DaniloMacedo-ElcioGomes-NiemeyersPalaceofCongress-b.pdf

From open plan to open design: architectural principles in Niemeyer’s Palace of CongressDanilo Matoso Macedo and Elcio Gomes . Brasília . Brasil

Open plan: architectural issues12th International Docomomo Conference : the survival of Modern - from coffee cup to plan - august 7-10, 2012

From open plan to open design: architectural principles in Niemeyer’s Palace of Congress

Danilo Matoso Macedo Elcio Gomes da Silva

Brasília . Brasil





Science has its axioms; art has its principles. Julien Guadet



Escola Nacional de Belas-ArtesAdolfo Morales de los Rios, Rio de Janeiro, 1906



Brazilian architects were able to tackle the varied problems of a complex program and to come forward with a concise and simple ground plan and with clear and intelligent sectionsal plastic conceptionS. Giedion, Brazil and contemporary architecture, 1956



quest for conciseness and purity, to be attained with compact solutions, simple and geometric: problems of hierarchy and of architectonic character; the fitness of unity and harmony amongst the buildings and, further, that these no longer [would be] expressed through their secondary elements, but rather through the structure itself, duly integrated within the original plastic conceptionOscar Niemeyer, Testimonial, 1958



quest for conciseness and purity, to be attained with compact solutions, simple and geometric: problems of hierarchy and of architectonic character; the fitness of unity and harmony amongst the buildings and, further, that these no longer [would be] expressed through their secondary elements, but rather through the structure itself, duly integrated within the original plastic conceptionOscar Niemeyer, Testimonial, 1958



hierarchy characterunity harmony no longer expressed through their secondary elementsstructure integrated within the plastic conception



Competition-winning design for Brasília, 1957Detailing of the Plaza of the Three Powers

Lucio CostaSource: Casa de Lucio Costa



Competition-winning design for Brasília, 1957

Detailing of the Plaza of the Three PowersLucio Costa

Source: Casa de Lucio Costa



Preliminary sketch for the Palace of Congress, 1957Oscar Niemeyer

Source: Mateus Gorovitz

Palace of Congress, 1957Oscar NiemeyerSource: Câmara dos Deputados



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Palace of Congress, 1957Oscar Niemeyer

Source: Câmara dos Deputados



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Pilar - Architectural drawingOscar Niemeyer


Pilar - Structural drawingJoaquim Cardozo


Platform and towers Detail - Tower



Pilar - Architectural drawingOscar Niemeyer


Pilar - Structural drawingJoaquim Cardozo


Front colonadePhoto: Nelson Guimarães



Platform - Cross-section: architectural drawingOscar Niemeyer, Nauro Esteves, 1957




Platform – formwork planJoaquim Cardozo




Inverted dome – SectionJoaquim Cardozo


Inverted dome – SectionOscar Niemeyer




Structural Scheme of the inverted domeSource: Elcio Gomes



Cross-section of the inverted domeSource: Elcio Gomes

Joaquim Cardozo (1897-1978)

we are concerned no longer with a Cartesian geometry, dominated or led by algebraic formalism, but with another, more modern, that has cast off systems borrowed from other sources and restricting its field of existence. The use of this geometric reality (…) brings us nowadays to a criterion of moldings, of the proportions and outline (…). A molding more intrinsic to the lines, surfaces and volumes that constitute architectonic space, one that is defined by the use of fields of tangency, and curvature, or contacts of a higher order between these geometric entities. (…) Joaquim Cardozo, Some new ideas about architecture, 1963



Towers: cladding2007

Photos: Elcio Gomes



Platforms : flooringThe platform in 2007

Photo: Elcio Gomes

Platforms : flooringOscar Niemeyer




Foyer in the 60sSource: Câmara dos Deputados

Internal walls : marble claddingOscar NiemeyerSource: Câmara dos Deputados



Tower in 2007Photo: Elcio Gomes

Tower Glass-wallsDetailsOscar NiemeyerSource: Câmara dos Deputados



• Architectural design 376 sheets• Preliminary studies 208 sheets• Cladding/boarding 101 sheets• Glass-walls 52 sheets• General drawings 15 sheets

• Structural Engineering 445 sheets



• Close relationship between the architectural and engineering teams;

• Adoption in some cases of standard industrialized parts;

• Architectural language reduced to very few, relatively simple elements, where framing, cladding, coating and flooring were made of small components or with optically diverging compositions that conceal imperfections.



Photo: Nelson Guimarães



From open plan to open design: architectural principles in Niemeyer’s Palace of Congress

Danilo Matoso Macedo [email protected] Elcio Gomes da Silva [email protected]

Brasília . Brasil

Documents

DaniloMacedo-ElcioGomes-NiemeyersPalaceofCongress-b.pdf