Which planned Brazilian capital was designed with an urban plan by Lúcio Costa? Brasília was designed around an urban plan by Lúcio Costa.
Costa won the 1957 competition to design the new capital's basic urban layout. His plan organized Brasília around two principal axes: a monumental axis for government and civic buildings, and a residential axis that curves across it. From above, the overall form is often compared to an airplane or a bird, although the comparison is an interpretation rather than the plan's official name.
The plan separated major functions and prioritized large traffic corridors, superquadras, open spaces, and carefully arranged residential blocks. Architect Oscar Niemeyer then designed many of the monumental structures along the civic axis, creating the sculptural concrete forms for which Brasília is known.
Costa and Niemeyer had different roles, a distinction that often causes confusion. Costa was responsible for the city-scale urban plan; Niemeyer designed many individual buildings. Brasília was inaugurated as Brazil's capital in 1960 and was later recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for its modernist urbanism and architecture.