The Genius of Oscar Niemeyer - Part III
Oscar Niemeyer, the modernist architect who brought curves to concrete and a sense of sculpture to public design, famously worked until the end of his life, continuing to go into the office daily, well into his hundreds. Throughout this last chapter of his life, bold and celebrated designs continued to emerge.
The Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, designed when he was 89 years old, is a daringly flying saucer-like building at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the sea. Entered via a long, curving red ramp that spirals up to the front entrance, the design demands a slow and thoughtful approach. Inside, windows wrap visitors in expansive views of Brazil’s Guanabara Bay (the site was home to this year’s Louis Vuitton Cruise Collection runway show).
Photo via 300magazine.com
Photo by Alan Weintraub / Arcaid / Corbis via style.time.com
Photo courtesy of Louis Vuitton via tatlerasia.com
The Centro Niemeyer, a $44 million dollar cultural and educational arts complex in Avilés, Spain opened in 2011, one year before Niemeyer’s death. He gifted the design to the region for the 25th anniversary of their Prince of Asturias Awards, which he had received in 1989. Its architectural centerpiece is a futuristic curving tower reminiscent of the elevated disc at the Niterói Museum. Completing the design are several other structures in classic Niemeyer shapes and silhouettes, set throughout an open plaza. The Centro Niemeyer closed soon after its initial opening, for financial review, but has since reopened its doors, and from the beginning, has been a great success with both locals and visitors alike.
Photo via arquitecturaviva.com
The eye catching Ibirapuera Auditorium was originally designed in 1954, but only built (with updated design edits) in 2004, when Niemeyer was 96 years old. The auditorium completes the Ibirapuera Complex, which he also designed, but which was built decades earlier. Modern details are found throughout the design, including a striking, sculptural red metal awning at the entrance, and a door at the rear of the theater, which opens to share indoor performances with outdoor audiences (a feature also incorporated into the Centro Niemeyer in Spain).
Photo via arquitecturaviva.com
Just months before his passing, the Converse x Oscar Niemeyer Collection launched. This limited edition collaboration featured Niemeyer’s handwritten words and pops of red, his favorite accent color, on a selection of classic Converse shoes.
Photo via dezeen.com
Photo via dezeen.com
Photo via dezeen.com
Photo via dezeen.com
Despite his lifetime of pushing boundaries and designing architecture like none other, near the end of his life, Niemeyer was philosophical about the inevitable impermanence of all things. In theguardian.com he says, "When people ask me if I take pleasure in the idea of someone looking at my buildings in the future, I tell them that this person will vanish, too. Everything has a beginning and an end. You. Me. Architecture … Nothing lasts for very long." Yet, architecture is unique. Projects started in one’s lifetime, can come to fruition well after one’s death.
Niemeyer passed away in 2012 at the age of 104, but his work has continued to blossom. One of his final pieces, an elegant sweeping pavilion at the 500 acre Chateau La Coste Vineyard in Aix-en-Provence, France just opened in 2022, ten years after his passing. This flowing, minimalist wave of a concrete structure houses a glass walled gallery and 80 seat cylindrical auditorium. Like so much of his work, the lines and shapes of the building are reflected in a pool of water.
Photo by Stéphane Aboudaram courtesy of WE ARE CONTENT(S) via galeriemagazine.com
Photo by James Reeve via wallpaper.com
Photo by Stéphane Aboudaram, WE ARE CONTENT(S), courtesy of Château La Coste via stirworld.com
Photo by Annie Morris, WE ARE CONTENT(S) 2022 courtesy of Château La Coste
Claiming to be his last and final design is the Niemeyer Sphere in Leipzig, Germany, commissioned in 2011 when Niemeyer was 103 years old, and completed in 2020, eight years after his passing. The 40 foot diameter concrete and glass globe is based off of a Niemeyer sketch, and includes posthumous edits made by his last assistant, Jair Valera. The sphere sits perched on the edge of the Kirow Werk crane manufacturing plant, overlooking the city, and is home to a modern employee canteen, restaurant, and bar.
Photo by Margret Hoppe via technesphere.de
Photo via darcawards.com
Photo via darcawards.com
Oscar Niemeyer’s singular vision changed the architectural landscape, and his sculptural designs (numbering close to 600 around the world) still inspire today, with their uncommon curves and undulations, iconic modern shapes, and delicate boldness.
Photo by William Abranowicz for Condé Nast Traveler, 2007 via cntraveler.com
Photos courtesy of Oscar Niemeyer, style.time.com, Condé Nast Traveler, cntraveler.com, Louis Vuitton, tatlerasia.com, wallpaper.com, dezeen.com, 300magazine.com, galeriemagazine.com, stirworld.com, arquitecturaviva.com, Château La Coste, Stéphane Aboudaram, WE ARE CONTENT(S), William Abranowicz, darcawards.com, technesphere.de, James Reeve, Alan Weintraub, Arcaid, Corbis, and Margret Hoppe.