The Casa do Baile is the most playful of Oscar Niemeyer's four Pampulha buildings — a low circular dance pavilion connected by a curving pergola to a smaller restaurant block, set on a small artificial island in the lake. It was finished in 1943 with the rest of the Pampulha complex but, like the others, sat largely unused for years before being restored.
It now operates as an exhibition space for architecture and design, with rotating shows of varying quality. The building itself, with its sinuous concrete canopy and views across the water, is the real attraction. Visit alongside the Church of São Francisco a kilometre along the lake.