Brazilian Curved Modernism
Two landmarks linking Oscar Niemeyer’s curved concrete with civic and national imagery.
The Cathedral of Brasília, widely dated to its 1970 dedication, uses a circular array of hyperbolic columns as a symbol of the planned capital.
The Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, completed in 1996, places a saucer-like volume above Guanabara Bay.
Both works place form, landscape, and civic image ahead of the neutral functional box. Their contrast with the European International Style is especially clear.
