Niemeyer, Oscar, 1907-2012

Appreciator of free flows and curves, Oscar Niemeyer was a Brazilian architect born on December 15, 1907. Niemeyer belonged to a rich family and the childhood passion for drawing drew him near the field of architecture and he entered the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes, from where he graduated in 1934.

The creations of Niemeyer replicated free form sculptures. Until 1941 he got associated with different architectural firms and eventually launched his individual set up by working on a series of buildings known as the Pampulha Architectural Complex in the city of Belo Horizonte. From here the significant traits of his design, massive concrete and passion for curves got identified.

Oscar Niemeyer focused a lot on improving the architecture of Brasília during the passage if his practice thus we see that a major chunk of his work comprises of building built within his native land. He was more focused on introducing new structural aspects to find out solutions for his native architectural problems. During 1947-53 he earned international recognition by working in collaboration with Le Corbusier to design the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This success won Niemeyer the appointment as dean of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design but he didn’t get the position after being rejected for the US citizenship for some political reasons. List of some of his great creations is as follows:

Palácio do Planalto, the official workplace of thePresident of Brazil
The National Congress of Brazil, Brasília
Cathedral of Brasília
National Library, Brasília
The Ministry of Defense building in Brasília
Constantine University (now Mentouri University) in Constantine, Algeria
the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niterói, Brazil
Cultural Center for Avilés, Spain

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (December 15, 1907 – December 5, 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈoskaʁ ni.eˈmajeʁ]), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was best known for his design of civic buildings for Brasília, a planned city that became Brazil's capital in 1960, as well as his collaboration with other architects on the headquarters of the United Nations in New York. His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete was highly influential in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.