the design, added a rooftop garden, and chose materials according to his own taste. Lúcio was struck by the boldness and originality of the concept, and made Oscar the project's lead designer.
1940 — 1985 International Recognition
Once the Ministry building was complete, commissions poured in for Niemeyer. In 1940, the architect designed Brazil's pavilion at the World's Fair in New York. The building stood out for its fluid, expressive forms, which caused a stir among architects.
"I always wanted my buildings to be as light as possible — to touch the earth gently, to soar, to float, and to astonish"
In 1947, Niemeyer was invited to join the team of architects designing the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The team was led by Le Corbusier. Although Oscar continued to admire Corbusier and drew inspiration from his work and principles, their collaboration once again proved difficult. Working independently of the main project, Niemeyer developed his own scheme for the building — the one that was ultimately accepted by the client. Corbusier returned to France and demanded that his name be removed from all documents relating to the UN building.
In 1950, Oscar's close friend Juscelino Kubitschek became President of Brazil and resolved to build a new capital city. For the design of its principal buildings, he turned to Niemeyer.
After speaking with Juscelino, the architect immediately cancelled all other commissions and began making his first sketches on the nearest napkin to hand. The new capital project became Oscar's largest work and brought him worldwide acclaim.
Today the capital holds the distinguished status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
"Building Brasília was a wonderful time. The engineers, the workers, Juscelino and I all lived in identical little houses, went to the same bars and dances. It felt as though a new society was being born, and all the old barriers were being left behind."
1955 — 1985 Emigration
Four years into the construction of Brazil's new capital, the country's government changed hands. The era of military dictatorship had begun. Oscar faced arrest for promoting communist ideology. To avoid imprisonment, the architect emigrated to France, where he had long been a celebrated figure.
During his 21 years in exile, Oscar Niemeyer designed buildings across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. At the request of the Algerian government, Oscar advised local urban planners, designed major university complexes and founded a school of architecture. For the school, Niemeyer developed a curriculum grounded in new principles of teaching.
Despite a heavy workload, Oscar never forgot his homeland. He drew up a free-of-charge design for an airport in the new capital. The architectural community called the project 'Brazil's finest gateway.' Yet despite such acclaim, the airport never moved beyond the drawing board. The military authorities banned construction of any building designed by a man with communist convictions.
Alongside his architectural work, Niemeyer spent several years with a passion for furniture design. Together with his daughter, he created soft leather armchairs and sofas with spring legs. The pieces are now held in museums across Brazil.
Architecture will always be an expression of a country's technical and social progress. We must take part in the political struggle if we wish to give that progress a human dimension.
1985 – 2012 The Final Years
As soon as the military dictatorship ended, Oscar Niemeyer returned to his homeland. His first act was to take the helm of the Brazilian Communist Party and open his own studio.
Throughout the studio's entire existence, Oscar was its sole employee. Once Niemeyer had finished his drawings, he would pass them on to his daughter's architectural practice, where all documentation was handled, final calculations made and the construction process overseen. In this way, the architect — by then in his eighties — saved his own time, focused exclusively on what interested him, and by the end of his life had designed more than 600 buildings.
Oscar Niemeyer died ten days short of his 106th birthday. He devoted his entire life to his work. On his desk, an unfinished design for a restaurant building still remains — a project Oscar was working on even on the last day of his life.
The agency that helped Niemeyer realise his projects reports that around a dozen completed but as yet unrealised designs by the architect still remain in their possession.
The Architectural Principles of Oscar Niemeyer
Niemeyer quickly learned to design in accordance with Le Corbusier's five points: the building rests on pilotis, the roof is used as a terrace garden, each floor has its own layout, windows run from floor to ceiling across the full length of the wall, and the façade projects forward.
The fundamental difference between the two architects' approaches is that Corbusier valued function above form. Niemeyer was the opposite. For him, beauty mattered more than anything else. Drawing on Corbusier's rules, Niemeyer developed his own principles.
Beauty is architecture's primary function
Niemeyer believed in beauty's socially restorative power. It is for this reason that many of his buildings resemble sculptures. Oscar sought to pass this idea on to a new generation of architects, using his public appearances to advocate a rejection of the dogmas of functionalism.
Architecture must fit into the landscape
Niemeyer repeatedly noted that Brazil's natural environment had a profound influence on his designs. The winding rivers and sweeping mountain curves found their echo in his buildings. In keeping with his belief in beauty's restorative force, Oscar argued that harmony between architecture and the natural landscape is one of the conditions for human wellbeing.
Critics, however, have noted the uniformity of Niemeyer's design solutions across different countries, with their varying topographies and climatic conditions.
Fluid forms breathe life into buildings
Oscar observed that almost everything made by human hands consists of straight, rigid, inflexible lines and angles. He himself was a devotee of the freely flowing, sensuous, curved lines that nature creates — and nature knows better than any person how to make things beautiful.
Reinforced concrete — the architect's greatest ally
Oscar had a special feeling for this material. He called reinforced concrete his greatest ally and admitted that there is no greater pleasure for an architect than inventing new forms from monolithic reinforced concrete. It is the only material that allows one to create not merely a building, but a true architectural spectacle.
Oscar Niemeyer's five most significant buildings
Oscar often recalled that the most strained relationships in his life were with engineers. Those who said 'this cannot be built' were dismissed. He joked that the people who agreed to join him in an architectural adventure gained, alongside enormous stress and headaches, the most important and valuable experience of their careers.
The Niemeyer Family House. Rio de Janeiro, 1951
No architectural reference book is complete without photographs and drawings of this building. Historians and critics describe the Casa das Canoas as the most vivid example of a structure merging with nature. The house now serves as a museum dedicated to the memory of Oscar Niemeyer.
Free from the demands of clients, Niemeyer built his vision of the ideal human dwelling. The house stands on a forested cliff. One of its walls is a massive boulder that broke away from a nearby rock face. The opposite glass wall rises above a fragment of that same stone. Inside, you will find no sharp lines or angles. The building, like the forest around it, seems to be in gentle, perpetual motion.
The Metropolitan Cathedral. Brasília, 1970
Eighteen years after the cathedral's construction, Niemeyer received the Pritzker Prize — architecture's own 'Oscar' — for the finest work in the modernist style.
The main body of the building lies underground. From the outside, only the dome is visible. To enter the cathedral, visitors must pass through a long, dark underground corridor that embodies the fear and bitterness of one's own sins. From there, they step into a bright, luminous space. Light filters through coloured stained-glass windows, filling the entire interior with an atmosphere of wonder.
Despite universal admiration for the building, the Catholic Church long refused to consecrate the cathedral on account of Niemeyer's atheist convictions.
The Mondadori Publishing House. Milan, 1975
By Niemeyer's own account, the publishing house is his favourite project built in Europe. The building divided the international architectural community into two camps: some criticised it for its extreme non-functionalism, while others marvelled at its outward beauty. Notably, the architect received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response from photographers, who said the building was a perfect proving ground for practising and refining the craft of photography — a place to work with volumes, shadows, reflections, geometry and rhythm.
The Museum of Contemporary Art. Rio de Janeiro, 1996
Niemeyer called the museum the most monumental structure of his career — and it truly astonishes in every respect. The extraordinary building immediately became the city's second most important landmark after the statue of Christ. The museum's galleries are arranged along the perimeter of the structure in a spiral, a configuration that allows visitors to take in every exhibition without missing a thing. From the viewing platform, a panoramic vista opens over the city and the ocean.
Niemeyer offered a poetic explanation for the building's unusual form: 'A flying saucer that once passed over the city was so enchanted by the beauty of this place that it landed and decided to stay forever, giving rise to the Museum.'
Oscar Niemeyer International Cultural Centre. Avilés, 2011
Avilés is a small industrial Spanish city, its skyline cluttered with the smoking chimneys of factories. The Spanish government resolved to transform the city by building a vast museum and exhibition complex there. To ensure the centre drew visitors by its sheer presence, Niemeyer was invited to serve as both architect and creative visionary.
At first glance the complex resembles a children's playground: each of its five buildings has an unusual shape and boldly coloured façades. The centre hosts scientific conferences, music, theatre and film events. The most remarkable structure is the theatre hall. It has no division into stalls and gallery — Oscar's way of expressing his conviction that all things, art included, should be accessible to people of every income level.
Oscar Niemeyer: facts worth knowing
- After the completion of the United Nations headquarters in New York, Niemeyer was offered the position of dean at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, but the US government denied him not only a work visa but even a tourist visa throughout his entire life, on account of his membership of the Communist Party.
- The otherworldly forms of Niemeyer's architecture gave rise to numerous legends about his connections with 'extraterrestrial civilisations.' These theories were bolstered by the architect's extraordinary productivity, prolific output and remarkable longevity. Oscar was amused by such gossip, and duly confirmed even the most far-fetched stories.
- Before emigrating to Europe, Niemeyer was commissioned to design a building in Rio. He completed the drawings, but was unable to oversee the construction itself. Oscar visited the finished building only 21 years later, and discovered that the façade had not been built exactly as drawn. Unable to make peace with the builders' error, Niemeyer paid for the façade's reconstruction out of his own pocket.
- During his exile from Brazil, the architect was warmly embraced by the Soviet communist establishment. He received the International Lenin Peace Prize, and was elected an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Arts. Books and articles were written about him, and his work was well known to Soviet architects.
- Oscar Niemeyer outlived his only daughter, who died at the age of 82. He married for the second time at 99, and lived to see five grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren.
More works by Oscar
If you would like to learn more about the visionary architects who transformed the face of cities, read our articles:
— Le Corbusier. The very architect Niemeyer so admired;
— Frank Gehry. The expressive genius of deconstructivism:
— Zaha Hadid. The first woman to receive the Pritzker Prize.
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