Região Centro-Oeste: Brasília Distrito Federal
by Noah B.
Brasília : A Modernist Utopia
According to legend, the Italian saint Dom Bosco prophesied in 1883 following a bizarre dream that, approximately three generations after his vision, there would exist an abundant land, rich in oil and precious metals - "a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey" - that could be found in the New World, specifically situated between the 15th and 20th parallels.
Attempting to make Bosco's sibylline dream into a reality, the Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek, in 1956, commissioned the most ambitious public works project in the history of the country with the explicit goal of constructing an entirely new and uniquely modern capital city from scratch - a symbol of a new Brazil, free from its colonized past that Kubitschek promised to have completed in just 4 years, or by the end of his first term in 1960.
Informação Geral
In fact, it was completed, almost miraculously, in about 3 years, and came to be known as Brasília. Today, the capital city is home to nearly 2.8 million people, making it the 3rd most populous city in the country. It is located within the Federal District where it is legally considered to be one of its 31 administrative districts rather than a municipality. It is also the seat of government for the district and houses all three branches of the Brazilian government. It has been selected as a UNESCO World Heritage site as a result of its unique and creative urban planning, as well as its modernist architecture.
Economy:
Aside from its primary function as the political center of Brazil, Brasília also serves as an economic powerhouse and financial center with the highest GDP in the country of 99.5 billion reais. It is home to the headquarters of Banco do Brazil and the Caixa Econômica Federal, as well as a variety of companies based in communications, entertainment, and technology.
Layout/Urban Planing:
Brasília is unique in its distinctive and artistic layout. Designed by urban planner Lúcio Costa, who was selected by an international jury to guide the construction of the new capital, the city resembles a giant airplane when viewed from above and is divided into distinct districts with all of the cities government and commercial building clustered in the center or the "fuselage", while all of the residential areas occupy the "wings".
Costa's sketch of the future capital city
Climat:
Brasília has a tropical Savannah climate dominated mostly by grasslands. There are only two distinct seasons in the region - a rainy season that typically occurs from October until April, and a dry season from May to September that is marked by its extreme humidity despite low rainfall, with temperatures remaining hot year-round and peaking in September.
Arquitetura Moderna
O Supremo Tribunal Federal
One of the most distinctive and immediately noticeable aspects of Brasília is its stunning modernist architecture that can be found throughout the entire city and which is largely responsible for its UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. All of the city's most iconic structures were designed by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer who helped spearhead the project for the capital from the beginning. As a prominent member of the Brazilian Communist Party, Niemeyer sought to design residential buildings that would eventually cater to people of every class, although the area eventually became predominantly inhabited by the wealthy.
Praça dos três poderes
O Palácio do Planalto
O Congresso Nacional
One of the greatest examples of Niemeyer's architecture is the Praça dos três poderes which describes the square that contains the three building for Brazil's three branches of government - the Executive (Palácio do Planalto) the Judiciary (Supremo Tribunal Federal), and the Legislative (Congresso Nacional). The spot is also a very popular tourist destination.
Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida
Also designed by Niemeyer, this Roman Catholic Cathedral was inaugurated in 1970 and is known for its unique acoustics, which allow individuals to communicate in a low volume from one end of the Cathedral to the other.
Museu Nacional
The last building that I will list designed by Niemeyer is the National Museum, which feature a stark white dome structure that houses various art exhibits and cultural events.
Uns Outros Lugares a Visitar
Parque National de Brasília
Located just outside of the city, the National Park of Brasília features a wide variety of animal species and is also a popular swimming destination due to its natural mineral pools.
Santuário Dom Bosco
Returning to our favorite Italian saint from the famous legend that helped form the basis for much of the design behind Brazil's capital, another popular tourist and spiritual destination is this beautiful church imagined by architect Claudio Naves, which is dedicated to the patron saint of Brasília, Dom Bosco. The building was constructed using blue Murano glass bricks that emulate a starlit sky, as well as an enormous chandelier designed by Alvimar Moreira.
While not necessarily the utopia dreamed so long ago by Dom Bosco, despite the meticulous and deeply symbolic design efforts envisioned by Juscelino Kubitschek and carried out by Oscar Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa, Brasília remains one of the more fascinating cities to visit both in Brazil, as well as in Latin America as a whole.
Question: What do you think of Brasilía and its thoroughly modernist design? Is it a utopia in your eyes, or does the symbolism fall short of the city's reality?
Sources:
Thank you for such a great post!
ReplyDeleteI’m impress about the time it took to build such modern and innovative city. Brasília looks amazing. I’m so impress about the modern architecture; no wonder is the third most popular city. I’m glad they are recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.
Even its economy its based-on modernism; technology, communication companies etc. Wow! The airplane layout was completely planned … They really wanted to impress and make sure they were standing out.
I would love to visit the Roman Catholic Cathedral and the National Museum. I wonder if the art displayed in the museum is as modern and if they have some pop art or cubism art.
Question: What do you think of Brasilía and its thoroughly modernist design? Is it a utopia in your eyes, or does the symbolism fall short of the city's reality?
I love it and it’s a top 4 destination site of Brazil for me. I love that the city is modern and I was wondering if a lot of young people live there, I mean I know most of the citizens are wealthy but because of how modern it is I was thinking if its popular among young people?
Ola Anali! I love your question it got me thinking about the architecture as well, its beautiful dont get me wrong but I feel like there is not much culture within it. But this is a place that I would love to go visit because the Cathedral looks to die for!
DeleteOi Anali,
DeleteBrasília is considered a bit "boring" to Brazilians because it is a lot of concrete. However, I think there's a great young population, as anywhere else in Brazil.
I think it is worth visiting!
DeleteObrigada pela informação! I really enjoyed your interesting post and all the information.
ReplyDeleteI had not realized the strong modernist design and imprint on the city. I really enjoy the modernist design, not only for the style itself, but also for the symbolism. I appreciate that they were trying to build something bigger than themselves, something more utopian and idealistic. I think symbolism always falls short of reality but that is why it is important to have symbolism, to have an ideal to strive for in a new city.
I love how beautiful the glass bricks are in the Santuário Dom Bosco! On the outside, the building does not look so special but on the inside it is a blue trance. The Museu Nacional reminds me a little of a building out of Star Wars! I like the trick acoustics in the Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida. I think that is a really cool touch.
Thanks for adding in Costa's sketch. What a vision for a city! Interesting to see how it began with a sketch and vision and grew to such an impressive city!
Tchau!
Olá
ReplyDeleteBrasília would definitely be one of my top places to visit in Brazil. I have always been interested in modern art, design, architecture etc. I also like how this place is home to modern architecture/design, politics, technology, and entertainment. It is very interesting how a sketch of an airplane became a reality. I would like to visit the Praça dos três poderes and the national museum. I also like the symbolism behind the creation of a modernist utopia. It shows that this place represents a progressive, advanced and modern society.
Hello, Brasilia is a beautiful place. It has a lot of magnificent architecture. It has a beautiful river and a lot of things to do. I really like O Congresso Nacional. The builings are interesting, the modern architecture is present. Thank you for your post. I really enjoyed reading it. Have a wonderful day.
ReplyDeleteBoa Tarde,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your interesting post! It was fascinating to learn about the architecture in Brasilia, as architecture is not a topic that I am very familiar with. I learned a lot from reading your post, and think it is especially cool that Brasilia is a UNESCO World Heritage site designation.
I think it's modernist design helps propel the city in the future and encourages its citizen to continue striving for growth and development. Because I am a city girl, and I love modern/contemporary design, I think visiting Brasilia would be a utopia to me!
Let me just start by saying that the architecture of these buildings are amazing!!! I definitely would love to go visit the Santuário Dom Bosco it looks so beautiful outside and inside! Although I love the modern design I would love to see more of the culture through the buildings that the city has!
ReplyDeleteNoah,
ReplyDeleteThis is a super cool post! I think the city is very much like a Utopia. Something I have noticed is that it seems like the U.S. doesnt have many cities that are like super cool and unique. We obviously have big cities, but they pale in comparison to big cities around the world. Especially in respect to layout, design, and architecture. That may be an unpopular opinion, and I am definitely not trying to say we dont have any cool cities. It just seems like other countries do it better. Thank you for your post!
Katie
Boa noite!
ReplyDeleteI am amazed about Brasilia's history. First of all, how it was decided that this will be the next country capital. A city that was engineered since the beginning. Oscar Neimayer is an icon in architectural design, how he planned Brasilia for years to come. Without knowing about it, he created urbanism!
I am also surprised to know that Brasilia considered the three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judiciary. The democratic model which includes checks and balances is established in Brasil as well and in many other countries.
Olá!
ReplyDeleteWow, Brasilia is beautiful! I think it is the most beautiful city we have learned about in the past few weeks. I love the architecture! I was born near Chicago, so beautiful large buildings like the ones above remind me of it! But, I am more of a live in the outskirts of the city type girl so this wouldn't necessarily be a utopia for me, but it would be somewhere I could visit for 2 weeks at a time. The Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida would probably be my first stop!
Amazing that they were able to construct an entirely new and functional capital in the span of only a few years and far from most population centers. Very futuristic looking. Sounds like a cool city that welcomes new ideas and encourages innovation with Brazil. If that's true then I would say that the symbolism fits.
ReplyDeleteOi companheiros,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, the first thing that came to my mind was Europe; seeing so much art and modernism made me want to go and visit all these wonderful places. I loved Brasilia and its fancy modernism and I would love to go. It looks so different from the nature and ecology part of the country. I think I would really enjoy this part of the country and I could visit it twice.
Noah,
ReplyDeleteI like how you specialized your post with a focus in architecture. I guess with a city that small that is all there is, builidings. I think that using that lens to view the city is a great was to understand the history and vison of the designers of the city from each generation. Probably the most unqiue one to me was the Santuário Dom Bosco, it was wierdly square and glass walled but very cool.
I think that the modernism was used as a symbol of the excellance and brazil being involved in the world however these buildings seem to be just buildings with no people using it. People make things great other wise these are just expensive 3d statues. Maybe I am getting the wrong impression and the city is more vibrant than it seems
DeleteI haven't been to Brasilia, but I think you have the right impression...
Delete