Though this post was originally set to address the exterior enclosures of mid-century modern buildings, we thought it important, instead, to reflect on the recent death of modernist master Oscar Niemeyer and what might have been.

Niemeyer’s passing serves as yet another benchmark in the passing of the mid-century modern movement into our distant memory. Generally speaking, North American architects are not very familiar with the Brazilian architect’s work. Many would be unable to conjure up mental imagery of it, beyond his government buildings at Brasilia, United Nations collaboration, and perhaps a residence or two. During Niemeyer’s prime, these architects were, as they largely remain today, primarily Eurocentric in their focus.

In mid-century America, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe were chiefly regarded as the “true” masters of the modern movement. Even in more recent history, we’ve paid little attention to the legacy of Niemeyer and his colleagues to the south such as Alfonso Reidy and Lina Bo Bardi in Brasil, Carlos Raúl Villanueva in Venezuela, and the Mexican masters Juan O’Gorman, Luis Barragan, and Felix Candela. We seem to know of them, but not much about them. All of this this might have been very different if Harvard GSD had followed through with its intention to select Niemeyer as its dean when it had the chance.

Carlos Raul Villanueva. Covered plaza, University of Caracas, 1952-1953. Photographer unknown. Printed in do.co.mo.mo, Journal 42 – Summer 2010.

Alfonso Eduardo Reidy. Primary school and gymnasium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1948-1950. Printed in Latin American Architecture Since 1945, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1955.

Architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock noted in his seminal book, Latin American Architecture Since 1945, that Gropius termed Niemeyer as that “Bird of Paradise.” Indeed, the Brazilian’s work reflects a passion for life; for the mountains, the rivers, the ocean, and the human body. Niemeyer famously used the phrase,  “Form Follows Feminine,” and cast his passion into unique, bold curves that tell a distinctive story of modern architecture in the world. Hitchcock goes on to say: “Even in plan, the curve is more frequently used in Latin America than in the United States and is a characteristic of the personal manner of Niemeyer. A certain lyricism—of which color and curved forms are both important ingredients without being by any means universal—seems to have a continuous appeal to the Iberian temperament.” This notion of the “Iberian temperament” is an interesting one that brings Josep Lluis Sert, a native Ibizan whose work our firm has experience with, into this discussion.

Oscar Niemeyer’s residence, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1953-1954. Printed in Latin American Architecture Since 1945, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1955.

Josep Lluis Sert’s residence, Cambridge, MA. 1957. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.com.

The thread of connection between Niemeyer and Sert continues in 1939, when the former collaborated with Paul Lester Weiner and Lucio Costa on the Brazilian Pavilion for the New York World’s Fair. Subsequently, according to CIAM documents, Le Corbusier “seems to have introduced Sert to Weiner, mentioning in a letter of May 20, 1940 to Sert in New York that he could speak with Weiner about CIAM and our friends in Rio.”  The following year Sert and Weiner formed a partnership, Town Planning Associates, and proceeded to formulate master plans for many Latin American cities.

Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. Brazilian Pavilion, New York World’s Fair, 1939. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.com.

Josep Lluis Sert. Pavilion of the Spanish Republic, Paris International Exposition, 1937. Photo by C.B. Freedberg. Printed in Sert, 1928-1979: Half a Century of Architecture: Complete Work by Josep M. Rovira.

Some years later, in 1953, Sert was appointed dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Anthony Alofsin, author of The Struggle for Modernism; Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and City Planning at Harvard (W.W. Norton and Company, 2002), details the events surrounding the selection of the GSD’s new dean. It was an unsavory affair. Of particular interest is the little known fact that “according to one account,” the first choice was Niemeyer, but his membership in the Brazilian Communist Party “made him an impossible choice in McCarthy era America.”

In this blog series we’ve been writing about the American mid-century Brutalist buildings inspired by Eurocentric modernists. One can only imagine the divergent course that North American modernism may have taken if the Brazilian “Bird of Paradise” been selected as the GSD’s dean instead of Sert.

Our next post will, indeed, address the exterior enclosures of mid-century modern buildings, with emphasis on issues of thermal performance.

Modernist Buildings to Watch

Our previous post reported on the developer Genting’s plans to demolish the 1963 One Herald Plaza Building, home to the Miami Herald. On December 10th, the Miami Historical and Preservation Board rejected a bid by the Dade Heritage Trust to designate the building as a landmark. A Herald article from the same day describes allegations that Genting hired preservation veterans to divide the community in a heated hearing including finger-pointing, raised voices, and accusations of a $10 million dollar shakedown. After a series of contentious and tangential comments, one attorney explained: “I was offended… as a resident of Miami to know that history has a price.” Supporters of historic designation argue that the 49-year-old building could be adapted to multiple uses. Genting’s architect, Bernardo Fort-Brescia of Arquitectonica, explained that demolition could lead to luxury condominiums, a hotel, restaurants, retail, and a bay-walk. The building’s fate remains to be seen.

Leland Cott, FAIA, LEED AP, is a founding principal of Bruner/Cott & Associates, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, architecture and planning firm.

David Turturo, associate AIA LEED, is a designer with the firm, specializing in contemporary preservation theory. This is the ninth in a series of Metropolis blogs written by members of Bruner/Cott’s restoration team that typically focus on the challenges and solutions for converting, rehabilitating, or reusing mid-century buildings. Upcoming posts will explore issues associated with this conservation, drawing on the firm’s long-term experience working on the repair, enhancement, and continued use of this architecture. Mini-case studies of buildings will include the MIT Stratton Student Center by Eduardo Catalano; Harvard University’s Peabody Terrace Apartments and Holyoke Center and its Gund Hall for the Graduate School of Design by John Andrews; and Boston University’s School of Law and Law Library by Josep Lluis Sert. Design and technical problems associated with these projects as well as user/owner issues inherent to mid-century modern design will be explored.