Brasilia was designed in the most progressive style of the day, the International Style, and seemed more like something out of a sci-fi movie than a 20th century city. As our 20th Century World Architecture describes, "Costa's plan was laid out in the form of a cross and has been compared to a gliding plane. A 14km residential axis curves from north to south, following the topography and an artificial lake. A 5km monumental axis runs from west to east, with government buildings lining views down a wide grassy esplanade that culminates in the eastern end in the Square of the Three Powers."
Costa laid everything out in sectors - the power sector, dwelling sector and hotel sector. Along the central axis Niemeyer built such monumentally beautiful edifices that the architectural world collectively gasped. These pieces combined straight lines and rounded sculptural shapes which appeared to defy gravity.