Ministry of Education and Health (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) : Close view of several floors, depicting patterns made by open and closed shutters
- Creator:
- Costa, Lúcio, 1902-1998
Le Corbusier, 1887-1965
Niemeyer, Oscar, 1907-2012 - Published/Created:
- Rua da Imprensa, Rio de Janeiro, Sudeste, Brazil
1937-1943 - Physical Description:
- 238 ft (height)
- Date Depicted:
- 8/1/1991
1900 AD - 1949 AD - Materials:
- concrete
glass - Notes:
- In 1936 Niemeyer joined the team assembled by Costa to design the Ministry of Education and Health (1937-1943; now the Palácio da Cultura). The team included Affonso Eduardo Reidy, Jorge Moreira, Leão and Hernani Mendes de Vasconcelos, who were all at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes during Costa's reforms and were among those whose work was praised by Frank Lloyd Wright when he attended the first Salão de Arquitetura Tropical (1933) in Rio. As a member of this team Niemeyer came under the direct influence of Le Corbusier, who spent a month in Rio in 1936 as consultant on the project. Niemeyer was responsible for many of the design details of this highly influential building, and he subsequently took over leadership of the team (1939), but the Ministry building was built largely to Le Corbusier's design and bears all the hallmarks of his hand: pilotis, brises-soleil in the form of horizontal louvres on the exposed façade, and sculptural rooftop elements--features so well suited to the Brazilian culture and climate that they were widely adopted thereafter. Although this influence is clearly evident in Niemeyer's later work, it is his own daring originality and imagination, often portrayed in rapid, graphic sketches reminiscent of Le Corbusier's, that characterize his most memorable buildings.
- Variant Titles:
- Palácio da Cultura
- Topics:
- Architecture -- Brazil -- 20th century -- (YVRC)
- Period/Style:
- Modern
Modernist - Culture:
- Brazilian
- Accession Number:
- 1A1-NO-ME-B3
- Genre:
- architecture (AAT)
public buildings: government office buildings (AAT) - Format:
- Image
- Content Type:
- Sculptures, Models, & Architecture
- Rights:
- Copyright Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement. - Access Restrictions:
- Yale Community Only
- Digital:
- architectural exteriors construction buildings; public buildings; ministries brise-soleil
- Source Creator:
- Gilchrist, Scott
- Source Title:
- Archivision Base Collection
- Source Created:
- 2878 Chamonix, Montreal QC
Archivision, Inc.
8/1/1991 - Source Note:
- Purchase, Visual Resources Collection, May, 2011; photographer Scott Gilchrist
- Yale Collection:
- Visual Resources Collection
- Digital Collection:
- Visual Resources Collection
- Local Record Number:
- 4152
- OID:
- 10091181
- PID:
- digcoll:1822827