Lúcio Marçal Ferreira Ribeiro Lima Costa /ˈkɒstə/[1] (27 February 1902 – 13 June 1998) was a Brazilian architect and urban planner, best known for his plan for Brasília.

[citation needed] In 1930, Costa established a partnership with Russian-born Brazilian architect Gregori Warchavchik, and also became the Director of the National School of Fine Arts where he had studied.

He joined the newly created SPHAN (Servico do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional – National Service of Historic and Artistic Heritage) in 1937 under Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade.

[citation needed] Costa became a figure associated with reconciling traditional Brazilian forms and construction techniques with international modernism, particularly the work of Le Corbusier.

His works include the Brazilian pavilion at the New York World's Fair of 1939 (designed with Oscar Niemeyer),[5] the Parque Guinle residential complex in Rio de Janeiro of 1948, and the Hotel do Park São Clemente in Nova Friburgo of 1948.

[8] During his long tenure as regional, later national chief of the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional – IPHAN), Costa pushed for systematic documentation of existing architectural and urbanistic heritage, but his critics allege that he let his personal preferences and political opinions interfere with the bases of his decisions [citation needed].

[7][3] Some streets are badly lit because the height and the spacing of light standards were not changed with the advent of mercury-vapor lamps, and World Heritage Site designation has prevented remediation.

Brazilian cities, particularly Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo had seen an increase of problems regarding transportation, sufficient housing, public utilities, and distribution of essential goods such as food.

Many thought that the new capital would be a "monumental urbanistic and social disaster", believing that a project of that magnitude and cost would cause massive inflation in the Brazilian economy.

[12] The critics believed that the current state of Brazil, defined by poverty, corruption, and disease, would not be addressed by the building of a new capital city; it would merely distract from the nation's real issues while giving the populist politicians, such as Juscelino Kubitschek, a way of enriching their personal legacies.

[13] As put by Brazilian writer and diplomat José Osvaldo de Meira Penna in 1958: "A centrally located capital…might make Brazil more conscious of her role in the Americas, her terrestrial frontiers with Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela.

When the attention of the elites turns from their nearly exclusive interest in Europea, the 'splendid isolation' will be broken which has until now separated, in spirit and in fact, Brazil from continental neighbors".

The search for the site had been calculated, based on factors such as the favorability of the climate, water supply, land quality for agriculture, a suitable power source within 100 kilometers, and access to ground and air transportation.

The plan, called Costa's Plano Piloto, conceptually demanded four components: (1) the government buildings, (2) the residential zones or superblocks, (3) the vehicular circulation and transportation infrastructure, (4) and the city center.

This wide mall was intended to create a feeling of grandeur and significance, and is the location of the ministries, national congress, supreme court and other administrative buildings.

Costa envisioned these as the most important aspect of the design, as they would be home to a majority of the city's daily operations, such as local commerce, schools, recreation and churches.

He envisioned that they would have apartment buildings of a consistent modern style that housed both upper and middle classes, making integration a key theme of the city's design.

In order to complete the large project in a short window of time, funding had to be organized swiftly, sufficient labor had to be acquired, and equipment and material had to be bought and transported onto the site.

Gradually over the decades to come, the satellite communities continued to form on the outskirts of Brasília, serving a valuable function towards battling low-cost housing issues that arose in the city.

Following the opening of Brasília, the modern design attracted the interest of artists, theater and musical groups, and younger generations of Brazilian citizens.