Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer, was a Brazilian architect who is considered one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was best known for his design of civic buildings for Brasilia, a planned city which became Brazil’s capital in 1960, as well as his collaboration with other architects on the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete was highly influential on the architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Both lauded and criticized for being a “sculptor of monuments”, Niemeyer was praised for being a great artist and one of the greatest architects of his generation by his supporters. He claimed his architecture was strongly influenced by Le Corbusier, but in an interview, assured that this “didn’t prevent [his] architecture from going in a different direction”. Niemeyer was most famous for his use of abstract forms and curves that characterize most of his works..
“I am not attracted to straight angles or to the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. I am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves. The curves that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman. Curves make up the entire Universe, the curved Universe of Einstein.” – Oscar Niemeyer, 2000, The Curves of Time: The Memoirs of Oscar Niemeyer.
He was among the first architects to explore the possibilities of reinforced concrete solely for its aesthetic impact and a supporter of Le Corbusier’s view on architecture. All these years he has been influencing so many young architects and designer; Zaha Hadid and Christian de Portzamparc being among them.
Works of Architect Oscar Niemeyer
Source: Wikipedia.com and google.com
