Brasilia, a capital created ex nihilo in the centre of the
country in 1956, was a landmark in the history of town planning.
Urban planner Lucio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer intended
that every element – from the layout of the residential and
administrative districts (often compared to the shape of a bird
in flight) to the symmetry of the buildings themselves – should
be in harmony with the city’s overall design. The official
buildings, in particular, are innovative and imaginative.
Brasilia, a capital created ex nihilo in the centre of the
country in 1956, was a landmark in the history of town planning.
The 20th-century principles of urbanism, as expressed by Le
Corbusier, have rarely been applied on the scale of capital
cities. Only two noteworthy exceptions exist: Chandigarh and
Brasilia. Its creators intended that every element, from the
layout of the residential and administrative districts (often
compared to the shape of a bird in flight) to the symmetry of
the buildings themselves, should be in ha