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Oscar Niemeyer Soares[ooskAr´ nE´mIur sooA´rus] Pronunciation Key, 1907–, Brazil's foremost 20th-century architect, b. Rio de Janeiro. Influenced by Le Corbusier, Niemeyer developed an architecture noted for its daring conception, purity of line, and formal lyricism and frequently characterized by soaring spans of reinforced concrete. He was one of the chief collaborators in the design of the ministry of education in Rio de Janeiro (1937–43). With LUcio Costa and P. L. Wiener, Niemeyer designed the Brazilian Pavilion for the New York World's Fair in 1939. For Pampulha, in Belo Horizonte, he planned several major buildings. In 1947 he collaborated on the design for the UN headquarters in New York City. Niemeyer directed the creation of Brazil's new capital, BrasIlia (1950–60) within Costa's master plan. His remarkable original work on this project brought him enormous acclaim and it is widely considered his masterpiece. Later buildings include the headquarters for the French Communist party in Paris (1965) and the Mondadori Publishing House in Milan (1968). In 1988 Niemeyer was awarded the Pritzker Prize.
See biographical studies by S. Papadaki (1960) and R. Spade, ed. (1971).
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