Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer: biography, work. Oskar Niemeyer Museum and Cultural Center

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Oscar Niemeyer was born in Rio de Janeiro on December 15, 1907. This event took place on the street, which was named after some time after his grandfather Ribeiro de Almeida. This man was a minister of the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court.

Youth of an architect

As Oscar recalled, in his youth he led a bohemian life. The future architect Oscar Niemeyer got married as soon as he graduated from high school. At first he worked in a printing house, and then, in 1930, he began his studies at the National School of Fine Arts, located in Rio de Janeiro. Oscar chose the Faculty of Architecture for himself. After 4 years, Niemeyer completed his studies. He went to work in the design studio of Lucio Costa, his former teacher. Lucio is the founder of Brazilian Art Nouveau architecture.

Collaboration with Charles de Corbusier

At first Oscar worked for free. In the workshop, he met one person who greatly influenced his work. We are talking about Charles Le Corbusier, a French architect. He was a consultant foryoung masters who worked on the project of the building of the Ministry of He alth and Education in Rio de Janeiro. This man immediately noted the talent of Oscar. He put him in charge of the project.

Niemeyer, thanks to this work, gained fame as an architect who is not afraid of experiments. He managed to masterfully combine very unexpected shapes and lines with the functional purpose of the parts and the material from which they are made. Subsequently, these features would become the trademark of Niemeyer's creations, which will appear in almost every one of the 600 projects he completed in different countries.

Pavilion of Brazil and Pampulha Complex

The name of the architect in 1939 became known already outside the country. Niemeyer, together with Lucio Costa, designed the Brazil Pavilion, presented in New York at the World's Fair. In the early 1940s, the architect received a new major order. Juscelin Kubitschek, who later became the president of the country, and at that time the former prefect of the large city of Belo Horizonte (Brazil), instructed him to build a complex of structures on the shore of Lake. Pampulha. There was supposed to be a yacht club and a tennis club, a church, a dance hall, a museum. After the completion of the project, Pampulha became almost the main attraction of the country. It was immediately called the Brazilian architectural gem.

UN Campus Project

Oscar Niemeyer has become a real celebrity. In 1947, he was a member of a group of architects working on the UN building complex in New York. Niemeyer was the youngest among them. The group was led by American architect Wallace Garrison. The authors sought to ensure that their work had a symbolic, philosophical meaning. Niemeyer developed the concept of the "Workshop of the World". Colleagues liked it, the project was approved, but for a number of reasons it was not possible to implement it.

Cottage Canoas

The experimental architect had many ideas. In particular, another of his unusual creations, the Kanoas cottage, became famous all over the world. He built it in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro in 1953. Today, this suburb is the upscale neighborhood of Sant Conrado. According to experts, the solutions used in the construction of this dacha are still fresh, although more than 50 years have passed. The house is literally built into its environment. Take, for example, a huge boulder, which during construction was left where it had lain for perhaps millennia. The architect decided to build a wall of the house right above it. As a result, it turned out that part of the huge stone is outside the house, and the other part is inside. This gives the austere interior of the building a fantastic originality.

However, this work was only an overture to the life work of the great architect, which became the city of Brasilia, the new capital of the state.

Designing the Brazilian capital

Even in the 19th century, the idea appeared to move the Brazilian capital, which at that time was Rio de Janeiro. Then this idea was argued by the fact that Rio, located on the Atlantic coast, is at greater risk in the event of an attack than a city located inland. Nevertheless, it is believed that the main reason for the transfer of the Brazilian capital is the need to developcenter of the country, sparsely populated at the time.

In 1957, this responsible and honorable task was entrusted to Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa by Juscelin Kubitschek, now the President of Brazil. The latter belongs to the general plan for the development of the city, and Oscar - the projects of the bulk of residential complexes and buildings. According to experts, the work of these architects became the most famous urban planning experiment of that time. Almost from scratch, after 3 years, a city grew up, which immediately became one of the most impressive settlements on the planet. Until now, there has not appeared an equal to him on earth. Official opening date - April 21, 1960

The main buildings of the Brazilian capital

At first, the city was designed to accommodate 800 thousand inhabitants, but now there are more than 2.1 million. As the Brazilians say, their capital is shaped like an airplane. If you climb the television tower located in the city center, you will see a "flying liner", which consists of streets, squares, parks and buildings never seen before. In the center is the triangular square of the Three Powers. At its corners there are 3 buildings: the Presidential Palace, the Supreme Court and the National Congress. This is the cockpit. "Wings" of it - residential areas, which are called - "southern" and "northern" wing. The rest of the capital also has a clear division into sectors - the business sector, hotel, embassy, entertainment areas.

Stunning literally every building thatdesigned by Oscar Niemeyer. These sights amaze us with unexpected forms, bold lines, unusual contours. For example, at the foot of the twin towers of the National Congress, each of which has 28 floors, there is an extensive platform. There are 2 huge bowls on it - the buildings of the House of Representatives and the Senate (pictured above). The first of these bowls is upside down and is a wide dome, and the second expands towards the sky.

The national theater, made in the form of a pyramid, also amazes us with its originality. The main part of this building is located underground. The cathedral is also remarkable with its huge glass cone. This building (pictured below) is surrounded by white columns, sharpened like pencils. They rest on the ground, then, repeating the shape of the church, they shoot with their arrows into the sky.

The building of the cathedral looks more like an alien ship that landed inadvertently than a temple in its traditional sense. And not far from it is another miracle of architecture - the building of the Itamaraty Palace, which is popularly called the Palace of Arches. It belongs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This building is also framed by columns that form a gallery with high concrete arches and wide openings. A very unexpected detail for such a serious institution is the large pond that surrounds the Itamaraty Palace from all sides. Fishes frolic merrily in it.

We have described only the main buildings that Oscar Niemeyer created in the Brazilian capital. Projectsits varied and numerous. Taken together, the contrast of pyramids and domes, rounded bowls and arrow-shaped columns, parks and squares, strict geometric shapes, logic and spaciousness in the layout of the streets give the city expressiveness and brightness. The more unexpected is the place of work of the Brazilian president - the Plan alto Palace (pictured below).

It was also created by Oscar Niemeyer. The architecture of this building is quite remarkable. This small building with four floors does not look like a palace at all. Only the guard indicates that it is here that political decisions are made that affect the fate of the largest state in Latin America.

Many government buildings were designed by Oskar Niemeyer. The government, for example, received its Palace in 1960. However, despite such high services to the state, the architect still had to leave his native country. Let's talk about how it happened.

Niemeyer's life in exile

In 1945, Oscar joined the Brazilian Communist Party and remained faithful to its ideals until his death. The architect designed new cities, but suffered from the fact that he could not eliminate the shacks and slums. Niemeyer never hid his beliefs. Because of them, he was unable to stay in Brazil after a military coup took place in the 1960s. Oscar had to emigrate to Europe. He settled in Paris. The architect called this forced departure "unauthorized expulsion". Niemeyer then traveled the world, visited amongother countries and the Soviet Union, where he found many admirers and like-minded people. He became a fighter for social progress and peace on earth. For this, he was awarded the "For Strengthening Peace Among Nations" (International Lenin Prize) award.

As before, the architect worked hard. It seems that the geography of his work is truly limitless: Italy, Germany, France, Lebanon, Congo, Ghana, USA, Algeria and many other countries. His most famous projects of this period were the Central Committee of the French Communist Party, located in Paris, as well as the "Mondadori" in Milan.

Return to Brazil, J. Kubizek Memorial

Only in the early 1980s did Oscar Niemeyer return to Brazil. He immediately began to fulfill his dream - the project of a memorial dedicated to the memory of the "father" of the Brazilian capital, Juscelin Kubitschek. The memorial, whose outlines remind us of a hammer and sickle, is surrounded by greenery. It is located near the TV tower. This is one of the main attractions of the Brazilian capital.

Last years of life, death of an architect

In the last years of his life, Oscar Niemeyer worked in his studio, located in Rio de Janeiro, on the Copacabana waterfront. Among his latest works is the reconstruction of the "Sambadrome". Back in 1984, this avenue with stands was built. During the carnival, samba school competitions are held here. It was not until 2012 that this prospectus was brought into line with the Niemeyer project.

Outstanding Brazilianarchitect Oscar Niemeyer died on December 6, 2012 in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, where he was treated for a month. Oscar did not live up to his 105th birthday for only 10 days. His only daughter, Anna Maria Niemeyer, died at the age of 82 in June 2012

Oscar Niemeyer Cultural Center

This object is located in Spanish Aviles and is a giant museum and exhibition complex. Various cultural events are held in the concert and exhibition halls of the center - exhibitions of photographers and artists, dance performances and theatrical performances, concerts and film screenings, educational lectures and seminars.

This object is also interesting from the point of view of architecture. It looks more like a playground than a museum complex. The center consists of five buildings, each of which is distinguished by the bright color of the facades and bizarre shapes. The cultural center, located in Aviles, is the only colored building in the work of Oscar Niemeyer. This decision was not chosen by chance - the building was supposed to be a kind of remedy for depression for the population of a small industrial town. For a long time, Aviles was treated like the "ugly duckling" of northern Spain. It was usually associated among the inhabitants of the country with the smoking chimneys of the steel mills located here. Together with this exhibition complex, Oscar gave the city a new life. Construction work was started in 2008 and completed in 2011. The five parts of the center are a cinema center, an observation tower, an auditorium and a centralarea.

Oscar Niemeyer Museum

Curitiba (Brazil) is a city that is known not only as the youngest city in Brazil. It is here that the famous Niemeyer Museum is located. It is dedicated to modern architecture, fine arts, design and video art. The construction of the building was completed in 2002. At first, this object was called the "New Museum", but received the name of Oscar Niemeyer already in 2003

This building is also called "The All-Seeing Eye" or "Eye Museum" because of its original design. In shape, it resembles a huge eye hanging in the air. Today, the real emblem of Curitiba is the Museum of Modern Art. Oscar Niemeyer began working on the project back in 1967. Then he built a concrete building in the style of modernism for a higher educational institution. Later, in 2001, he returned to this project and transformed it. This is how the huge extension of steel mesh, white concrete and plate glass was born, known as the Oskar Niemeyer Museum. "Eye" is located on a pedestal, in the center of an artificial reservoir.

The outstanding architect Oscar Niemeyer firmly entered his name in the history of architecture. His works are known all over the world. They never cease to amaze and delight our contemporaries.