Oscar Niemeyer, the great Brazilian architect, just passed away at age 104, 10 days short of turning 105. The news has been a bit everywhere, so I suppose most readers will have seen it already, but some will be surprised to hear that he was actually still alive until yesterday. What most people probably do not know is that Niemeyer was not only alive but also kicking: he continued to be productive as an architect all the way until the end of his life. It was particularly remarkable that he continued to get involved in projects whose completion he knew he would not live long enough to see, but this did not deter him. (An uncle of mine was a long-time collaborator of Niemeyer, from whom I heard this and other interesting bits about Niemeyer.)
It is fair to say that Niemeyer was one of the greatest, most influential architects of the 20th century. He is perhaps best known for his design of the government buildings of Brasilia, the built-from-scratch capital of Brazil inaugurated in 1960, but his projects are everywhere to be seen, mostly in Brazil but also elsewhere. (Check here for a complete list of his works, H/T Luca Baptista.) If one had to use only two words to define Niemeyer’s work, these would be: concrete and curves. He explored like no one else the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete, in particular through curvilinear shapes; see for example the famous Sambadrome arch in Rio de Janeiro (below the fold).
Alongside his artistic career, Niemeyer was also a political activist, and in fact a militant communist all his life. He had to go into exile during the military dictatorship in Brazil of the 1960s and 1970s, and only returned to the country in 1985. During this time, he held his architecture office in Paris, being responsible, among others, for the headquarters of the French Communist Party. After his return to Brazil, he served as the president of the Brazilian Communist Party from 1992 to 1996.
Words fall short to describe what a remarkable person Oscar Niemeyer was, but one thing is for sure: the world is a more beautiful place thanks to him and his creations.
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UPDATE: Another giant who left this world yesterday, Dave Brubeck.
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