Oscar Niemeyer

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.

First works

In 1936, Lúcio Costa was appointed by Education Minister Gustavo Capanema architect of the new headquarters for the Ministry of Education and Public Health in Rio De Janeiro. In 1939, Niemeyer assumed the leadership of the team of architects (Lúcio Costa, Carlos Leão, Affonso Eduardo Reidy, Jorge Moreira, Ernani Vasconcellos and Oscar Niemeyer, with Le Corbusier acting as a consultant in 1936) responsible for the Ministry that had assumed the task of shaping the ?novo homem, Brasileiro e moderno? (new man, Brazilian and modern).

Related Topics:
1936 - Rio De Janeiro - Le Corbusier

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The project, named Capanema Palace, in 1985, was extremely bold for the time. It was the first government Modernist modernist building in the Americas, and of a much larger scale than anything Le Corbusier had built until then. Completed in 1943, the building which housed the regulator and manager of Brazilian culture and cultural heritage developed all the elements of what was to become recognised as Brazilian modernist movement: it employed local materials and techniques, like the ajulezos linked to the Portuguese tradition; the revolutionised Corbusian brises-soleil, made adjustable and related to the Moorish shading devices of colonial architecture; bold colours; the tropical gardens of Roberto Burle Marx; the Imperial Palm (roystonea oleraceæ), known as the Brazilian order; further allusions to the icons of the Brazilian landscape; and the integrated, specially commissioned works of Brazilian artists.

Related Topics:
Capanema Palace - Modernist - 1943 - Brazilian modernist movement - Roberto Burle Marx

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In 1939 Niemeyer traveled with Lúcio Costa to design the Brazilian pavilion in the New York World's Fair. At a time when Europe and the United States were concentrating their industrial powers on World War II, Brazil was investing in architecture. The country placed itself in the vanguard of international modernist architecture, where it remained until decades later, in large part thanks to the talent of Niemeyer.

Related Topics:
1939 - New York World's Fair - World War II

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