The exhibition buildings are notable for their deft handling of industrial materials, of space and light. Here was an architect at the height of his powers when the complex opened in 1954. The architecture - some now a bit tatty, some restored - works all the better for its sylvan setting: the park is a merciful escape from the full-on noise and pollution of the city. However I am not so sure about plans now being hatched for Niemeyer, now in his nineties, to add a further building to the set. There comes a time to draw a line under an architect’s career, no matter how glorious.

Away from the park in the heart of the city’s bustle, high on the central ridge of the Avenida Paulista, you will find Lina Bo Bardi’s extraordinary Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo, or MASP. This concrete and glass upturned table is astonishingly advanced for its time (its design began in 1957, and it was completed in 1968). It elevates the gallery floors high into the air, with the entire building supported by two cyclopean rectangular, red-painted concrete trusses, creating four massive legs. There is a structural reason for this - a road tunnel passes underneath - but this necessity is turned to advantage, as a sheltered plaza with fine views, a modern belvedere is created beneath the belly of the building. Lifts and stairs take you from the plaza up into the underside.