Now, as he nears his 100th birthday on Dec. 15, Niemeyer has a desk full of projects in his penthouse office overlooking Copacabana Beach, and with each assignment, he remains faithful to the sinuous lines that are the hallmark of his work.
Curves, he explains in an interview, are "the natural solution - the solution that emerges the greater the problem is."
"I start by reducing the structural supports," he says. "If I reduce the supports, architecture reveals itself naturally and gracefully, the spaces get larger, and I can look for a different form without contradicting the spirit of the project."
The curves will be present again in one of his latest projects: the transformation of a former dockside prison in Valparaiso, Chile, into a futuristic cultural center, with three oval buildings linked by a bridge and seemingly floating over a man-made pool.
Hunched and walking with the aid of an assistant, Niemeyer looks smaller than the stiff black shirt he wears over a T-shirt. A box of European cigarettes is open on his desk - one of his cherished habits, along with a daily glass of red wine. Balding, with streaks of dark hair combed straight back, he smiles often, deepening the few lines that mark his face.
His memory and reasoning remain acute. So is the inspiration that won him the 1988 Pritzker Architecture Prize - dubbed the Nobel of architecture. Also honored that year was American architect Gordon Bunshaft, hailed for the 24-story Lever House in New York. Honoring Niemeyer for "the flowing curve" of his designs and Bunshaft for his "precise geometry," the Pritzker committee called both men "masters of modern architecture."
"What's important for the architect is to do what he likes, and not what others would like him to do," Niemeyer says. "That's the way - not to attribute too much importance to your work. Very little is important in this life."
That's not what his colleagues say.
