Empire boulevards. Brasília, however, was a blank canvas upon which Costa envisaged wide open spaces with apartments and government buildings connected by an efficient road network. Seen from the air, the layout resembles an aeroplane, a nod to the mechanised, internationally connected world Brazil was entering. The fuselage would be where the bureaucrats worked and the wings where they would live.
While Costa considered how the new city would function, Niemeyer focussed on designing a string of buildings that collectively would earn Brasília its UNESCO listing. The inspiration for his gracefully curving concrete arcs was deeply rooted in his homeland. “The curve I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean and in the body of the beloved woman.”
The first of Niemeyer’s buildings to be completed was the presidential residence, the Palacio da Alvorada, meaning palace of dawn. Completed in 1958, the 7,000 sq metre building is a simple, two-storey rectangle with open-plan interiors illuminated by floor-to-ceiling glazing. The white roof projects over the façade to
World Heritage T Architectural Traveller | Page 11
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