Oscar Niemeyer Houses

Book excerpt: Oscar Niemeyer is one of the greatest architects of our time. Hugely influential, his work has added a new dimension to modern architecture in the twentieth century. The designer of Brasilia showed that the rhythmic, sensuous lines of Brazilian Modernism were as legitimately modern as the rectilinear lines of the Bauhaus. Oscar Niemeyer Houses showcases the houses built by this seminal modern master in a lavish format that finally does justice to his extraordinary work. Viewed as a collection, these houses serve to demonstrate the wide range of Niemeyer's prodigious genius. The designs show a personal and eclectic facet to Niemeyer's creative imagination, a side of the master little known and under-appreciated. Often built for family members or major clients, they show a wealth of solutions that respond to a wide range of sites: the steep hillsides of Rio, the Atlantic beach shore, the rain forest, and the residential neighborhoods of Rio and Sao Paulo. This celebrated work stands as an enduring and notable tribute to one of the last of the international masters of Modernism.