FOLHA DE S. PAULO, O GLOBO (Brazil)

Worldcrunch

RIO DE JANEIRO – Oscar Niemeyer, a Brazilian national icon and one of the most celebrated architects of the 20th century, died on Wednesday in a Rio de Janeiro hospital. He was 104.

Niemeyer rose to international fame as the architect of the main government buildings in the futuristic planned Brazilian capital, Brasilia, inaugurated in 1960, reports O Globo.

He also worked with Swiss-born modernist architect Le Corbusier on the UN building in New York, inaugurated in 1947, and designed the headquarters of the French Communist party in Paris.

The architect also designed the Museum of Contemporary Art of Niteroi in the outskirts Rio de Janeiro, the Oscar Niemeyer in Curitiba as well as Rio de Janeiro“s Sambodromo — a landmark of Carnival.

He was renowned for his modernist ideas and designed more than 500 buildings around the world. The star architect often said his inspiration came from the hilly landscape and the curvaceous women of his birthplace, Rio de Janeiro.

The “Poet of concrete” as he was nicknamed in his country continued to work on new projects until earlier this year, including the Pelé museum in Brazilian port city of Santos.

Niemeyer graduated in architecture and engineering from the National School of Fine Arts in 1934, before joining the Brazilian Communist Party, reports Folha de S. Paulo.

A memorial service will be held in the presidential palace in Brasilia on Thursday.

Here is our list of Oscar Niemeyer’s Ten Greatest Works:

1- Brasilia

Source: Leonelponce

2- The U.N. Headquarters (New York)

Source: Kenlund

3- The Museum of Contemporary Art (Niteroi)

Source: Y.Fuji

4- The Oscar Niemeyer Museum (Curitiba)

Source: Marcelo Pereto

5- French Communist Party Headquarters (Paris)

Source: Francisco J. Gonzalez

6- The Sambodromo (Rio de Janeiro)

Source: Mark Scott Johnson

7- Copan Building (Sao Paulo)

Source: Pablo Trincado

8- St. Francis Church (Belo Horizonte)

Source:Chilangoco

9- Mondadori Palace (Milan)

Source: Luciomon

10- Aviles Cultural Center (Spain)


Source: Februer