Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer attends an event marking his
100th birthday, in Rio de Janeiro. AP  Oscar Niemeyer, the
Brazilian architect who designed the United Nations building and
his country's futuristic capital of Brasília, died on Wednesday
in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro. He was 104.  Mr. Niemeyer
became one of the 20th century's most important architects by
infusing modernism with the tropical sensibilities of his native
Brazil. He also attracted fierce critics—including many people
who worked in his Brazilian buildings and found them unsuitably
hot for the climate.  Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is
kissed by great-great grandson Ivan, as great-great
granddaughter Maite looks on during his 104th birthday
celebration on Dec. 15, 2011, in Rio de Janeiro. AFP/Getty
Images  Mr. Niemeyer was also regarded as a visionary for adding
reinforced-concrete curves to the right angles of formal
modernism. In 1988, he won architecture's top honor, the
Pritzker Architecture Prize.  "Few dreamed so intensel