National Congress Palace

In the early 1900s, the Brazilian National Congress happened to be in separate buildings in Rio de Janeiro which was then the national capital. The Senate was located near Railway Central Station, beside the Republica Square, at Moncorvo Filho Street, where there is today a Federal University of Rio de Janeiro students' center. The Federal Chamber of Deputies was located at Tiradentes Palace, which would later be the location of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro. From the 1930s to early 1960s, the Senate occupied the Monroe Palace, which was demolished in the 1970s to allow the construction of the subway Cinelândia Station. The Federal Chamber of Deputies moved to Brasília in the early 1960s, a process that took years to complete.^[1]

When the Pilot Plan Competition for Brasília was concluded, the project site was defined, and the winning design, by Lúcio Costa, established a very prominent location for the building. In item 9 of the justification report, Costa defined the Praça dos Três Poderes as a triangle in which each of the three branches of government would occupy one corner, with the legislative palace located at the vertex. It was also established in Lúcio Costa's Pilot Plan that the square would be higher than the Esplanade of Ministries and that the National Congress would have a façade facing each direction, oriented both toward the Esplanade and toward the Praça dos Três Poderes.^[2][3][4]

Since the 1960s, the National Congress has been located in Brasília. As with most of the city's government buildings, the National Congress building was designed by Oscar Niemeyer in the Modernist style.^[5]

The building is located in the middle of the Monumental Axis, the main street of Brasília. In front of it there is a large lawn where demonstrations take place. At the back of it, is the Praça dos Três Poderes ('Three Powers Plaza'), where lies the Palácio do Planalto and the Supreme Federal Court.

On 6 December 2007, the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional) designated the building of the National Congress as a historical heritage of the Brazilian people. The building has also been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of Brasília's original urban buildings, since 1987.^[6]

The first preliminary designs for the building were produced by the architect in 1957, shortly after the plan for the city had been defined—some structures, such as the Palácio da Alvorada, were already under construction at the time. The main building would house the chambers and the support offices for the plenary halls. Two twenty-eight-storey towers, called annexes, were intended for administrative services and offices. The first preliminary design included some changes, such as a mezzanine for the public in the plenary halls, and also included an auditorium, which was eventually discarded in later stages. What remained in the executed building was an inclined garden on the west façade, where the auditorium would have been located. Formally, the building would stand out not only because of its privileged position in relation to the other two palaces of the Praça dos Três Poderes, but also because it did not share formal elements with either the Planalto Palace or the Supreme Federal Court building, which for example has similar pillars.^[4][7][8]

In Brasília, Niemeyer moved somewhat away from the earlier phase of his career. Although he followed modernist principles, he—like many colleagues of the Carioca School—had been less rigid than the International Style, adding elements that referred to colonial architecture, such as greater diversity of materials and more curves. Curves remained present but were used more sparingly: he sought compact, simple and more geometric solutions, focusing more on issues of hierarchy and architectural character and believing that the expression of buildings would come from their own structure. To achieve this, he relied on trusted structural engineers. Joaquim Cardozo worked with the architect on the main buildings of the capital, including the National Congress, even from a distance—due to his age, the engineer preferred to remain in Rio de Janeiro.^[7][8]

At the time Brasília was being built, architect Oscar Niemeyer and structural engineer Joaquim Cardozo sought to create the curved forms that today define the landscape of Brazil’s capital. Niemeyer produced sketches of the design and sent the curved forms to the engineer, whose task was to perform the mathematical calculations needed for the concrete structure to support the smooth shapes. The goal was to create two distinct domes, with an additional challenge for the dome of the Chamber of Deputies, which had to appear as if it were simply resting on the slab. Many hours of calculations and reflection were required before Joaquim Cardozo found the equations that would produce the appropriate tangencies, allowing the gentle curved lines conceived by the architect to be realized in construction.^[9]

I found the tangent that will allow the dome to appear as if it were merely resting on the slab.

Joaquim Cardozo and Oscar Niemeyer worked in a state of “creative vigilance”. This mental state occurs when individuals immerse themselves in the search to give form to what they want to create. Both sought what they considered beauty translated into curved forms, represented both in the images drawn in the architect’s sketches and in the engineer’s calculations. This collaborative work between artist and calculator is an example of creative processes arising from the partnership between art and mathematics.^[9]

Architecture is not merely a question of engineering, but a manifestation of spirit, imagination and poetry.

In the Congress Palace, for example, the composition was formulated according to this criterion, taking into account the requirements of architecture and urban planning, the volumes, the open spaces, visual opportunities and perspectives and, above all, the intention of giving it a monumental character, with the simplification of its elements and the adoption of pure and geometric forms. From this came the entire design of the Palace and the use of the local topography in order to create at the level of the avenues that flank it a monumental esplanade and above it place the domes that would hierarchically characterize it.

Had the Palace been studied with an academic spirit, or with concern about criticism, instead of this esplanade—which surprises many because of its grandeur—we would have had a vertical construction.

… which today extends in depth beyond the building, above the esplanade, between the domes, encompassing the Praça dos Três Poderes and the other architectural elements that compose it, combining plastically and making the perspective of the ensemble much richer and more varied.

The dome of the Chamber of Deputies required careful study so that it would appear merely resting on the esplanade—that is, the roof of the building; the same occurred with the latter, whose top is so thin that no one imagines it constitutes internally the public gallery connecting the two plenary halls.

Internally, the design seeks to create the large open spaces that should characterize a palace, using transparent elements that prevent them from becoming small areas.

Architectural form—even when it contradicts structural principles—is functional when it creates beauty and becomes different and innovative.

Another trusted collaborator of Oscar Niemeyer was architect Nauro Esteves, who coordinated the technical activities of the projects and even designed some himself, such as those for the Praça da Municipalidade. He was responsible for authorizing and carrying out modifications to the original design, such as the roof slab of the base of the plenary halls, which was modified due to structural considerations. Joaquim Cardozo also proposed modifications, including the routing of rainwater pipes through the pillars. Nauro authorized these changes and directed the team responsible for building installations in Brasília (such as electrical and hydraulic systems), while Joaquim calculated the structural elements in Rio de Janeiro.^[8]

The Congress was inaugurated in Brasília on 21 April 1960, on the same day the city itself was inaugurated.^[4]

• 
  Juscelino Kubitschek visiting the works of the National Congress.