Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Niemeyer

Presentation by :I.V. Anusha

Oscar Niemeyer was a Brazilian architect who is considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture, particularly noted for his work on Brasília, the new capital of Brazil.

Niemeyer studied architecture at the National School of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro. In 1934, he entered the office of Lucio Costa, a leader of the Modernist movement in Brazilian architecture. He worked with Costa from 1937 to 1943 on the design for the Ministry of Education and Health building, considered by many to be Brazil’s first masterpiece of modern architecture. The design reveals the influence of architect Le Corbusier, who was a consultant on the construction. Niemeyer also worked with Costa on the plans for the Brazilian Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair of 1939–40.

BIOGRAPHY

Niemeyer received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1988, the highest award in the profession, for his Cathedral of Brasilia. His design philosophy is - architecture followed the old examples—beauty prevailing over the limitations of the constructive logic. His designs were noted for their free-flowing forms.

BIOGRAPHY

IDEOLOGIES AND PHILOSOPHIES

Niemeyer is most famous for his use of abstract forms and

curves that specifically characterize every one of his works.

He didn’t stick to traditional straight lines.

He is not attracted to straight angles or lines but rather he is

captured by “FREE FLOWING, SENSUAL CURVES”.

He designed and built curved architecture through his

revolutionary usage of concrete.

His designs were daring – buildings were characterized by

being SPACIOUS and EXPOSED, mixing volumes and empty

space to create unconventional patterns and often propped

up by Piloti.

Niemeyer was able to connect the Baroque style with modern

architecture leading to a new form of architecture, which had

never been built in Brazil before.

He believed that Architecture, technology and nature be

integrated by with natural elements.

BIOGRAPHY

WORKSNiemeyer’s first solo project was the plan for a complex within Pampulha, a new suburb of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. the scheme included a church, casino, dance hall, restaurant, yacht club, golf club, and the mayor’s weekend retreat, all situated around an artificial lake. The complex’s buildings are notable for their free-flowing forms. In 1947 Niemeyer represented Brazil in the planning of the United Nations buildings in New York City.

WORKS Among the Brasilia buildings designed by Niemeyer are the President’s Palace, the Brasilia Palace Hotel, the Ministry of Justice building, the presidential chapel, and the cathedral. In 1961 Niemeyer returned to private practice and for a time lived in Paris and Israel. In 1966 he designed an urban area in Grasse, near Nice, France, and a building for the French Communist Party in Paris.

From 1968 he lectured at the University of Rio de Janeiro.Niemeyer’s other architectural projects include the Ministry of Defense building in Brasília in 1968 and Constantine University (now Mentouri University) in Constantine, Algeria, in 1969. In the mid-1980s he began rethinking and renovating some of his former designs in Brasília. He changed the shape of the exterior arches on the Ministry of Justice building and replaced the windows of the cathedral with stained-glass panels.He continued to design new buildings, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, Brazil, which opened in 1996.

WORKS

The Alvorada Palace, or Palace of Dawn, is the official residence of the President of Brazil. The palace was designed by Oscar Niemeyer and inaugurated on June 30, 1958.

One of the first structures built in the Republic's new capital city, the "Alvorada" lies on a peninsula at the margins of Lake Paranoá. The principles of simplicity and modernity, that in the past characterized the great works of architecture, oriented Niemeyer's project. The viewer has an impression of looking at a glass box, softly landed on the ground with the support of thin external columns.

ALVORADA PAL ACE

The building has an area of 7,000 square meters (75,000 sq ft.) distributed along three floors: basement, landing and second floor. Located in adjacent buildings within palace grounds are the chapel and the heliport. The basement level houses the movie theater, game room, kitchen, laundry, medical center, and the building's administration.

Exterior

ALVORADA PAL ACE

The second floor is the residential part of the palace, with the presidential apartment consisting of four suites, two guest apartments and other private rooms.

The ground floor houses the state rooms used by the presidency for official receptions. It is made up of the Entrance Hall, Waiting Room, State Room, Library, Mezzanine, Dining Room, Noble Room, Music Room and Banquet Room. Main hall

Interior- Mezzanine

ALVORADA PAL ACE

Brazilian National Congress

Oscar Niemeyer designed the National Congress during the late 1950s and early 1960s while he served as chief architect for Brazil's new capital city, Brasília. The complex is composed of several buildings. Shown here is the domed Senate building on the left, the Parliament office tower at the center, and the bowl-shaped Chamber of the Deputies on the right.

Exterior

The semi-sphere on the left is the seat of the Senate, and the semi-sphere on the right is the seat of the Chamber of the Deputies. Between them are two vertical office towers. The Congress also occupies other surrounding office buildings, some of them interconnected by a tunnel.The building is located in the middle of the Monumental Axis , main street of Brasilia.


Exterior view at Night

Under construction Pictures



Under construction Pictures

Cathedral of Brasilia

The Cathedral of Brasilia is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Brazil.The concrete- framed hyperboloid structure, seems with its glass roof to be reaching up, open, to heaven.In the square access to the inside are four bronze sculptures with 3ft tall representing the evangelists.

Exterior View

Niemeyer saw a compact and clean concept, a volume occurring with the same purity from any perspective and for times of deep religious expression.

Inside the nave are the sculptures of 3 angels suspended by steel cables.

Interior ViewCathedral of Brasilia

The Cathedral of Brasilia is 40 meters high and holds up to four thousand people. The base of the building is circular and about 60 m in diameter. Its glass ceiling, begins at the floor and is supported by 16 curved columns. Its circular structure prevents the existence of a facade.Its nave is over 70 meters in diameter, so long, despite the circular from the Cathedral. Its interior is decorated with stained glass.The structure itself is the result of 16 identical columns. These columns, which have a hyperbolic section and weigh 90 tonnes, are pointing both hands to the sky.

In the air born outside the structure of the earth is a cry of faith and hope, then, the gallery is located in semi-darkness to prepare the faithful to show religious order in the contrast of light and the external effects; the faithful depart from the world and are projected between the cathedral and the infinite spaces.


Aerial View


1936 – Ministry of Education and Health – Brazil.

1938 – Grand Hotel Ouro Preto – Brazil

1939 – Brazilian Pavilion – USA

1940 - Pampulha Complex – Brazil

1946 – School in Cataguases – Brazil

1947 - UN Headquarters - USA

1951 – Ibirapuera – Brazil

1951 – Housing Complex in Copan – Brazil

1951 – The JK Building (Governor Juscelino Kubitschek’s Complex) -

Brazil

1952 – House at Canoas – Brazil

1954 – Museum of Modern Art in Caracas – Venezuela

1956 – Temporary Residence of the President of the Republic – Brazil

LIST OF SOME WORKS

1957 – Alvorada Palace – Brazil

1957 – Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion – Brazil

1958 – National Congress of Brazil – Brazil

1958 - Cathedral of Brasilia - Brazil

1958 – Supreme Court – Brazil

1958 – National Theatre of Brasília – Brazil

1958 – Presidential Palace – Brazil

1962 - International Permanent Exhibition Centre of Lebanon.

1962 – Ministry of Justice – Brazil

1962 – Itamaraty Palace for the Foreign Ministry – Brazil

1965 – Brasilia Airport – Brazil (Not Built)

1966 – Headquarters of the French Communist Party – PCF – France

LIST OF SOME WORKS

1968 - Music Center – Brazil (Not Built)

1968 – Headquarters of Mondadori Publishers – Italy

1968 - Civic Center of Algiers – Algeria (Not Built)

1968 – Mosque of Algiers – Algeria (Not Built)

1969 - University of Constantine – 1st round – Algeria

1972 – Stock Exchange at Bobigny – France

1972 – Cultural Center Le Havre – Le Volcan – France

1975 – Headquarters of Fata Engineering – Italy

1980 – Memorial JK – Brazil

1981 – Leisure Island in Abu Dhabi – UAE (Not Built)

1982 – Integrated Center for Public Education – Brazil

1983 - Sambadrome - Brazil

LIST OF SOME WORKS

1985 – Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom Tancredo Neves –

Brazil

1987 – Memorial for Latin America – Brazil

1991 – Museum of Contemporary Art – MAC – Brazil

1991 – Latin American Parliament – Brazil

1997 – Niemeyer Way – Brazil

1999 – Ibirapuera Auditorium – Brazil

2000 – Auditorium in Ravello – Italy

2001 – Oscar Niemeyer Museum – Brazil

2003 – Serpentine Gallery Pavillion – UK

2003 – Administrative Center of Minas Gerais – Brazil

2006 – Oscar Niemeyer International Cultural Center of

Asturias- Spain

LIST OF SOME WORKS

Furniture Design

THANK YOU

Documents

Oscar Niemeyer