Niemeyer was considered one of the patriachs of Brazilian modernist architecture. He'd been hospitalized since early November suffering from kidney failure. This is an aerial view taken on April 30, 2009 of the famous Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro, designed by Niemeyer.
(CNN) -- Brazil's most influential modern architect Oscar Niemeyer, whose resume includes the United Nations building in New York, passed away on Wednesday.
He was 104.
Niemeyer spent the last month in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro in frail health, according to his doctor Fernando Gjorup. Neimeyer died after suffering respiratory complications, Gjorup told reporters.
Niemeyer was one of Brazil's geniuses, said Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
"We have to dream, or else things won't happen," Rousseff said, using one of Niemeyer's famous sayings. "Few have dreamed so intensely and accomplished so many things like him."
The president offered the presidential palace, one of Niemeyer's well known designs, to his wife for his wake.
Eduardo Paes, the mayor for Rio de Janeiro, has declared official mourning for three days.
"(He was) one of the greatest geniuses that Brazil gave the world, Oscar Niemeyer was more than a brilliant and innovative architect. He defied logic and twisted ways to create true works of art," Paes said.
Born and raised in Rio, Niemeyer was an early master of modern architecture in Brazil, a fingerprint that became clear after he was commissioned alongside his mentor Lucio Costa to design Brazil's new capital, Brasilia.
Niemeyer "incorporated curves and raw, unfinished materials" with a "balance between horizontal and vertical buildings, rectangular volumes," the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said.
Brasilia is a World Heritage Site.
Among his other works are the presidential palace, the ministry of justice building and the presidential chapel.
In Rio, his sinuous curves inspired the works of many poets, writers and songwriters. He designed the Sambadrome, where the samba schools hold their parades every year. In Sao Paulo, he worked with a landscape architect to build one of the largest city parks in Latin America, the Ibirapuera Park.
Paes summed up what many felt when he said "Brazil and the world lost today a man who dedicated his entire life to produce beauty."
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Popularly known as "el Niemeyer" in Spanish, the Oscar Niemeyer International Cultural Centre in Aviles, Spain, was inaugurated in 2011. Niemeyer is said to have called this work his "
The cornerstone of Niemeyer's 
Colored glass panes stretch between the cathedral's pillars and let natural light into the building during the day.
Night view of the columns of the Federal Supreme Court in Brasilia taken on 11 December 2007, designed by Niemeyer and inaugurated in 1960.
Niemeyer is kissed by great-great grandson Ivan during his 104th birthday celebration on December 15, 2011 in Rio de Janeiro.
View of the Planalto Palace in Brasilia.
The Amalfi coast and the mountains are reflected in Ravello's Auditorium Oscar Niemeyer the day of its official inauguration on January 29, 2009. After ten years of controversy, the auditorium opened in the southern Italian town of Ravello on the Amalfi coast.
Brazilian football legend Edson Arntes do Nascimento, known as Pele, kisses Niemeyer's hand on November 4, 2010, in Rio de Janeiro during a press conference. Niemeyer was in charge of the design for a Football Museum in Santos.
The National Museum of the Republic in Brasilia was inaugurated in 2006, on Niemeyer's 99th birthday. The museum, which is also known as National Museum Honestino Guimarães, was 
The first building of the 
The Oscar Niemeyer Museum has about 35,000 square meters of building area and more than 17,000 square meters dedicated to exhibitions -- making it the biggest museum in Latin America.
In the 1960s, Niemeyer designed the National Congress building located in Brasilia.
Cuban dancers perform in front of a 15 meter giant sculpture offered by Niemeyer. The sculpture represent a Cuban fighting against an imperialist monster.
Niemeyer designed this footbridge in Rocinha, which is located in the south of Rio de Janeiro.
Circa 1955: A modern church in the grounds of the presidential palace in Brasilia designed by Oscar Niemeyer. The church is connected to the palace by an underground hallway.
Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer died just days short of his 105th birthday, on December 5, 2012. Here, he's seen on the balcony of his studio in Copacabana in 2007.
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