NITEROI CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM

Designed by  Oscar Niemeyer with the assistance of structural  engineer Bruno Contarini, who

had worked  with Niemeyer on earlier projects,  the MAC-Niterói  is 16 meters high; its cupola

has a  diameter of 50 meters with three floors. The  museum  projects itself over Boa Viagem

(“Bon Voyage,”  “Good Journey”),     the 817-square  meter  reflecting  pool that surrounds the

cylindrical  base  “like a flower,”  in the words  of  Niemeyer.  The  saucer-shaped  modernist 

structure,  which has  been likened to a UFO,  is set on a cliffside, at the bottom of which is a

beach.  In the film Oscar Niemeyer,  an architect  committed  to his  century  (Marc Henri 

Wajnberg, 2000),  Niemeyer  is seen  flying over Rio de Janeiro in a UFO, which then lands on

the site, suggesting this as the origin of the museum.