Mighty Waves

A guide to where to find Niemeyer's best work in Brasil

Words: Gabriel Silvestre
Image: Andreas Euringer

São Paulo city centre, a quarter past six in the afternoon. The traffic, as ever, is slowly crawling along as Valéria, with a dejected look on her face, makes a right turn in her red Golf onto Avenida Ipiranga. Things don’t look too good: there are cars amassed as far as the eye can see along the infinite stretch towards Avenida Consolação. As if in search of some release, she looks upwards and what she sees brings a slight smile to her lips. “I never get tired of looking at the Copan”, reveals the accountant. “It looks like a flag blowing in the wind, it gives me a sense of relief amongst all the sky-scrapers”.

são paulo | The Copan building was one of Oscar Niemeyer’s first major projects, and quickly became a landmark in São Paulo. The same can be said for the other curvaceous buildings erected by the architect in other major cities across Brasil. His Modernist traits have given a distinct identity to the country’s urban landscape and are a point of reference for the locals. The urbanisation of São Paulo was unplanned, and the result today is a tangle of streets squeezed between sober concrete
blocks. The Copan, despite its giant proportions, stands out in the disorderly landscape because of its softness.

The building is also famous for its diversity. It’s home to executives, humble workers, artists, prostitutes and students – a hallmark of the artist’s communist ideals. In all there are 1,160 apartments, spread over 32 floors, with around five thousand inhabitants. It’s a colossus, and has
featured in the Guiness Book of World Records. It also includes 70 shops, restaurants and even a church. A contrast to this burgeoning population can be found at Ibirapuera Park, the city’s
main park and leisure space. The architectural design was left to Niemeyer in 1951 and resulted in the creation of the Museum of Modern Art, the “Oca” cultural centre and the Biennale Pavilion. The latest edition to the park was the Ibirapuera Auditorium, inaugurated in 2005, 50 years after it was first designed. Yet another example of Niemeyer’s originality, the venue draws attention because of the “tongue” that lolls out of its entrance and the flexibility that the triangular space offers. Backstage, a big door can be opened up to allow open-air shows to take place.

If Ibirapuera has a special place in the hearts of Paulistanos everywhere, Oscar Niemeyer’s other major urban intervention, the Latin American Memorial, is more controversial. Created with the aim of strengthening relations between Latin American countries through its collection of artwork and
cultural events, the venue has failed to attract the crowds it was meant to. The outdoors square, which was built for traditional festivals and performances, is 12 thousand m², and capable of holding
30 thousand people, which for local Consuelo Sanegre is “heart-breaking; an enormous concrete desert”. Niemeyer’s response to his critics is brusque: “If people want trees then they should
go to the Botanic Gardens. At the Memorial there’s only architecture”.

brasília | In the centre of the country, Brasília represented the greatest challenge an architect could ever dream of. Planned in the ‘50s as the new federal capital, the city was built from scratch and based on designs by Niemeyer and town planner Lucio Costa. A large blank canvas, the once deserted plains in the heart of Brasil gave way to a meticulously planned city in the shape of a plane. The city’s buildings established Niemeyer as one of the most influential architects of the 20th Century and symbolised the economic transformations the country was passing through.

Niemeyer hoped to influence a more equal society, and the common denominator was meant to be the ‘Superquadras’, enormous housing estates built on the ‘wings’ of the city. Designed to be self-sufficient, every four estates were equipped with expansive green If Ibirapuera has a special place in the hearts of Paulistanos everywhere, Oscar Niemeyer’s other major urban intervention, the Latin American Memorial, is more controversial. Created with the aim of strengthening relations between Latin American countries through its collection of artwork and cultural events, the venue has failed to attract the crowds it was meant to. The outdoors square, which was built for traditional festivals and performances, is 12 thousand m², and capable of holding 30 thousand people, which for local Consuelo Sanegre is “heart-breaking; an enormous concrete desert”. Niemeyer’s response to his critics is brusque: “If people want trees then they should go to the Botanic Gardens. At the Memorial there’s only architecture”. fields, shopping centres, schools and churches; all indispensable for the smooth running of a neighbourhood. The community spirit, however, didn’t last long. Rising house prices ended up driving poorer residents to outlying towns and certain areas became more exclusive.

But the architect’s innovations, which have rendered him the epithet “the poet of curves”, are to be found in the centre of the plane-shaped city. The Praça dos Três Poderes houses the unmistakeable National Congress, two enormous office buildings accompanied by two inverted half-domes
that house the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate. Close by is Brasília Cathedral, a circular construction with diagonal columns that meet at the top and allow ample rays of light to pass through the stained glass windows. Other buildings that had been initially planned only came
to light decades later. The Library and the National Museum were open in 2006.

niterói | Despite his advanced age, Niemeyer keeps a close eye on the development of his projects, especially the one in Niterói, which is the current apple of his eye. The city, which is situated on the other side of the Bay of Guanabara – directly in front of Rio de Janeiro – is
busily working on the ‘Niemeyer’s Way’, an ambitious project to revitalise the city’s port area, which will include 11 buildings designed by the architect along the 10km coastline. One of Niemeyer’s older buildings actually inspired the creation of the rest.

The Contemporary Arts Museum was opened in 1996 to immediate international acclaim. Impressed, the then mayor of the city invited Niemeyer to come up with a new project. Many considered the MAC his most sublime work, the perfect integration of a building with its environment. The museum
resembles a giant flying saucer subtly supported on the ground and inclined on a cliff. From inside, it seems as if you’re floating above the sea, looking out onto the beautiful view of Rio.

The architect has also designed works of art in Belo Horizonte and Curitiba. And, as well as Niterói, several other projects are underway in such diverse countries as Spain, Germany, Cuba and Chile. Oscar Niemeyer modernized Brasil’s cities and went on to become a living legend. And when you visit them you’ll see that his buildings really have made the world a more pleasant place to be in. JD

Mighty Waves

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