Brasília: ‘Modernism is Dead and Rotting’

By Sonya

Brasília - the unexpected capital of Brazil for most unbeknownst travellers, separated from the exuberant vibrancy of Rio and the deep-rooted carnival culture, away from the metropolitan cultural boom of São Paulo, the capital stands as proof of one of the greatest architectural experiments to ultimately fail in the modern age. Only 55 years after the idea of Brasília was born (the city was founded in 1960), the city is already crumbling under your feet. Designed as a whole from the outside inwards, Niemeyer as the principal architect created the master plan which is the primary fault causing everything else after it to fail both on an aesthetic and functional level.

A city should convey the soul of the people who inhabit it, who even in the simplest terms. There are no social spaces - unless you count a dirt ditch patch under the Torre de TV a hub for social interaction - let alone any interior spaces for people to experience the city. I know that Brasilia was created to be the ‘administrative capital’ of Brazil, implying that no such cultural developments were neededbut this is where my problem lies. How could you deny Brazil’s capital city to exhibit everything it has to offer? Even if the majority of the capital’s population is visiting business people and political figures, the rest of the city are normal inhabiting people and Brasilia does not do them justice. mould it to their needs and desires. Brasília does no such thing. Its regimented layout leaves no option for the development of culture

The city layout from afar literally represents a bird - a delicate metaphor for a city that in reality is not. The central axis running through the whole city acts as the spine, with no interruptions of the vista from one end to the other - leaving a huge uninhabited space where perfectly symmetrical winding roads have been placed like artificial roots as the basis. Transport is only possible by cars and buses if you want to walk, well too bad, because the planning was done in such a way that even if you want to walk from one place to the next there aren’t even any pedestrian pathways to do so. Flanking the main axis is the murky sea of ministries - all identical to each other apart from the faded bronze titles each one adorns. And amongst here is a huge area of generic hotel blocks and Niemeyer’s countless