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m AAJ,??;ox^.o..e£f,4CL.4/26,p.16 ENGUSH SUMMARY 171 A SELECTION OF EXTRACTS FROM INTERVIEWS WITH OSCAR NIEMEYER RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN BRAZIL How do you explain vour architecture? Brazilian architecture is based on technological development and, in particular, reinforced concrete. That explains the free forms that characterise it. As in ali countries, the architecture oi Brazil has also been much influenced by the principies and buildings of Le Corbusier. It might be said that the initial stimulus was due directly to the impact of the Ministry of Health and Bducation Building designed by Le Corbusier in 1936 for Rio. Under the guidance of Lúcio Costa, this hne of development continued. Despite general refusal, it was accepted and supported first by Gustavo Oapanema and later by Juscdino Kubitschek, who through his patronage of Brasilia brought about its recognition on an international scale. However, if we architects in Brazil, like ali architects of our generation, have undergone the master's influence, a second trend had already become apparent within a few years. This was the freer architectural expression suggested in the work at Pampulha that led to the use of reinforced concrete not as an end in itself but as a working material. Thus the obvious character of the structure was eliminated, the curve was given freer rein, and spans were maximised. The specialists in concrete engineering were themselves obliged to participatc in the new found freedom of form and to follow the architects into this world of fantasy in which ali elements of the design became lighter, so much so in fact that buildings such as the Presidential Palace in Brasilia seem scarcely to touch the ground. The differences between our architecture and that of Le Corbusier are easily pointed out. If you look at his work, you will notice that it makes use of limited spans with the structural elements very much in evidence (such as the courts at Chandigarh) which draw attention to the celebrated robustness of his work. Yet both show the same preoccupation with form and the same tendency to reduce detail to a minimum in order to emphasize the spontaneity of the design. In both cases, beauty is an important factor together with a prominent sense of architectural judgment. I hope that in these statements about the characteristics and influence of Le Corbusier's architecture it is elear that I have no intention of making a comparison based on quality. It is much more a question of local olimate, customs and sensibility that in Brazü has brought about the evolution of a style somewhat removed from the original sense of the great influence exerted by Le Corbusier. In my opinion, this very separation confirms the authenticity and creativeness of both trends. Conld you discuss future projects? Our goal is to be inventive and not merely to rework the same architectural solutions over and over again. That has been a LXXXI major preoccupation in my work in Brazil from the time of Pampulha until the design and construction of Brasilia, as well as in numerous buildings abroad. In order to fllustrate this principie, I shall refer to three of my most recent projects. At the University of Constantine in Algeria, I refused the initial brief requiring separate classroom and laboratory buildings for each deparUnent. Instead, I have designed onjy two buildings for the university as a whole, one housing classrooms and the a other scientific laboratory complex. This leaves the campus relatively open with the result that the university is at the same time more flextble and more in line with current planning ideas. I was ailso able to exploit concrete technology to obtain 80-foot overhangs and at the same time convince the Algerians to perfect their own prefabrication and lightweight aggregate techniques. For the new tower block at La Défcnse in Paris, I discarded the usual solution of putting the service units at the centre of the building. Instead, these have been relagated to the "gable-ends" of the tower leaving the entire central space free on each floor for the installation of landscape-type offices or even terraces or hanging gardens. Unfortunately, such a solution has not been accepted by promoters in Brazil who still feel under obligation to use every inch of the façade in the conventional way. My most recent project, a music centre at Guanabara in Rio, groups together three auditoria that in previous plans were separated thus offering a new flexibility for the staging of performances as well as a more imposing architectural solution. These are examples of the way in which I feel an architect must innovate not merely at the formal levei but also in terms of structure and programme. How do you feel about criticism? Criticism of works that are already built does not concern me. However, there is a category of architect who is constrained to build what he can and not what he would like to. His criticism of my more intensive ("difficult", as Le Corbusier used to say) work is understandable. What usually occurs is that given an opportunity for a more adventurous project, this sort of architect then fails in the attempt and returns to a more run-ofthe-mill expression of his ideas. What is your opinion of architectural means other than your own? I accept and respect ali other schools, from the chill and elemental structures of Mies van der Rohe to the imagination and delirium of buildings by Gaudi. I design what pleases me in a way that is naturally linked to my roots and the country of my origin.
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