Óscar Niemeyer

On 23 November the Royal Institute of British Architects awarded Oscar Niemeyer (1907) with its annual recognition, the Gold Medal, at a ceremony which took place in the old British embassy in Rio de Janeiro, the Palacio da Cidade. Harry Seidler, an old colleague of the Brazilian architect, and recipient of the honor the previous year, participated in the ceremony, which drew politicians and important figures from all fields of the arts. It is some time since the nonagenarian reached the height of myth, and the architecture of Brazil became synonymous with his work. The shadows cast by his sensual concrete curves are as long as his prolific career. He is still working despite the fact that his latest buildings, the Latin America Memorial in São Paulo or the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niterói in Rio de Janeiro, are almost caricatures of the works which consecrated him as heir to the Corbusian lineage: sensual and hedonistic in his own house in Gàvea, or in the church, sailing club, casino and dance hall complex in Pampulha, and of a serene, sculptural monumentality in the institutional buildings designed for the new capital, Brasilia.