INTRODUCTION

Oscar Niemeyer Soares

Filho (born December 15,
1907) is a Brazilian architect
who is considered one of
the most important names
in international modern
architecture
He was a pioneer in the
exploration of the
constructive possibilities of
reinforced concrete.
In 1988 Oscar Niemeyer was
awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, together with the American
architect Gordon Bunshaft.
His architecture combines sculptural monumentality with classic order.

Early life

Oscar Niemeyer was born in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1907, on a street
that later would receive the name of his grandfather Ribeiro de Almeida.
He spent his youth as a typical young Carioca of the time: bohemian and
relatively unconcerned with his future.
He concluded his secondary education at age 21. The same year, he married
Annita Baldo, daughter of Italian immigrants from Padua.
Marriage gave him a sense of responsibility: he decided to work and enter
university.
He started to work in his father's typography house and entered the Escola
de Belas Artes, from which he graduated as engineer architect in 1934.

HIS WORKS

Capenema palace(1935-1943)
Pampulha project(1940-1943)
Church of st.francis at pampulha,brazil,1943
Ministry of Education and Health (now the Palace of Culture), (with Le
Corbusier, Lucio Costa, Jorge Machado Moreira and Afonso Eduardo Reidy) at
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1937 to 1943. National Stadium, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
1941.
Aeronautical research centre,1950
National Stadium, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1941.
United Nations Headquarters, with others, at New York, New York, 1947 to 1953
Cathedral at Brasilia, at Brasilia, Brazil, 1957 to 1964.
Communist Party Headquarters, at Paris, France, 1967 to 1972.
 Samba Stadium, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1983
Museo Oscar Neimeyer, at Curitiba, Brazil, 2000

He divides his work into five periods:

first Pampulha, then from Panpulha to Brasilia, after that Brasilia, followed by my
work overseas, and, last but not least, my most recent plans.

First works

Oscar Niemeyer graduated from the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes in Rio de
Janeiro in 1934.
At this time Oscar Niemeyer joined a team of Brazilian architects
collaborating with Le Corbusier on a new Ministry of Education and Health
in Rio de Janeiro. Oscar Niemeyer worked with Lucio Costa and Le
Corbusier till 1938 on this project.
The corbusian influence is evident in the early works of Oscar Niemeyer.
However, the architect gradually acquired his own style: the lightness of the
curved forms created spaces that transformed the architectural scheme into
something that was hitherto unknown; harmony, grace and elegance are the
adjectives that are most appropriate to describe the work of Oscar Niemeyer

BRASILIA

A city of striking modern appearance, Braslia developed as a planned city,

constructed (beginning in 1957) on an uninhabited site to replace crowded Rio de
Janeiro as the national capital.
 The citys layout resembles the shape of an airliner, with commercial areas,
blocks of residential apartment buildings, and foreign embassies occupying the
wings, and the offices of the national government filling the fuselage. Key
government departments, including the presidents office, Congress, and the
Supreme Court, are housed in the Plaza of the Three Powers, located at the nose
of the plane on the east edge of the city.
Brazilian architect and urban planner Lcio Costa won a competition to
develop the overall city plan, and President Kubitschek commissioned noted
Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer (*1907) to design the citys public
buildings.
Construction of the new city began in 1957, and on April 21, 1960, Braslia
was proclaimed the new capital of Brazil.
In 1987, Brasilia was designated by UNESCO as World Cultural Heritage.
Niemeyer is thus the only architect in the world who has had the honour of
seeing his life work as cultural heritage
The cathedral of Braslia is especially beautiful, with diverse modern
symbolism. Its entrance is a dimly-lit corridor that contrasts with the bright,
naturally illuminated hall.
new concepts of city planning: streets without transit ,buildings floating off
the ground supported by columns and allowing the space underneath to be
free and integrated with nature.

Church of St Francis

ModernNotes: undulating vaulting roofs over T-shaped plan. Vertical side walls
faced with painted tile mural.
This small church embodies an entirely revolutionary use of concrete for
ecclesiastical purposes. At the time of its construction the only comparably daring
structure had been Auguste Perret's vertical and largely precast structure at Raincy
in France, built in 1924. Niemeyer employed the plastic qualities of concrete by
using the same structural element for walls and roof in a series of parabolic
arches. The outer screen wall on the north side is finished with a tiled mural
depicting scenes from the life of St. Francis

Location Pampulha,Brazil
Date1943
Timeline Building
Type church
Construction System:
Concrete
Climate: Tropical
Style: Organic
The Creator's Words

"Architecture must express the spirit of the technical and social forces that are
predominant in a given epoch; but when such forces are not balanced, the
resulting conflict is prejudicial to the content of the work and to the work as a
whole. Only with this in mind may we understand the nature of the plans and
drawings which appear in this volume. I should have very much liked to be in a
position to present a more realistic achievement: a kind of work which reflects not
only refinements and comfort but also a positive collaboration between the
architect and the whole society.

"Here, then, is what I wanted to tell you of my architecture. I created it with courage and
idealism, but also with an awareness of the fact that what is important is life, friends and
attempting to make this unjust world a better place in which to live."

A Living Legend
Today Niemeyer is 99 years old and a living legend.
He has constructed more buildings than almost any other modern architect and
has not stopped yet.