Caution! Modern Forms May Abound!

Whenever I travel to Latin America, I feel right at home. There is just something about the people, the sunlight, the landscape, the cities . . . the buildings.

Yes, in case you had not already guessed from previous entries, I love Latin American architecture. I love the courtyards, the gates and fences, the colors, the tiles, the lush gardens, the concrete pile fences, the inside/outside living. I love that in Latin America more than anywhere else I have traveled, Modern architecture with the capital "M" is everywhere and is thriving. Where you can see Modern forms at work, having fun, living a little, stepping out of the box. Yeah, I love fun Modernism!

Brazil is a country that appreciates its Modern architecture, and they are proud of their architectural heritage, especially their own Oscar Niemeyer, last of the great living true-Modernists . . . communist, exile . . . visionary, artist . . . And I might consider him the epitome of the "fun" Modernists!

I am writing this post from Brazil, where I am with my family on month-long vacation. (I have promised them I will not turn the whole event into an architectural tour, but how can I help what I see when we're walking to the market!?) Our first stop is the city of Belo Horizonte, where Niemeyer did some of his early work, that is pre-Brasilia work. In the suburb of Pampulha, Niemeyer designed a number of buildings, including among other works the famous Chapel of São Francisco de Assis. Though a visit to Pampulha is not planned until we return to BH at the tail end of our trip (yes, that I had approval to set aside a day for on the itinerary!), I have already had the opportunity to see one of Niemeyer's residential apartments, the Edifício Niemeyer (1955), located downtown at the Praça da Liberdade.

The Edifício Niemeyer is characterized by its sinuous curved floors plates, giant concrete overhangs, tile work and ribbon window enclosure, and being lifted above the ground in true Modern fashion. It is at the same time very Modern, very Latin American, very Niemeyer, very Brazil.

We were looking for a supermarket, but found cool Modern architecture instead!

It reminds me a lot of a radiator . . . and of a model I once made in architecture school out of stacked paper.

The building sits on a sloped site, on a small triangular block. From the low-side of the site, the building really towers above the street.

A classic Modern detail: lifting the first occupied floor above the ground on columns--or in this case, concrete walls.

If you look closely, you can see the tile work on the exterior walls. I do not think any of the overhangs are balconies. Actually, now that I think about it, there may be 2 or 3 overhanging sunshades per level, which is a sort of visual trick to make the building look taller since you would normally expect them to just be an extension of a floor slab once at every level.

A view of the building from the plaza across the street. Yes, very Modern, very Niemeyer, very Brazil . . .

On another note, here are a few more shots from our walks around the city. The center of Belo Horizonte is actually quite compact, and we walked a significant amount to see what we could see. It has a great urban feel . . . although we have since learned that everything closes early on weekends, and almost all "touristy" things are closed on Mondays! Funny that our visit started on Saturday and we are leaving on Tuesday to fly to Curitiba!

A view along one of Belo Horizonte's main streets, Avenida Afonso Pena.

A view of the Palácio da Liberdade at the end of a palm-lined plaza. Actually, the Niemeyer building is just to the left of this building.

I have been instructed to include my family from time to time as I take pictures of architecture. It is actually a bit of a hard thing to do. I am so used to waiting until all the people leave the frame before I snap the shutter!

This was just a fun angle on a triangular building. Because of the angle of the view itself, it looked like a 25 story tall facade with nothing behind it! It was also an example of something that you never see in North America, but is really common down here: a skyscraper clad in tiles!

Oh, on the ride from the airport (which is a cool Modern building itself), we passed by the newly-consructed administrative center for the state of Minas Gerais, designed by Niemeyer. Very cool!