Photo by Leonardo Finotti there were such a thing as a body language of nations, deciphering the way countries present themselves, then the Brazil projected by the late, prolic Rio de Janeiro architect Oscar Niemeyer would make a fascinating subject for study. Known abroad for its raw beauty and lush nature, at home Brazil has constructed a public face for its gov- ernmental institutions that chimes perfectly with the slogan emblazoned on its ag: Order and Progress (Ordem e Progresso). Credit for the vast major- ity of them lies with Niemeyer; and yet his colossal, monumental, forward- facing, even utopian buildings, look as astonishingly, exuberantly alien in Brazil as they would almost anywhere else on Earth. The architect, who died on 5 December 2012, 10 days from what would have been his 105th birthday, was a pivotal gure in the construction of mid 20th century Brazil a nation in the midst of reinvention, from agri- cultural giant to, it hoped, a modern, industrial powerhouse. One of a generation of Brazilian architects galvanised by the modernist styles coming out of Europe, Niemeyer graduated and set to work in 1934, seiz- ing on new materials, and in particular reinforced concrete, and pushing its plasticity into unheard of shapes and volumes. He was evangelical about concrete until his dying day, extolling its endless generosity as a material in a long 2006 inter- view with the Brazilian magazine Caros Amigos. The vocabulary of concrete is so much richer [than traditional materials] it has no end, he said. Comparing the 30m- to 40m-wide cupolas of the Renaissance period to the almost 80m diameter he achieved in Braslia (Brazils capital), in the twin domes of the Senate and Congress (the latter as an upturned bowl), he said: We are living in a very special moment for architects, because concrete allows them to do things they never had the opportunity to do before. On Niemeyers drawing board, a tendency towards brutal- ism that reinforced concrete has often inspired is occasionally present, but more often than not it takes ight instead into sym- phonies of curves, arches and parabolas, slender piloti columns, and purpose-built, wide-open spaces. In some cases the eye- shaped Oscar Niemeyer museum in Curitiba, the Congress and Senate complex the result is buildings that barely even look like buildings. You can like or dislike the palaces, Niemeyer said refer- ring to the Braslia works that also include the elegant Palcio da Alvorada (the Presidents ofcial residence), and the crownlike, euphoric upward thrust of the Metropolitan cathedral but you cant say its something youve ever seen before. For those of us in architecture, thats the ultimate result. Outside Braslia in one of Niemeyers most celebrated works as well as a personal favourite the retro-futuristic, y- ing-saucer contours of the MAC art museum (1996) at Niteroi are framed exquisitely, in the unlikeliest of harmonies, against the black-mountain silhouette of Rio de Janeiro, seen across IF Historically a modernist giant that casted shadows for years, in some ways Oscar Niemeyer has cast a lot of other great architects into the shade. Our So Paulo based writer takes a look at his architectural legacy. by Claire Rigby We are living in a very special moment for architects, because concrete allows them to do things they never had the opportunity to do before the civilian f.s 65 f.s 64 the civilian life is more important than architecture: what is important is improving the state of the human being Guanabara Bay. In So Paulo, the generous sweep of Ibirapuera Parks Marquise (1954), an immense concrete shade, runs for 1700m, linking the eclectic set of buildings that Niemeyer was commissioned to create inside the park which also includes the monumental Bienal building and the domed Oca. The Marquise, recently renovated, forms an all-weather, all-purpose leisure space in which people stroll from museum to museum; skate- boarding teenagers clack and roll on their boards; and small children toddle about as So Paulos afternoon summer rain hurls down on either side. That public access and openness to all-comers, no matter how highbrow the museum or important the ministry concerned, is one of the hallmarks of the modern style, and its an aspect Niemeyer loved. We work for the rich or for government, he told Caros Amigos, but the poor are watching from afar, nding it beautiful when it is beautiful, and being amused when it is different. It has to be different it has to create excitement, and surprise. A case in point, on the edge of the Marquise, is the exuber- ant perfection of the Auditrio Ibirapuera concert hall: a dazzling white wedge of a building, crowned by a scarlet lick of concrete over the entrance, like a amenco dancers nal, exuberant our- ish. The building was rst drafted in the 1950s, but it wasnt built until years later, and inaugurated in 2005. Reinforced con- crete made this, and many dozens of other projects, possible for Niemeyer, in a career that spanned almost 80 years from 1934 until shortly before his death in 2012. Years which included impossible not to have, in a professional trajectory with the length, ambition and audacity of Niemeyers both highs and lows. Mercado das Flores, Braslia Photo by Leonardo Finotti the civilian f.s 67 There were triumphs like Rios Ministry of Education (1936), on which Niemeyer worked as part of a team that also included Le Corbusier; and Braslia, for which Niemeyer was tasked with creating the public buildings, while his teacher and friend Lcio Costa drew up the city master plan. There was the United Nations building in New York (1947) also the product of an all-star team of architects; and Niemeyers much-loved Copan building (1951) in downtown So Paulo a curving architectural leviathan that houses 5,000 people in apartments ranging from 27m 2 to 270m 2 , with shops, cafes, restaurants and services on the ground oor. There was also the superb headquarters Niemeyer built in Italy to house Mondadori publishers (1968), just outside Milan, reworking some of the nest aspects of Braslias Foreign Ministry and adding irregularly spaced pilotis; and the astonish- ing grace of the Palcio Tiradentes building in Belo Horizonte (2010) its immense mass suspended under steel cables as part of the complex for the state government of Minas Gerais. And there were the now relatively little-known mists, like the absent-minded, ugly bulk of So Paulos Edifcio e Galeria Califrnia, of which Max Bill wrote scathingly, in Architectural Review in 1954: The walls and pilotis interweave pointlessly, interrupting and destroying the form: its a gigantic disorder of the likes Ive never seen. Come across the building unawares on a Saturday afternoon stroll through So Paulo, and the sensation, even for someone who relishes the citys architectural thrills and spills, is memorable. Like a good Stalinist he was a lifelong com- munist, and president of the Brazilian Communist Party from 1992-96 Niemeyer took the opportunity of Max Bills attack to make a self-critique, published in 1958, in which he admitted, at times, having, neglected certain problems, and adopted an exces- sive tendency towards originality, going on to implicate those who had commissioned him and hoping to win fame for their daring buildings. But Niemeyer, a lifelong friend of Fidel Castro, a self-imposed exile from Brazils 1964-85 military dictatorship, and the pro f.s 68 the civilian Ibirapuera Complex, So Paulo Photo by Leonardo Finotti bono creator of the French Communist Party headquarters (1965), had never intended to change the world through architecture. Architecture is my work and I have spent my entire life behind the drawing board, he said in 2006, but life is more important than archi- tecture: what is important is improving the state of the human being. A series of discussions on Niemeyers legacy, held at So Paulos Ita Cultural in December 2013, brought together some of the key g- ures in modern Brazilian architecture Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Mrcio Kogan, Ruy Ohtake and is set to be followed up in June 2014 with a major Niemeyer exhibition at the same venue, just as the World Cup kicks off across the country. Ita Cultural, one of Brazils most inuential cultural pivots, is located squarely on Avenida Paulista, which saw some of the worst pro- tests during June 2013. Whatever June 2014 may bring, as the world watches Brazil from up close, and as the coun- trys social movements gear up for yet more protests, Niemeyer would surely have been delighted to nd himself still right at the heart of it. Casa das Canoas, Rio de Janeiro Photo by Leonardo Finotti the civilian f.s 71