Oscar Niemeyer and the Architecture of Brazil

Oscar Niemeyer and the Architecture of Brazil

Author: David Kendrick Underwood

Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13:

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"Oscar Niemeyer, born in 1907, is widely considered this century's leading Latin American architect, as well as one of the pioneers of modern architecture. This volume explores the major themes and sources of the most important works from all phases of Niemeyer's career, from the early collaborations of the 1930s and 1940s with Lucio Costa, the spiritual father of Brazilian modernism, to the 1989 Memorial da America Latina in Sao Paulo, a complex that reveals the maturation of Niemeyer's free-form style in the service of his utopian vision. A central theme of Niemeyer's work has been its reflection of the Brazilian jeito, a sinuous and improvisational style manifested in everything from the country's sensual, undulating landscape to its attraction to spontaneous impulses, best known through its vibrant music and dance. The jeito and the milieu of Rio de Janeiro lie at the heart of Niemeyer's free-form style, which emphasizes the inherent plasticity of the native curve over the rigid rectilinearity of the International Style in Europe. A second theme treats the influence on Niemeyer of the poetic style of Le Corbusier. Also considered are Niemeyer's attraction to surrealist biomorphic forms and his desire to express a sense of the fantastic in architecture. A final theme is Niemeyer's search for an aesthetic utopia that would resolve social dilemmas by wishing them away through architecture. Herein lies Niemeyer's strength, for as his architecture reflects the multiple dichotomies of the Brazilian experience, it projects an emotive universality that few architects have been able to achieve."--Publisher.


Brasilia

Brasilia

Author: René Burri

Publisher: Scheidegger and Spiess

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9783858813077

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Last year marked the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration of Brazil's capital Brasilia. Designed by architects Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer, it has since become one of the most famous and widely studied urban planning projects. Niemeyer's cathedral, Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida; his building for the national parliament, the Congresso Nacional; and the city's 707-foot television tower have become icons of twentieth-century architecture. The entire city, marked by its cross-shaped layout and vast open spaces, was named a UNESO World Heritage site in 1987. René Burri, an internationally celebrated Swiss-born photographer and member of the legendary Magnum agency, visited the city for the first time on a long journey around South America in 1958, when most of Brasilia was a vast building site. He returned many times over more than thirty years, documenting the growth and development of this urban utopia. Besides documenting the buildings in various stages of completion, Burri took portraits of Niemeyer and his workers and photographed Brasilia's street scenes and people: workers with their tools, machinery and building materials, pedestrians on the newly finished streets and squares, and aerial views from the air of the city's first slums abutting brand-new blocks of residential buildings. His images capture the strong sense of a new era and a vibrant atmosphere of hard work and strain; they reflect the huge dimensions of the landscape and the great scale of this project and its ambition to design and build a new capital--and fill it with life. Complete with an essay by eminent architect and scholar of architectural history Arthur Rüegg, René Burri. Brasilia marks the city's fiftieth anniversary and allows readers to look at an extraordinary city through the eyes of an exceptional photographer.


When Brazil Was Modern

When Brazil Was Modern

Author: Lauro Cavalcanti

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press

Published: 2003-01-31

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13: 9781568983417

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This guide to modern Brazilian architecture takes us on a tour of over 125 projects designed between 1928-1960. There are works by 33 architects, and each entry gives a brief description, photographs, drawings, and information on visitor access.


Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Niemeyer

Author: Matthieu Salvaing

Publisher: Editions Assouline

Published: 2008-10

Total Pages: 18

ISBN-13: 9782759402939

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The work of the last living modernist architect.


Brazil's Modern Architecture

Brazil's Modern Architecture

Author: Elisabetta Andreoli

Publisher: Phaidon Press

Published: 2007-10-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780714848457

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The most comprehensive survey and analysis of 20th-century Brazilian architecture.


Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Niemeyer

Author: Styliane Philippou

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780300120387

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Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1907, Oscar Niemeyer is recognized as one of the world's most fiercely original architects and the central figure of Brazilian architectural Modernism. The prolific designer of more than 600 buildings, Niemeyer has been in practice for seven decades. Architecture, he declares must be "functional, beautiful, and shocking." Transgressing orthodox Modernist aesthetic doctrine and subverting hegemonic cultural models, his work privileged invention and affirmed spectacle and luxury, pleasure, beauty, and sensuality as legitimate architectural pursuits. This gorgeously illustrated book explores the development of Niemeyer's extraordinary body of ideas and forms as well as his role in the construction of Brazil's modern image and cultural tradition. Through a detailed discussion of his intoxicating experiments in reinforced concrete, the book offers the opportunity to relish the stream of pleasures afforded by Niemeyer's important buildings, including his mid-century projects as chief architect for the new capital of Brasília, and the spectacular Niterói Museum of Contemporary Art, completed in 1996. Providing the first comprehensive analysis of Niemeyer's radical work and dissident perspective, Oscar Niemeyer: Curves of Irreverence sheds new light on the route the architect has followed as well as on Brazilian Modernism as a non-conformist project informed by a nationalist and anti-colonialist stance.


Brazil

Brazil

Author: Richard J. Williams

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2009-03-15

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 1861896956

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Set against a backdrop of breathtaking natural beauty, Brazil’s striking modernist architecture has long garnered international acclaim. But these well-known works are not fully reflective of the built environment of Brazil, and with this volume, Richard Williams unearths the rich architectural heritage of Brazil. Spanning from 1945 through today, the book examines Brazilian architecture beyond the works of renowned architects such as Oscar Niemeyer and the “Carioca” architects of Rio de Janeiro. Williams investigates issues such as the use of historic architecture, the importance of leisure and luxury, the role of the favela as a backdrop and inspiration for development, and the rapid growth of cities. From the designated world heritage site of Brasilia—a capital city that was planned from the ground up—to the installation work of artists such as Hélio Oiticica, Brazil delves into the origins and far-reaching influence of Brazil’s architectural modernism. At a moment when Latin America is of increasing importance in global business and culture, Brazilwill be an essential read for all scholars of architecture and Latin American history.


Architecture of Brazil

Architecture of Brazil

Author: Hugo Segawa

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-05

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 146145431X

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Architecture of Brazil: 1900-1990 examines the processes that underpin modern Brazilian architecture under various influences and characterizes different understandings of modernity, evident in the chapter topics of this book. Accordingly, the author does not give overall preference to particular architects nor works, with the exception of a few specific works and architects, including Warchavchik, Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, and Vilanova Artigas.


Oscar Niemeyer Houses

Oscar Niemeyer Houses

Author: Alan Hess

Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780847827985

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Oscar Niemeyer is one of the greatest architects of our time. Hugely influential, his work has added a new dimension to modern architecture in the twentieth century. The designer of Brasilia showed that the rhythmic, sensuous lines of Brazilian Modernism were as legitimately modern as the rectilinear lines of the Bauhaus. Oscar Niemeyer Houses showcases the houses built by this seminal modern master in a lavish format that finally does justice to his extraordinary work. Viewed as a collection, these houses serve to demonstrate the wide range of Niemeyer's prodigious genius. The designs show a personal and eclectic facet to Niemeyer's creative imagination, a side of the master little known and under-appreciated. Often built for family members or major clients, they show a wealth of solutions that respond to a wide range of sites: the steep hillsides of Rio, the Atlantic beach shore, the rain forest, and the residential neighborhoods of Rio and Sao Paulo. This celebrated work stands as an enduring and notable tribute to one of the last of the international masters of Modernism.