Oscar Niemeyer, was an interesting, man intrigued and accomplished in the realm of Modernist Architecture.

A brief reflection into his past places us into the understanding of some of his Brazilian roots. Born in Rio de Janiero, we have a wild boy of architecture- however, he grew up working in his fathers typography house as a draftsman. This sparking a love for drawing Niemeyer interned, for a few several years, at Lucio Costa.

The use of reinforced concrete became Niemeyer’s one true vice in life. He was both lauded and criticized for being a “sculptor of a moment.” He was a artist, influenced like many great architects, primarly- Le Corbusier, although it wouldn’t be true to say that it ever held him back.

Abstract forms and curves define the beautiful work of Niemeyer.

“I am not attracted to straight angles or to the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. I am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves. The curves that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman. Curves make up the entire Universe, the curved Universe of Einstein…”

The Pampulha; was a planned suburb in Brazil. Niemeyer and Juscelino Kubitschek worked as a pair to create vastly Corbusian architecture. Critically acclaimed at the time by the MoMa, there are still debates today over its use of the Corbusian manner.

Casa do Baile is said to be the least of bourgeois as it is built on a man-made island.

The overall use of free-form makes the concrete constructed architecture seems to lighten the entire experience of the complex as it transitions a very horizontal piece of architecture into a delicate feminine form, unusual to the world at the time.

The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi; was constructed in the usual Brazilian style while also holding onto the primary language established by Le Corbusier. Withholding such a strong historical and religious meaning it is quite bold as to be recognized as one of the first modernist churches in Brazil.

Bringing the stylizations of Niemeyer to America we can study the United Nations Headquarters in New Your city. To really understand this piece of architecture the façade is a starting point.

Beautiful simplicity in its sensual horizontal lines creates a contrast between its massive verticality. This massive verticality resembling of the buildings that surround it, however the soft and sensual horizontal bands give it a sexy feminine appeal.

A collaboration of celebrated architects as well as Niemeyer worked on this monumental part of architecture located in Manhattan NYC.

The “Bus Load Effect” n. v. adj., (BLE); giving perspective to your design through the use of silhouetted people. By placing people into both plan and section , and interviewing them, your design can be understood on a human scale.

It touches back upon the life lessons learned… as Atticus Finch would say “take a walk in someone else’s shoes…” (The Mocking Bird)

Series of black and white pictures from the summer of 2012 in Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain.

Interested in high rise structures, green design, and wood structures?

Timber in the City is a nation wide competition where students can collaborate in groups up to 5 design and enter  the competition in hopes to win the cash prize!

This post is the second part for Venice’s architecture. Here a quote by Dahpne du Maurier, from “Echoes from the Macabre” about her thoughts of Venice:

“The experts are right, he thought. Venice is sinking. The whole city is slowly dying. One day the tourists will travel here by boat to peer down into the waters, and they will see pillars and columns and marble far, far beneath them, slime and mud uncovering for brief moments a lost underworld of stone. Their heels made a ringing sound on the pavement and the rain splashed from the gutterings above. A fine ending to an evening that had started with brave hope, with innocence.”

Also if you wanna check what’s going on at the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2012 “Common Ground” curated by the british architect David Chipperfield, click on the link: http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/

Retro-Fitting Suburbia with Ellen Dunham-Jones on TED Talk

There is a strive to find a future in the realm of design centered around develop and expansion of spatial analysis in Suburban Design.

Frankly speaking the sprawling effect of suburban life has officially phased out and we have to move into a new world where the sprawl effect is subjugated to urban design and fused creating closer ties and connections.

Reduction of dependence on cars for transportation is vital to the survival of the human condition. Suburbia needs to be a homogeneous tighter knit environment where the qualities of urban design are influential on the community.

With the evident demographic shift the baby boomers with the hockey team size families are phasing out leaving America left with the generations X and Y with focuses away from the huge family household.

The underperformance of Asphalt is nipping at the question; why are there so many unused expanses of parking lot? Why must we build assuming everyday will be Black Friday? We must inhabit these spaces and explore them to the meaningful potential they might hold. Who’s to say they cannot turn into an art gallery, nursing home, university even.

Obviously these parking lots can even find themselves attached to abandoned stores which can be reclaimed and renovated, its time to turn the concept of community design into a motivation, and influence on the community itself.

With the ideologies of many socialists whispering facts of home, work, and the third place in our ear, there must be a progression for the future. Planning rigidly on the metropolitan scale is vital to focus on the –where, design improvement, and quality of space.

This week is all about Venice’s architecture and islands separated by canals and linked bridges. This pictures were taking during the past summer, but scroll down to see how’s Venice right now.

 Last two pictures courtesy of ‘Getty Images’