Brazil's most famous architect, Oscar Niemeyer, kept his office active until his death in 2012 at the age of 104. One of the last projects he designed is nearing completion in Leipzig, Germany. The project is a 12-meter-diameter sphere embedded in the corner of a 19th-century brick building, which will house a cafe and bar for employees of the HeiterBlick and Kirow Ardelt AG railway companies.
Dubbed the Niemeyer Sphere, the design is based on sketches the architect produced in 2011, which were later developed by Jair Velara, project manager at Oscar Niemeyer's office. The level of craftsmanship is striking: fifty wooden molds were handcrafted to cast the concrete sphere. Additionally, the highly illuminated interior of the shell features a liquid crystal coating specially developed for the project to reduce solar glare.
The project began in 2017, with completion scheduled for the following year. However, the fabrication of the glass panels took longer than expected, delaying construction progress.
Ludwig Koehne, owner of the industrial campus, approached the Brazilian architect out of an interest in the openness of his designs. "The more walls you have, the less progress you make as a company. You need to have contact with other people. Niemeyer’s pavilion is a very original way of bringing people together."
Source: The Architect's Newspaper.
This article was written by Romullo Baratto. The translation is powered by AI.
