I am in Brazil in July and I am considering having a preemptive visit to Pampulha.

Has any body been to the Yacht club? It seems that there are two locations around the lake by Oscar Niemeyer called "the Yacht Club" - good photos here

http://leonardofinotti.com/projects/yatch-club-pampulha-complex

and

http://leonardofinotti.com/projects/pampulha-yatch-club-pic/

Are they open to the public? Are they both the Yacht club mentioned in the tentative list?

Thanks

Oh dear, oh dear - Pampulha, one of my (many!) travel regrets. We had bussed in overnight to Belo from Brasilia to start a 1 week driving tour of Minas Gerais. I had been told that Pampulha Airport was a good place to rent-a-car with better "deals" than downtown and early opening too. This was all very true - and thus it was that we merely did a quick tour by car of the Pampulha Lake (which is virtually next to the airport), seeing the various buildings from the outside only, before starting out on the 3+ hour drive to Diamantina and then returning to Ouro Preto that night - all far too rushed!

I can recommend the plan in every respect (including arranging to leave the rent-a-car at Santos Dumont airport right in downtown Rio!) except rushing Pampulha in that way - Big mistake!! The numerous Niemeyer Buildings around the lake could easily fill half a day or more.

So - I have no personal experience of getting inside the Yacht Club (As far as I am aware there is only 1 "Yacht Club" by Neimeyer at Pampulha!) but can confirm that it is easily viewable from the outside along the Lakeside circumference road.

I found this Web site of the "Iate Tenis Clube" which uses the building and it refers to Public tours of the Art works (which must provide at least a partial tour of the buildings) from Tues - Sun 11.00 -17.00
http://iatebh.com.br/plus/modulos/conteudo/?tac=obras-de-arte
See the History section for more about the Yacht Club as part of the overall Neimeyer complex at Pampulha

Thanks Solivagant

We will also be driving to Diamantina, but with young children so we will do it a bit slower via the Serra do cipo park.

There are 2 yacht clubs by Neimeyer the PIC is from 1964. The Iate tennis club is the earlier building from the original complex. http://oscarniemeyer.org.br/ has information on his entire oeuvre.

Thanks for your link on opening times.

Sorry Paul, I don't have anything to add but just wanted to say thanks for bringing these to my attention. I knew nothing of them before but they are rather beautiful, especially the first one you linked to.

Are you going to Brasilia? If so were you planning on visiting the Itamaraty Palace (Foreign Affairs Office), a glimpse of the spiral staircase has been high on my wish list for a long time.

On the same sight are good photos of the other buildings in the original development

http://leonardofinotti.com/projects/sao-francisco-de-assis-church-pampulha-complex

http://leonardofinotti.com/projects/dance-hall-pampulha-complex

http://leonardofinotti.com/projects/pampulha-museum-former-cassino-da-pampulha

Also the 1942 MOMA catalogue which apparently started the international interest is here.

Unfortunately we don't have time for Brasilia - I also have build sand castles and go surfing! But we will see the 1936 ministry of health in Rio - if we can fight our way through the riots.

Thanks for those links, will be exploring them over the weekend


hmm... sounds gruelling :), though I'm sure the little ones will enjoy that a little more than having the finer details of a minimalist cantilevered staircase pointed out to them.


Hopefully when the football is over things will calm down a little for you. Though if you do see Mr Blatter swanning around I wouldn't blame you if you joined in the chorus of booing.

I fully agree! This is not the place for a discussion on this topic, but I fear that in face of the upcoming events in 2014 and 2016 the situation will not calm down in the long term.