Designed in 2010 – two years before Oscar Niemeyer passed away at the age of 104 – the curved white pavilion in the Château La Coste vineyard was created to be – as Niemeyer himself said – “at home in [the] setting”. Obviously he was referring to Provence peaceful environment, in southern France.
The pavilion is one of many buildings designed by Niemeyer in France, where he lived for almost twenty years. During the Brazilian military dictatorship he exiled himself in Paris.
Surrounded by vineyards, with its organic and curved shape, the pavilion reflects the unmistakable style of the architect, who won in 1988 the Pritzker Prize.
Niemeyer said: “The pavilion had to be a light construction adapted to the landscape as well as the vegetation”, and so it was. The project is composed by two elements: a 380-square-metre glass-walled gallery space and a cylindrical 80 seats auditorium. A pool reflect its form.