the scale more difficult. As a result of these deliberate
manipulations of perception of space and light, under
this horizontal abstract stained glass, one is faced not
with traditional icons and religious objects, but with
the vastness of the sky. One wonders if worshippers
here are more inclined to reflect, and connect with
the big questions of the universe rather than the dogma
of organised religion.
Another tool often used to manipulate light in
Niemeyer’s work is reflection off water. Most striking,
perhaps, is the Alvorada Presidential Palace, Brasília, in
which the inverted T columns express their curvature
in both artificial light and sunlight, and are doubled by
reflection into the water in front. The sense of floating
that the roof assumes (helped by the contribution
of artificial light and ripples off the water) allow the
facade columns to act as a privacy screen in spite of the
massive glass facade beyond.
Many of these same tricks in light, the plays of curvature
and the expression of form in light, are used at the
National Congress in Brasília, where convex forms
are juxtaposed, inverted next to rigidly orthogonal
towers and reflected against water. Niemeyer’s use
of black and dark glass in boring form adjacent
allows him to reduce the mass of the daily function
of buildings and express more of the joy of form that
is revealed in light on white surfaces. José Carlos
Sussekind, his longtime engineering collaborator, used
to say that Niemeyer’s hand-drawn columns had the
correct proportion and scale to perform structurally.
He had an innate sense of his material.
In many ways, it could be said that Niemeyer’s evaluation
of light, its intuitive quantification and control had a
similar value. Revealing the ambiguity of Niemeyer’s
relationship with God, Sussekind says, ‘When Oscar
has his idea, and made his sketches, he usually calls me
to discuss the structure. What I find astonishing is that
if I take my scale and, let’s say, measure the dimension
of a column or a roof, eighty per cent of the time I don’t
have to do anything except say “Amen”.’
l Thomas Schneider is a partner with Kovac Design
Studio in Los Angeles, and was born and raised in
the land of Niemeyer. Thomas Paterson is principal
of Mexico and UK-based lighting design practice
Lux Populi, and worked with Oscar Niemeyer on the
Serpentine Pavilion in London
Originally the New Museum, the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba,
Brazil, designed by the architect at the age of 95, was renamed in his
honour in 2003 and is dedicated to art, design and architecture
