Brazil architectNiemeyer opensmuseum at 103

Celebrated Brazilian architect
Oscar Niemeyer has marked his
103rd birthday by opening a
museum of his work.
The Oscar Niemeyer Foundation
outside Rio de Janeiro houses
drawings and models from the
modernist architect's 70-year
career.
Mr Niemeyer designed Brazil's
futuristic capital, Brasilia, as well
as the UN building in New York.
His latest work - the Oscar
Niemeyer cultural centre in Aviles
in northern Spain - also opened
on Wednesday.
"My friends have come to see me,
how nice," Mr Niemeyer told
reporters at the inauguration of
his foundation in the city of
Niteroi, outside Rio de Janeiro.
Designed by Mr Niemeyer himself,
the museum building boasts the
sensuous concrete curves that
define his distinctive modernist
style and have made him one of
the world's most famous
architects.
Niteroi is already home to a
number of classic Niemeyer
buildings, including a
contemporary art museum and a
theatre.
On the same day the Oscar
Niemeyer Foundation was
opened in Brazil, officials in Aviles
in northern Spain opened the
main dome of the Oscar
Niemeyer Cultural Centre, which
he also designed.
The authorities in Aviles hope the
centre will revive the city's
fortunes in the same way the
Gugenheim museum helped
transform the city of Bilbao from
a declining industrial city into a
cultural capital.
Sweeping curves
Mr Niemeyer is most famous for
designing Brasilia, which was
built as a new federal capital for
Brazil in the late 1950s.
His bold futuristic designs made
the new capital a dramatic
statement of confidence in the
future of Brazil, and an icon of
modern architecture.
A student of the French architect
Le Corbusier, he developed a
distinctive style defined by stark
concrete and sweeping curves.
He famously once said the
stylized swoops in his buildings
were inspired by the curves of
Brazilian women.
Mr Niemeyer went on to create
more than 600 buildings around
the world.
Despite recurring illness over the
past year, he is still at work, and
still showing his flair for dramatic
architecture.
Brazil architect
Niemeyer opens
museum at 103
Mr Niemeyer designed Brazil's
futuristic capital, Brasilia, as well
as the UN building in New York.