Hundertwasser House - An exquisite achitecture, made by Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Hundertwasser House, Vienna, Austria

 This is an apartment house in Vienna, Austria. The idea and conception belong to the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser with architect Joseph Krawina as a co-author. This expressionist landmark of Vienna is located in the Landstrabe district on the corner of Kegelgasse and Löwengasse.

Hundertwasser House on the other side, Vienna, Austria

Hundertwasser House, Vienna, Austria

Friedensreich Hundertwasser started out as a painter. Since the early 1950s, however, he increasingly became focused on architecture, writing and reading in public manifestos and controversial essays. In lectures at academies and before architectural associations, Hundertwasser elucidated his concerns regarding an architecture in harmony with nature and man. 

Hundertwasser House, Vienna, Austria

Hundertwasser House, Vienna, Austria

 In 1977 it was suggested that Hundertwasser be given the opportunity to realize his ideas in the field of architecture by allowing him to build a housing project. So, Hundertwasser was invited to create an apartment building according to his own ideas. The search for a suitable building plot took several years. Because Hundertwasser was not an architect he asked the City of Vienna to provide a professional architect willing to transpose his concepts into architectural drawings. To this end, architect Josef Krawina was invited to join the artist and to help him to put his ideas into practice.

Later, when Krawina presented to Hundertwasser his preliminary drawings and a Styrofoam model, Hundertwasser was shocked and rejected them as representing exactly the leveling, straight-lined modular grid against which he had consistently fought. Hundertwasser succeeded in convincing the City of Vienna of the validity of his concept of a forested roof terrace house. However, architect Krawina continued to express skepticism towards these ideas. That’s why he was replaced by Architect Pelikan. He  became Hundertwasser’s long-term partner, working with him on numerous other building projects.

Hundertwasser House on the outside, Vienna, Austria

Hundertwasser House art toilet, Vienna, Austria

Hundertwasser House stairs, Vienna, Austria

In the end the house was built between 1983 and 1985 according to the ideas and concepts of Hundertwasser with architect Univ.-Prof. Joseph Krawina as a co-author and architect Peter Pelikan as a planner.

It features undulating floors, a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. Hundertwasser took no payment for the design of the house, declaring that it was worth it, to prevent something ugly from going up in its place.

Within the house there are 52 apartments, four offices, 16 private terraces and three communal terraces, and a total of 250 trees and bushes. The Hundertwasser House is one of Vienna's most visited buildings and has become part of Austria's cultural heritage.

Hundertwasser House, Vienna, Austria

In  2001 Krawina was encouraged to legally substantiate his claim as co-creator of the “Hundertwasser House.” In 2010 the court ruled him to be co-creator of the house, also he has to be acknowledged by the Hundertwasser Non-Profit Foundation as co-creator, if making any illustration or replica of the house. According to the ruling, Hunderwasser was the sole spiritual creator of the building, however, Krawina must be recognized as a co-creator of equal standing and be paid an equal share in royalty receipts.

Hundertwasser House, fountain, Vienna, Austria

Hundertwasser House, Vienna, Austria

Hundertwasser House, gadren, Vienna, Austria