Oscar Niemeyer

Designed Brasília — the federal capital from scratch — alongside urbanist Lúcio Costa (1956–60). Cathedral, National Congress, Itamaraty Palace, Alvorada Palace; later the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum (1996).

Niemeyer treated reinforced concrete as a sculptural medium. His curves — "the curve of a beautiful woman, of the mountains, of the rivers" — were a deliberate counter to right-angled European modernism.

Pritzker laureate 1988. Worked daily until his death at 104. Brasília is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.