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Oscar Niemeyer Biography

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (December 15, 1907 – December 5, 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈoskaʁ ni.e'majeʁ]), was a Brazilian architect 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. His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete was highly influential in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

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Oscar Niemeyer Quotes

Of course, I have given my engineers some headaches over the years, but they go with me. I have always wanted my buildings to be as light as possible, to touch the ground gently, to swoop and soar, and to surprise.

Gently, Light, Surprise, Swoop, Years

The rule is the worst thing. You just want to break it.

Break, Rule, Thing, Want, Worst

Life is more important than architecture.

Architecture, Important, Life, Life Is

I had some good opportunities. I was lucky to have had the chance to do things differently. Architecture is about surprise.

Chance, Differently, Lucky, Opportunity, Surprise

Architecture is invention.

Architecture, Invention

A church is something very beautiful. It is nice when people feel happy in it. But I am not a religious man. Look at us, and then at the infinity of space. We are rather small insignificant creatures, wouldn’t you say?

Beautiful, Infinity, Look, Nice, Religious, Say

We need to feel that life is important; we need that fantasy so we can live a little better.

Fantasy, Important, Life, Littles, Live, Needs

I am a Brazilian before I am an architect. I cannot separate the two.

Architect, Brazilian, Separate, Two

It is not with architecture that one can disseminate any political ideology.

Architecture, Disseminate, Ideology, Political

Sometimes I lose a whole morning waiting on journalists and other people who look for me. But I always find some time for reading, talking to my friends and feeling what is happening in this world.

Feeling, Journalists, Morning, Reading, Talking

Today, architecture is invention. It isn't enough to just be rational - It must also be beautiful.

Architecture, Beautiful, Invention, Rational, Today

Architecture will always express the technical and social progress of the country in which it is carried out. If we wish to give it the human content that it lacks, we must participate in the political struggle.

Content, Country, Give, Giving, Participate, Struggle

Architecture is my work, and Ive spent my whole life at a drawing board, but life is more important than architecture. What matters is to improve human beings.

Beings, Drawing, Important, Improve, Matters, What Matters

I search for surprise in my architecture. A work of art should cause the emotion of newness.

Architecture, Art, Cause, Causes, Emotion, Work

I pick up my pen. It flows. A building appears. There it is. There is nothing more to say.

Building, Flow, Nothing, Pens, Say

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.

Everyone, Fighting, Group, Groups, People, Privileged

My architecture is easy to understand. And enjoy. I hope it also is hard to forget.

Architecture, Easy, Forget

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.

Curves, Free, Love, Sea, Sensual

In architecture it isn't enough to just have the right building that works well. It can also be beautiful. It can also be different. It can create surprise. And surprise is the main thing in a work of art. [] I like and respect Brasília very much. It is a simple city, a rational one. I always defend the urban design of Brasília

Art, Beautiful, Defend, Simple, Surprise, Works

For me beauty is valued more than anything - the beauty that is manifest in a curved line or in an act of creativity.

Act, Creativity, Lines, Manifest

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