Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho was a Brazilian architect who lived from 1907 to 2012 and is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern architecture. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he became internationally renowned for designing the civic buildings of Brasília, including the National Congress, the Cathedral and the presidential palaces, and for collaborating on the United Nations headquarters in New York. His signature style used free flowing, sensual curves inspired by Brazil's natural landscape and the human form rather than rigid geometric shapes, and he pioneered innovative uses of reinforced concrete in works such as the Pampulha complex and its Church of Saint Francis of Assisi and the Ministry of Education and Health building in Rio. A committed socialist and atheist, Niemeyer joined Brazil's Communist Party in 1945 and was exiled during the military dictatorship of 1964 to 1985. He received the Pritzker Prize in 1988 and worked on around 600 projects over a seventy eight year career.