Draft Text-Oscar Niemeyer

Introduction

Oscar Niemeyer was born on December 15th 1907 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With his career he has been considered one of the most important names in international modern architecture. He has also been known for his extensive work with reinforced concrete, pioneering the formal possibilities solely for their aesthetic impact.

Niemeyer has often been ridiculed by critics being called a "sculptor of monuments" and being said to be naive, frivolous and not even worthy of the title, "architect." Although, others praise him for his unique design and ability to create buildings by mixing volumes and empty space to create unconventional patterns.

Early Life

Oscar Niemeyer was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1907. He spent his youth as a typical "Carioca" of the time. He was relatively unconcerned with his future. He finished his secondary education at the age of 21 and in the same year married Annita Baldo. The marriage gave him a sense of responsibility, so he decided to enroll in a university.

He started to work in his father's typography house and later graduated from Escola de Belas Artes as a engineer architect in 1934.He started working in the architecture studio of Lucio Costa and Carlos Leao. He had always felt dissatisfied with the architecture that he saw and believed he could change it by finding a career there. Niemeyer began to build a reputation and decided to join the Brazilian Communist Party. He had grew up during the time of the Russian Revolution as well as the Second World War making him become a young idealist. Although, his decision to join the communist party cost him much during his life. During the military dictatorship of Brazil his office was raided and he was forced into exile in Europe. This enabled Niemeyer to meet with diverse socialist leaders which eventually led into many friendships.