MODULE 2

OSCAR NIEMEYER
 "I have always, accepted and respected all other
schools of architecture, from the chill and elemental
structures of Mies van der Rohe to the imagination
and delirium of Gaudi. I must design what pleases
me in a way that is naturally linked to my roots and
the country of my origin.”- Niemeyer.
MODERNISM AND REGIONALISM
 One of the most depressing aspects of travel is finding that
the world often looks the same in many different places.
 The towers of downtown Tokyo are indistinguishable from
those of Frankfurt or Seattle. That’s no coincidence. Modern
architecture was founded on the idea that buildings should
logically look the same everywhere.
 The early figures of Modernism were united in their bitter
opposition to any kind of ‘regionalism’, which they saw as
reactionary, folkloric and plain mediocre.
 If bicycles, telephones and planes (all harbingers of the
new age) weren’t going to be done up in a local style, why
should buildings.
INTRODUCTION
 Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) was born in the hillside district
of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and studied at the Academy of Fine
Arts.
 Niemeyer’s architecture, conceived as lyrical sculpture,
expands on the principles and innovations of Le Corbusier to
become a kind of free-form sculpture.
 In 1938-39 he designed the Brazilian Pavilion for the New
York World’s Fair in collaboration with Lucio Costa.
 His celebrated career began to blossom with his involvement
with the Ministry of Education and Health (1945) in Rio de
Janeiro.
 Niemeyer’s mentor, Lucio Costa, architect, urban planner, and
renowned pioneer of Modern architecture in Brazil, led a
group of young architects who collaborated with Le Corbusier
to design the building which became a landmark of modern
Brazilian architecture.
CAREER
 The Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer began his career
as an orthodox modern architect, subscribing thoroughly
to this universalist credo.
 When he went to study at the National School of Fine
Arts, he fell in with a group that venerated the great
European Modernist architects, especially Le Corbusier –
who had insisted with particular vehemence on making
sure buildings made no concession whatever to the culture
in which they were located.
 Niemeyer’s professional ambitions were realised when, in
1936, Le Corbusier was commissioned to come to Rio to
design the new Ministry of Education and Health.
 Niemeyer was invited to join the team of Brazilian
architects charged with helping the European to realise his
scheme on this large and prestigious building.
NIEMEYER AND LE CORBUSIER
THE NEW MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
AND HEALTH
THE NEW MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
AND HEALTH
 While working with him, Niemeyer retained the utmost respect
for Le Corbusier, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but
observe how blind his guest was to the particularities of
Brazilian culture and climate.
 With what would become his legendary charm, Niemeyer
managed to persuade Le Corbusier to abandon some of his
more hard-edged ‘universalist’ intentions for the building and
to make some concessions to local conditions.
 Under his influence, the building’s windows acquired ‘louvres’
against the sun
 And most spectacularly of all, Niemeyer persuaded Le
Corbusier to commission an enormous traditional Portuguese
piece of tile work, done up with abstract motifs, for the public
areas on the ground floor.
REGIONAL - MODERNISM
 Emboldened by his success with the building, Niemeyer
felt ready to break free from European Modernism.
 He is to be celebrated for being perhaps the first
architect anywhere in the world to practice a regional
kind of Modernism: in his case, a Brazilian-infused
modernism.
 His first wholly original work was completed in 1943
(when he was 36), and was commissioned by the local
mayor of Belo Horizonte, the future president of Brazil,
Juscelino Kubitschek.
 It was a building complex that included a casino, a
restaurant, a dance hall, a yacht club and most
famously, a place of worship, now known as the Church
of Saint Francis of Assisi, in Belo Horizonte.
 It was while Niemeyer was working on this project that he
met the mayor of Brazil, Juscelino Kubitschek, who would
later become President of Brazil.
 As President, he appointed Niemeyer in 1956 to be the
chief architect of Brasilia, the new capital of Brazil, his
designs complementing Lucio Costa’s overall plans.
 The designs for many buildings in Brasilia would occupy
much of his time for many years.
WORKS OF NEIMEYER
 "As an architect, my concern in Brasilia was to find a
structural solution that would characterize the city's
architecture. So I did my very best in the structures, trying
to make them different with their columns narrow, so
narrow that the palaces would seem to barely touch the
ground. And I set them apart from the facades, creating
an empty space through which, as I bent over my work
table, I could see myself walking, imagining their forms
and the different resulting points of view they would
provoke.
 Internationally, he collaborated with Le Corbusier again
on the design for the United Nations Headquarters
(1947-53) in New York, contributing significantly to the
siting and final design of the buildings.

WORKS OF NEIMEYER
 His own residence (1953) in Rio de Janeiro has become a
landmark.
 In the 1950s, he designed an Aeronautical Research
Center near Sao Paulo.
 In Europe, he undertook an office building for Renault
and the Communist Party Headquarters (1965) both in
Paris
 a cultural centre for Le Havre (1972), and in Italy,
 the Mondadori Editorial Office (1968) in Milan
 and the FATA Office Building (1979) in Turin.
 In Algiers, he designed the Zoological Gardens, the
University of Constantine, and the Foreign Office.
CATHEDRAL OF BRASILIA
PLAN AND SECTION
BELL TOWER
CATHEDRAL OF BRASILIA
 The church bears much importance in the society, so the design
had to have significance and personality against its
surroundings.
 Oscar Niemeyer was sure to make a statement with the
powerful expression and unique form of the Cathedral
of Brasilia, which led to his acceptance of the Pritzker Prize in
1988
 The cornerstone was laid in early September of 1958, when
designs were beginning to be proposed and thoroughly
planned out by Oscar Niemeyer.
 With a diameter of 70m, the only visible structure of the
cathedral being sixteen concrete columns with a very peculiar
shape.
 Reaching up towards the sky to represent two hands, the
columns have parabolic sections.
 After the addition of the external transparent windows, the
Cathedral was dedicated on May 31st of 1970.
 Figuratively guarding the exterior of the church stand four
bronze sculptures, each 3m high.
 These represent the Evangelists and were made with the help
of Dante Croce in 1968.
 More sculptures can be seen inside the nave, where three
angels are suspended by steel cables.
 Ranging in size from 2.22 to 4.25m long and weighing 100kg-
300kg each, these were completed by Alfredo Ceschiatti and
Dante Croce in 1970.
 Hand-painted ceramic tiles cover the walls of the oval-shaped
Baptistery, done by Athos Bulcao in 1977.
 The Cathedral is completed with its bell tower, housing four
bells that were donated by Spain.
 More obvious details of the interior are the stained glass
windows, with different shades of blue, white and brown.
 Upon entering into the Cathedral, there stands a marble pillar
with pictures of passages of the life of Our Lady, painted by
Athos Bulcao.
INTRODUCTION

 Guided by the ideas developed in the 1950s, Kubitschek

wanted the capital city to become a pillar of development in
the north-east.
 Even though he did not find the ideal city, he decided to build
nothing less than his original design.
 For a work of such dimensions, a national competition was
convened, won by two of the best architects of the era: Lucio
Costa and Oscar Niemeyer.
The first was one of the most reputable developers in the
country and the second is a recognized student of Le
Corbusier. Both were also ardent communists.
 The Metropolitan Cathedral, or Cathedral of Brasilia, is one of
many public buildings designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer,
60th in the Brazilian capital.
CONCEPT
 The cathedral is located in the capital of the Federal Republic
of Brazil.
 Brasilia, built in a central desert area of a continent and
country, remains the youngest capital of South America and a
large open-air exhibition of the works of Oscar Niemeyer.
 Niemeyer saw a compact and clean concept, a volume
occurring with the same purity from any perspective and for
times of deep religious expression.
 In the air born outside the structure of the earth is a cry of
faith and hope, then, the gallery is located in semi-darkness to
prepare the faithful to show religious order in the contrast of
light and the external effects; the faithful depart from the
world and are projected between the cathedral and the
infinite spaces.
 The Cathedral of Brasilia is 40 meters high and holds up
to four thousand people.
The base of the building is circular and about 70 m in
diameter.
 Its glass ceiling, begins at the floor and is supported by
16 curved columns. Its circular structure prevents the
existence of a facade.
 Niemayer’s communist and political trends had hoped that
any future regime would be established in this Brazil.
 Niemayer’s cathedral was designed so that when Brazil
was succumbing to communism, the importance of his
temple would not be diminished.
 The hyperbolic structure is built of concrete, and it seems that
with its glass roof it is raised to the open sky.
 The structure of the Cathedral of Brasilia was completed on
31 May 1970 and was based on revolved hyperbolas, where
the sections are asymmetric.
 The structure itself is the result of 16 identical columns.
 These columns, which have a hyperbolic section and weigh 90
tonnes, are pointing both hands to the sky.