Dispatch from Sao Paulo: Edificio Copan

Designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the 1950s (but not completed until the 60s), Edificio Copan is a residential building with retail on the ground floor.

Truly utopian in its conception, the building's 1,160 units were designed for both rich and poor, to bring everyone together.














The inability to see any windows, the eyes of the building, coupled with its singular, monumentality (it even has its own zip code), lend a dystopian slant to Niemeyer's vision.