I copied this from one of my college-mate's blog and understand he posted this because we, many old and new students of HCMC Uni. of Architecture, share some things from what Oscar said. It might be " how did we become involved in Architecture", or " The Bauhaus philosophy is to cold for us"...
IF IT COME TRUE, I MAY ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS!
VICE: LET’S START WITH AN EASY ONE. HOW DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN ARCHITECTURE?
I think that drawing drove me to it. I remember when I was ten years old and I used to like to draw with my fingers in the air. My mother would ask, “What are you doing, boy?” I would say, “I’m drawing.” I could picture the drawings in the air and correct them. Now I think differently. Architecture is in my head. I am able to do a project without the use of a pencil. I can imagine the location and I can imagine the project that I want to make. I think of all the solutions.
YOU’VE SAID YOUR ARCHITECTURE HAS STRIVED FOR NEW SHAPES OR FORMS. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?
We didn’t make the architecture that Bauhaus wanted, which would be purely functional. Architecture has to be pretty. It has to amaze to be a masterpiece. I work a lot. I have lots of work over in Europe and here, but I always try to bring beauty and amazement.
AND THE BAUHAUS PHILOSOPHY WAS TOO COLD FOR YOU.
Architecture can’t be like Bauhaus wanted, a “habitation machine.” Architecture has to be born from nothing, have no influences. Once a very intelligent architect told me, “THERE’S NO MODERN OR OLD ARCHITECTURE, THERE’S ONLY GOOD AND BAD ARCHITECTURE.”
I’m interested in life. I think life is more important than architecture. I think what’s important is solidarity. I remember once a journalist asked me, “Oscar, what’s your favorite word?” I said, “Solidarity.”
BUT ARCHITECTURE ISN’T YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DISCUSS?
When I talk about architecture, I feel like changing the subject. I’m interested in problems of life and the human being.
LET’S CHANGE THE SUBJECT THEN. LET’S TALK ABOUT WOMEN.
Now when you talk about women, that’s great. Woman is fundamental. Once, a journalist came here and asked me, “Oscar, what is life?” I said life is a woman on your side. And it’s true. Another great friend of mine, Darcy Ribeiro, who was a very important scholar in Brazilian society, said woman is fundamental.
I’VE ALWAYS HEARD THAT THE CURVES IN ARCHITECTURE WERE BASED ON FEMALE CURVES.
No. If we have a dome with empty space—generous space—then we want the best-looking shape. Sometimes it happens to coincide with a woman’s body, but that’s not our objective. We want a pure form, a different form that relates to the calculations and that will bring to the project a different sensation.
DO YOU STILL DRAW?
Oh yes, a lot.
"Oscar Niemeyer has been working nonstop ever since. He’s 101 years old and still designs buildings every day"Oscar Niemeyer is on the infinitesimally short list of people who have designed and built an entire city. A world capital. Sure, Haussmann made Paris into the postcard background it is today and Wren rebuilt London after the Great Fire (by not building everything out of wood—good thinking!). But it’s not like they were lacking in usable models on which to base their work, considering those cities were already functioning metropolises before they got the re-up. Niemeyer, though—he took an empty patch of Brazilian countryside and, in four years (and with the layout assistance of Lucio Costa), put a hyperfunctional capital city on the face of the earth. It’s called Brasília, and it’s shaped like an airplane or a butterfly or a woman (though Niemeyer claims it’s not a woman).
source: Ngo Hong Hai's facebook
photos: travelblog.org, tamtay.vn,
