Oscar Niemeyer

History and Theory EssayBrief

Pick from among a type of buildings a specific example and write an essay on the relationship between that specific building and its’ context. Identify the contextual element that you think that it is the most interesting and significant in the form and meaning of the building.

‘Museum of Contemporary Arts in Niteroi’ Oscar Niemeyer

The building I chose to write my essay about is the Contemporary Museum of Art in Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (fig.1). It was designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1991 and it was completed in 1996. In this essay I will try to explain the form and the meaning of the building in its political and social context. More specifically, I will try to analyse the political and social changes that were taking place at this period and a little bit earlier, mostly in Brazil and explain how they are depicted in the main form Figure 1. of this museum. Firstly, in order to analyse the building in its political and social context, it is important to go back and take a closer look at the architect’s life and try to understand how the political and social environment influenced his personality and as a result, his way of thinking and designing this museum. Oscar Niemeyer (fig2.), who is considered as one of the pioneers of modern architecture, was born in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. In 1934, after his graduation, he worked at the office of the father of Brazilian modernism Lucio Costa. After five years, and by the time that the Second World War had started (1939-1945), Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa designed the Brazilian Pavilion at the World’s Fair in New York. It was a real success for them and for architecture too. This was the first time that Niemeyer expressed his liberal ideas and his disapproval for the war and the unfair political situation through his design. The curves, the free walls, the lightness, the fluidity of the Figure 2. space were combined to his design to express the freedom he wanted for the whole world. The reason I mentioned this earlier project of Niemeyer, is because I wanted to show you the evolution of this new architecture, which was inspired by the political and social context and how it was developed to the museum I am analysing. In the next paragraphs you will find two more projects for the same reason. One of them, which definitely changed the way Niemeyer was thinking and expressing his thoughts, was the ‘Pampulha’ project (fig.3). The aim of this project was the development of the suburbs of the city Pampulha. It is important to notice that it was completed in 1943, when the war was still on. Due to the fact that the new buildings of the city were different to the existing ones, Figure 3. (fig.4 )they soon received international acclaim. But the most important for Niemeyer is that this project changed completely the way he was thinking until then. Like every other artist he was influenced a lot by the war. He was thinking more and more about the importance of being and feeling free and he managed to liberate his ideas and his designs.

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