Oscar Niemayer (1907-2012) did more than any other designer to bring the precepts of the International Style to South America, and his work in his home country, particularly the plan and massive civic buildings in the capital Brasilia. He was a pioneer in concrete construction, expanding the range of the material both aesthetically and structurally. Though he spent much of the 60s, all of the 70s and part of the 80s in exile from his homeland, the end of Brazilian military dictatorship in 1985 permitted him to return. His projects abroad, such as the headquarters of the French Communist Party in Paris and the home of of the Italian publishing house Mondadori near Milan. Still, the works for which he's best remembered are the Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum near Rio de Janiero, the National Congress of Brazil and the Cathedral of Brasilia, both in Brasilia.