Oscar Niemeyer Awarded Spain's Order of Arts and Letters Medal

Whenever we’ve heard about him, it’s seemed as though legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer has had a major bummer of a year. “Turning 102 is crap, and there’s nothing to commemorate,” he said just before 2010 began, and it didn’t seem to get much better from there. In April, he was gloomy over the 50th anniversary of his unrealized master plan for the city of Brasilia, Brazil, and a month later, he was back in the hospital again, suffering through an uncomfortable infection.