Oscar Niemeyer Denied Chance To Make One Last Monument In Brasilia

The man who designed Brazil’s once-futuristic capital (“widely considered an architectural masterwork and an unparalleled urban catastrophe”) is still working at age 101, so he was invited to design a monument for the city’s 50th anniversary in 2010. But when he revealed his plan for a new plaza, architects and preservations cried that Niemeyer’s new design just wouldn’t fit with Niemeyer’s old design.