DAVID GREENE, HOST: Brazil's capital, Brasilia, is marked by the modernist vision of Oscar Niemeyer - curving concrete government buildings, the white dome of the national museum. It is an incredible legacy left behind by the architect. Niemeyer died yesterday at the age of 104. A hospital in Rio de Janeiro said the cause was a respiratory infection. One of Oscar Niemeyer's most recognized works is Brasilia's cathedral. It's shaped like a crown from 16 concrete columns that meet in the middle and then curve out, opening up to the sky.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: In this country, Niemeyer's influence can be seen at the United Nations complex in New York City, which he helped design. Niemeyer began his career in the 1930s and never stopped working. He won architecture's top honor, the Pritzker Prize, in 1988. Niemeyer famously said that the sweeping curves of his designs were inspired by nature, and Brazilian women.
Oscar Niemeyer, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect, was known for some of the world's most famous modernist buildings, including the crown-shaped cathedral in Brazil's capital Brasilia. He was 104.