Niemeyer's flying saucer-shaped Museum of Contemporary Art, pictured above, in Niteroi, outside of Rio, was once lauded by the architectural press. Built in 1996, it remains a stunning sight from afar. Up close, however, "the concrete surfaces are crude and unfinished," wrote the New York Times in 2007. "Up close it's a terrible bodge-job," writes Williams. "A first-grader's approximation of a flying saucer."

VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images

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