Oscar Niemeyer

Life is more important than architecture.

I deliberately disregarded the right angle and rationalist architecture designed with ruler and square to boldly enter the world of curves and straight lines offered by reinforced concrete... This deliberate protest arose from the environment in which I lived, with its white beaches, its huge mountains, its old baroque churches, and the beautiful suntanned women.

We need to feel that life is important; we need that fantasy so we can live a little better.

Here, then, is what I wanted to tell you of my architecture. I created it with courage and idealism, but also with an awareness of the fact that what is important is life, friends and attempting to make this unjust world a better place in which to live.

When you have a large space to conquer, the curve is the natural solution.

I was attracted by the curve — the liberated, sensual curve suggested by the possibilities of new technology yet so often recalled in venerable old baroque churches.

Curves are the essence of my work because they are the essence of Brazil, pure and simple.

It is not the right angle that attracts me, nor the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. What attracts me is the free and sensual curve - the curve that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuous course of its rivers, in the body of the beloved woman.

Camus says in 'The Stranger' that reason is the enemy of imagination. Sometimes you have to put reason aside and make something beautiful.

My work is not about "form follows function," but "form follows beauty" or, even better, "form follows feminine."

Architecture does not change anything. It's always on the side of the wealthy. The important thing is to believe that it can make life better.

Today, architecture is invention. It isn't enough to just be rational - It must also be beautiful.

I search for surprise in my architecture. A work of art should cause the emotion of newness.

Sometimes I lose a whole morning waiting on journalists and other people who look for me. But I always find some time for reading, talking to my friends and feeling what is happening in this world.

Right angles don't attract me. Nor straight, hard and inflexible lines created by man.

There is no reason to design buildings that are more basic and rectilinear, because with concrete you can cover almost any space.

Humanity needs dreams to be able to survive the miseries of daily existence, even if only for an instant.

Life is very fleeting. It’s important to be gentle and optimistic. We look behind and think what we’ve done in this life has been good. It was simple; it was modest. Everyone creates their own story and moves on. That’s it. I don’t feel particularly important. What we create is not important. We’re very insignificant.

In architecture it isn't enough to just have the right building that works well. It can also be beautiful. It can also be different. It can create surprise. And surprise is the main thing in a work of art. [] I like and respect Brasí­lia very much. It is a simple city, a rational one. I always defend the urban design of Brasí­lia

We hated Bauhaus. It was a bad time in architecture. They just didn’t have any talent. All they had were rules. Even for knives and forks they created rules. Picasso would never have accepted rules. The house is like a machine? No! The mechanical is ugly. The rule is the worst thing. You just want to break it.