Oscar Niemeyer was considered one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. He was
best known for his design of government buildings for Brasília. Also iconic was his collaboration with other
architects on the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Niemeyer’s exploration of the aesthetic
possibilities of reinforced concrete was highly influential in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. His works helped
shape a distinct national architecture and a modern identity for Brazil. Yet his influence extended far beyond his
country.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Niemeyer worked at his father’s typography house after graduating from school. His
first major project was a series of buildings for a planned suburb. In 1956, he designed the civic buildings for
Brazil’s new capital in the center of the country, far from any existing cities. Brasília, a sprawling new capital
carved out of the Brazilian savanna, became an emblem of Latin America’s leap into modernity. Niemeyer’s work
received critical acclaim and drew international attention. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Niemeyer became one
of Brazil’s most prolific architects, working both domestically and overseas. Over a career of 78 years he designed
approximately 600 projects.
Allied with the far left for most of his life, he suffered career setbacks during the rule of Brazil’s right-wing
military dictatorships of the 1960s and ’70s. As modernism later came under attack for its sometimes dogmatic
approach to history, his works were marginalized. A socialist and atheist from an early age, Niemeyer had spent
time in both Cuba and the Soviet Union during his exile.
Still, Mr. Niemeyer never stopped working. He churned out major new projects through his 80s and 90s. And
as the cold-war divide and architecture’s old ideological battles faded from memory in recent years, a younger
generation began embracing his work. On December 5, 2012, Niemeyer died in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 104, ten
days before his 105th birthday.
【題組】48. Which of the following is most closely related to Niemeyer’s career downturn?
(A)His political ideology.
(B)His influence outside Brazil.
(C)His background in typography.
(D)His relations with the United Nations.