Casa das Canoas

Casas Onde Morei

Oscar Niemeyer

A book Niemeyer published in 2005, entitled Casas onde morei (Houses Where I Lived), visits the houses he has inhabited during his long life. In his memoirs and other texts he refers frequently to these houses, of which he has fond memories, weaving together memory and spatial experience, nature and architecture. Niemeyer quotes Le Corbusier with approval: ‘The ideal thing is a shack with a pool beside it.’ Perched high on a dramatic steep site between the towering mountains of the Serra do Mar, with magnificent views downhill towards the ocean, the Casa das Canoas (Rio de Janeiro, 1952–54) – the second house he designed for his family and undoubtedly his domestic masterpiece – appears at first sight to consist of no more than a concrete, free-form marquise with a pool amid a tropical garden that merges seamlessly with a fantastic landscape.

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