Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho, known as Oscar Niemeyer, was a Brazilian architect who is considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was best known for his design of civic buildings for Brasília, a planned city that became Brazil's capital in 1960, as well as his collaboration with other architects on the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City. His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete...
NationalityBrazilian
ProfessionArchitect
Date of Birth15 December 1907
CityRio de Janeiro, Brazil
CountryBrazil
Life is more important than architecture.
My architecture is easy to understand. And enjoy. I hope it also is hard to forget.
The rule is the worst thing. You just want to break it.
Today, architecture is invention. It isn't enough to just be rational - It must also be beautiful.
What attracts me are free and sensual curves. The curves we find in mountains, in the waves of the sea, in the body of the woman we love.
The architect's role is to fight for a better world, where he can produce an architecture that serves everyone and not just a group of privileged people.
It is not the right angle that attracts me, nor the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. What attracts me is the free and sensual curve — the curve that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuous course of its rivers, in the body of the beloved woman.
My work is not about 'form follows function,' but 'form follows beauty' or, even better, 'form follows feminine.'