Set back from load-bearing columns is a rhythmic oscillation of bare and gridded surfaces. Thin mullions score a mirror-finish curtain wall. Window, window, door. Window, window, door. The cadence of heavy footfalls of pillars promenades glass shields and toothpick soldiers, like shadows to a front-line cavalry. The National Congress in Brasília, Brazil by Oscar Niemeyer is built to defend the common good, but its history belies a nation’s war with political and social turmoil. Through articulation, the site beguiles a sense of transparency. Through canonical programming, the site reveals a deeply-rooted divide between the public and private. The relocation of the new capital, Brasilia, was strategic in its centrality to Brazil: A city far from the uncouth disorder of beach-front favelas. Instead, the new capital boasts sprawling, verdant land. Modernist architect Lucio Costa—mentor to Oscar Niemeyer—was commissioned by new Brazilian President Juscelino Kubitschek to develop a Monumental Axis for the capital city. This central axis was designed to exemplify socioeconomic equality in the new city.

Costa’s effort to bring equality through the urban landscape failed miserably due to several design flaws. For example, his multi-level platforms were intended to allow classes to share a view of the axis together but instead strengthened class segregation due to its inherent hierarchical design. Critics viewed Costa’s efforts as art demonstrating social ideals rather than architecture establishing grounds for political revolution.3 Costa failed to garner public reception for the new regime. Seeing his mentor fall short, Niemeyer hoped to bring the public closer to the new capital through teleological design in 1960.4 The function of teleological design is based on future purpose, and Niemeyer envisioned just that: The National Congress of Brazil attempts to negotiate formal control with the structural revolution of a new jet age era. The site is wholly a byproduct of Brazil’s political condition. Furthermore, it is a government’s hasty effort to deal with a transition from tradition to modernity.