When Brazil Built Its Capital on Modernist Principles: The Controversial Design of Brasília
When we think of modern architecture, we often think first of what’s called the International Style, whose minimalist, rectilinear, decoration-free forms were championed by the likes of Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier. Though they did build projects all over the world, that isn’t exactly the reason for the name. In fact, the International Style represents an attempt to develop a culturally neutral aesthetic for all built environments, deployable equally in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and everywhere else besides. That pretense to universality may count as the most utopian aspect of an avowedly utopian movement — and the one whose impracticality came soonest to light. Before he became Brazil’s most famous architect, Oscar Niemeyer subscribed to the principles of the International Style. But then, as an acolyte of Le Corbusier, he could hardly have done otherwise. When the great man came to Rio de Janeiro in 1936 to design the new Ministry of Education and Health, Niemeyer was hired to work on the project. The experience seems to have done its …
