Built on a lifetime of experience

AS HE does almost every day, this Saturday, Oscar Niemeyer will probably spend some time in his office overlooking Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach and the Atlantic Ocean. Like any other day, this Brazilian architect might work on one of the many projects he is overseeing, or sketch out some new ideas. He might smoke a cigar, have a glass of red wine and eat lunch with his colleagues.

However, in one respect, this Saturday will not be like any other: After more than 70 years at the forefront of modern architecture, realising more than 500 schemes, the "Picasso of architecture" - still a practising architect - will celebrate his 100th birthday.

Neil Manson Cameron, an architectural historian, says: "Niemeyer should be regarded as one of the great architects of the 20th century. He succeeded in breaking away from Modernist orthodoxies with enormous design flair and world-changing vision."

Niemeyer was born in Rio de Janeiro and graduated from Brazil's National School of Fine Arts in 1934. He joined a team that worked with Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier on a new Ministry of Education and Health. In 1939, he teamed up with Lucio Costa to design the Brazilian pavilion at the New York World's Fair. In 1954, Niemeyer was handed an architect's dream brief when he and Costa were invited by Brazil's new president, Juscelino Kubitschek, to build a new capital city on Brazil's stark and empty central plains.

The result was Brasilia, home to some of Niemeyer's most stunning works. There's the cathedral, a concrete crown of thorns which reaches towards the sky; the Alvadora Palace, a series of taut parabolas that spring from the ground, and the futuristic National Congress. These sinuous curves and abstract forms were new to architecture - a step beyond Modernism; a tribute to the beauty in nature, and particularly to the flowing lines of a woman's body. Niemeyer has a poster of three naked women lying tangled on a beach hanging above his desk. Curves, he has said, are "the natural solution".

His sensuous, undulating curves represented a significant shift from early to late Modernism; moving from the austere functionalism of Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to a more expressionist, sculptural approach. And while Niemeyer was a defender of utilitarianism, his designs did not have the spartan, blocky austerity present in some modern architecture.

Niemeyer was also a pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete. In Brazil, steel was rare and far too costly for extensive use in buildings, whereas concrete was cheap and could be utilised in creative and exciting ways. Alan Hess, an architect and the author of Oscar Niemeyer Houses, says: "While the Bauhaus and Le Corbusier originally showed how a clean break with traditional architecture could be made by exploring the imagery and concepts of new machines and new materials, Niemeyer went further. He exploited the freedom that Modernism offered to explore new forms and spaces inspired by nature, culture and even surrealism. With Niemeyer, form follows fantasia."

Niemeyer is renowned for his ability to effortlessly translate his ideas into simple sketches, and in turn to translate those into epic public buildings. Quizzed on how he comes up with his ideas, he says: "I pick up my pen. A building appears."

Penny Lewis, the editor of Prospect, Scotland's architecture magazine, says: "Niemeyer has produced some very beautiful and humane buildings. Although much of his work is monumental in scale and character, he clearly has an understanding of how to design on a human scale."

In 1945, Niemeyer joined the Brazilian Communist Party. He was presented with the Lenin Peace Prize in 1963, and remains a close friend of Fidel Castro.

However, his political leanings cost Niemeyer dearly. During Brazil's military dictatorship, his office was raided and he was forced into exile in Europe. He lived in Paris in the 1960s and designed a number of buildings in Europe, including the headquarters of the French Communist Party.

He designed arguably his greatest work in 1996, aged 89. The Museum of Contemporary Art at Niteroi, near Rio, is a gleaming white creation perched atop a cliff. It touches the ground so lightly it appears to hover, its reflection in a pool beneath it making it seem a mirage.

Today, Niemeyer is working on a number of projects, including a statue in Cuba and a cultural centre in Chile. But he insists architecture isn't that important: "Life is too short, a breath, that's all - it matters far more than buildings." Instead, he takes pleasure in simpler things: "The beach, women and the sea."

A LIFE IN ARCHITECTURE

1907 Born in Rio de Janeiro

1929 Marries Annita Baldo; begins university

1934 Graduates as an architect. Works unpaid in the studio of Lucio Costa and Carlos Leao

1939 Helps design the new headquarters for Ministry of Education and Public Health in Rio

1939 Designs the Brazilian pavilion for the New York World's Fair with Lucio Costa

1943 Completes work on the Pampulha complex, a new suburb of Rio, which includes Brazil's first listed modern monument, the Church of Sao Francisco de Assis

1945 Joins the Brazilian Communist Party

1947 Works on UN headquarters in New York

1952 Builds a home in the hills above Rio de Janeiro, considered his finest domestic work

1954-55 Designs the Museum of Modern Art of Caracas, Venezuela

1956 Begins work on his designs for Brasilia

1963 Presented with the Lenin Peace Prize

1966 Goes into exile to Paris

1987 Designs the Latin America Memorial complex in São Paulo

1988 Wins the Pritzker Architecture Prize

1996 Designs the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum

2002 Opens the Oscar Niemeyer Museum

2003 Invited to design the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion in Hyde Park, London