I just found out that one of my favorite living architects is no longer living. Famous, or perhaps infamous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer died at 104 years old yesterday. I spent a few years in Brazil, so I have a deep love for the country and its people. I love Oscar as much for his work as I do for his personality. Passionate about life, women and buildings to the very end, he will be missed. 

I'm sure there will be lot's of great retrospectives written about him in the coming hours and days. In the meantime check out the fantastic 2010 documentary LIfe is a Breath of Air about Oscar Niemeyer and his life. Hopefully the youtube link below stays up for a while. 

Photo via BBC

I'm sure all of my savvy readers are ahead of the curve on this one, but I had never seen this Paulistano armchair until recently and I'm absolutely in love with it. It's certainly not new, it was designed by Paulo Mendes da Rocha in 1957, but it still looks so fresh.  Unfortunately it's not cheap either, so it will have to go on the "classics I want to invest in" list.

Paulistano Chair