dovecote, oscar niemeyer, brasilia april 2006

o pombal, praça dos três poderes, brasilia, brazil.
architect: oscar niemeyer 1961

a rare instance of brutalist sensibility in oscar niemeyer's work in brasilia.

o pombal has all the sculptural presence you would expect from niemeyer and for a sculpture, it is unusual in also serving a function: it houses the pigeons that help articulate the big, empty square of the three powers. there is structural sense to the shape and combined with texture of the beton brut this makes for one of niemeyer's most successful works in the capital.