National Theatre Classical Evening

Brasilia, from the first glance, does not give the impression of a very culturally vibrant city - I mean, no offense, it is not London or Paris or New York, where trends and modes are set and cultural events known worldwide. Yet the city is fairly generous culturally, with a number of venues are of great quality (like at the CCBB, which I have written about a few days before), and now and then very nice show and concerts are presented. This couple weeks, there is a series of events sponsored by the European Commission, with shows, concert, theater and more. We ended up for a free concert at the National Theater.
It is just impossible for me to go to these buildings and have my trained eye to not focus on a number of "bothersome" elements.  It is something we label "deformation professionelle" in French... The experience of the National Theatre, like many other of Niemeyer buildings, feels like if the architect imagined some form and volumes, in this case the entry and the spacial experience - but limited himself to that, not taking much time on detailing. It feels a bit as if the visitor was robbed of something that should have been. In my opinion, good buildings are buildings that are "resolved problems" at all scales - at least this is what I learned in school.
The volume of the National Theater a truncated pyramid with three of its facades covered by a pattern of very large squares evenly distributed on the inclined faces, a work by Athos Bulcao. These patterns create a very nice play of shadows at the end of the day. The theatre is nested in the middle of spaghetti of large arteries in the city center, with a parking lot in its back, on the Exio Monumental. Consequently, the entrance to the theatre is a little strange; one can either enter through a backdoor or walks in the dirt around the building until the main lobby. I prefer using the back door, away from the cars, even if it means walking up and down ramps through a long set of bleak meandering spaces, my way of playing behind Niemeyer's back. Once in the lobby, a pleasant lush greenhouse, the space is filled by lines of very nicely dressed up people (lines are common in the Brazilian system). As with all my previous visits, once passed the doors to the concert hall, I am always surprised to experience the contrast between the lobby and the main space, in terms of finishes and detailing. Once passed a set of "normal concert hall doors", we enter into a fairly dark carpeted space, and rapidly we are brought onto a ramp that spirals down, in the dark, into the concert hall seating area. Scarily enough the ramp has no handrails, and nothing to really differentiate its edges from the ground below (which prompted the current management group to add a set of these cheap plastic floor lights garlands along the edges of the ramp). The spiral twists a full turn before landing at the top of the row of seatings, in a low open space of large dimensions, maybe larger than the stage itself.  People gather in this low volume during the intermissions, in a low lighting and worn out carpet, with a plunging view above the seated crowed towards the stage and the light. Steep steps to the seats, which let us experience the years passed and the fact that each generation gains a few inches in height from one another... Seated, I am able to judge the main volume of the hall, a simple concrete box with wood paneling for acoustic purposes. The stage is also simple and efficient, which pleases my architectural taste buds.
Entering the aztec volume, spiraling down in the dark to the concert hall. Voilà!
Fortunately,  my architectural eye took a little break while we really enjoyed this classical concert.