House of the Hundertwasser. Sightseeing in Vienna

In Europe, there are many interesting places that attract tourists, like a magnet. One of them is the Hundertwasser's house (Vienna, Austria). Located on a cozy street in the heart of the city, he attracts passers-by with original architecture, bright colors and a riot of greenery. The building is so distinguished from the rest of the houses of the Austrian capital that it is impossible to miss it and pass by.

Short description

The Hundertwasser House in Vienna was built throughout 1983-1986. It is a multi-storey residential building consisting of 52 apartments, 4 office spaces, 16 private and 3 common terraces. The structure is buried in verdure: in its niches located on different levels and on the roof over 250 bushes and trees are planted. It was designed by the Austrian architect and artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser in collaboration with the architect Josef Kravina. The creators tried to build the ideal house of the future, in which a person can live among natural forms and in perfect harmony with nature.

Scandalous building caused an unprecedented rush among the local population, and from those who wanted to acquire real estate there was no release. But to survive for a long time in the house, near which hundreds of tourists huddle daily (it's forbidden to enter the building itself), not everyone can do it, therefore, having lived there for a couple of years, people sell their apartments and move to other, more peaceful areas. Despite the great turnover, property prices in the Hundertwasser house are consistently high, because there are still a lot of people who want to live in it.

Childhood and youth of a genius

Before you start to consider the house Hundertwasser, you need to get to know a brief biography of its creator, because the life of this person deserves no less attention than the building he built. Friedrich Stovasser (this is how the real name of the architect sounds) was born in Vienna in the distant 1928. His father was Austrian, and his mother was Jewish. The pope of the future genius died immediately after the birth of his son, so the mother raised the boy. In the 30's, Nazis came to power in Germany, and in Europe the persecution of Jews began. To avoid this, in 1937, my mother decided to baptize little Frederick through the Catholic rite.

The Second World War destroyed all the relatives of the future architect in the concentration camps, including his mother. He himself managed to escape. Hiding his Jewish background, he even served in the youth Nazi organization Hitler Youth. The terrible years of the war formed a love for the young man in the world and a desire to live in unity with nature.

In 1948, the young man began to attend the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. From this moment his life becomes inextricably linked with creativity. Stovasser takes the pseudonym Friedensreich Hundertwasser, consisting of several words and in a literal translation sounding like "a peaceful country of hundreds of waters". Under this name, he became known throughout the world.

Hundertwasser's views on architecture

The architect was sure that living in reminiscent boxes of gray and dull houses is very harmful for both physical and mental health. He considered the ideal human habitation a comfortable hole, covered with greenery, in which many windows for light were made. It was this dream house he built himself when he lived in New Zealand. In it, the walls and roof formed a hill, on which rams often climbed in order to nibble on fresh grass. Hundertwasser could not stand correct geometric forms and straight lines. He believed that in nature there is no symmetry, so it should not be in architecture. His buildings, whether a multi-story residential building or office center, he created without a single right angle. All his projects were distinguished by curved lines and a variety of colors, which he achieved by decorating the walls with a mosaic made of broken ceramics. This approach made it possible to create bright and unusual houses, capable only of their own kind to raise a person's mood.

The architect traveled a lot, and at the end of his life he settled in New Zealand, where he died in 2000. He left humanity with many designed buildings, but the pinnacle of his work is the Hundertwasser House in Vienna.

Building

The idea of building an unusual building came to the head of the architect in the late 70-ies of the last century. For a long time he developed the project of an ideal city house. Hundvertwasser wanted that the dwelling was not only comfortable for a person, but also allowed him to get close to nature, which in the conditions of life in the capital is sorely lacking. In 1979, the master built a model of this house from matchboxes, and a year later the idea of the building was finally formed. Construction began on July 16, 1983 and lasted almost 3 years. Throughout the time, Hundertwasser personally attended the erection of the house, selected building materials for him, decorated masonry from mosaics, bricks and stones.

Description of the ex-terrier

The facade of the building was incredibly colorful. Each apartment on it is separated from neighboring ones by means of different colors and curved lines. The architect was convinced that the main ones in the buildings are window openings, through which sunlight penetrates into the rooms. To design them, the master has developed 13 different types of windows, differing in size, shape and color. To add extravagance, all frames were additionally decorated with mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles. A multi-storey residential building turned out to be similar to a colored patchwork quilt, but on this the Hundertwasser did not stop. He made sure that all the tenants of the apartments of this unusual building were given the right to decorate the facades around their windows at their own discretion.

Trees and Shrubs

The architect paid much attention to the gardening of the house. He adhered to the theory that a person building a building steals from nature a part of her land. In order to restore the disturbed balance, he needs to green the dwelling itself. For this reason, trees, bushes, flowers and grass grow on the house everywhere: on the roof, terraces, niches, balconies and walls. Some of the representatives of the kingdom of flora manage to grow even from windows. With such an original approach, Hundertwasser realized his innovative idea of tenant trees. In accordance with it, green plantations pay apartment tenants rent by giving them coolness, purifying the air from exhaust gases and simply pleasing the eye.

Columns, statues and mosaics

Tourists, accustomed to the fact that the architecture of Austria is restrained and laconic forms, are surprised to see such a bright building on the crowded street of Vienna. Additional specialty is given to it by a special finish: the facade of the house is decorated with numerous columns of various sizes and shades. They not only create a support for multi-storey buildings, but also make it look more cozy and romantic. This same goal is pursued by numerous stone sculptures located in niches of walls.

A special color is given to the building by a mosaic, which is decorated both with its facade and with the apartments. Multicolored patterns are laid out not in preliminary sketches, but in an arbitrary order, due to which the effect of ease and naturalness is achieved, and people get the impression that there are no right angles in the rooms.

Features of floors and walls

Hundertwasser tried to preserve the natural asymmetry of nature, not only in the external appearance of the building, but also in its interior. Master was confident: problems with the feet of people arise due to the fact that they walk on flat ground. So that the residents of the house had fewer complaints about health, the genius created uneven floors in the house, the surface of which spreads in different directions in disordered waves. Walls on the stairwells Hundertwasser also created uneven and equipped them out of plaster, allowing children to paint on them.

How to find a building?

If you want to find the Hundertwasser House in Vienna on a map, then you should look for the Landstraib area, located in the central part of the capital. It is here, at the intersection of Levengasse and Kegelgasse, and there is a unique multi-colored building. This building is a favorite with tourist guides. The building is regularly approached by sightseeing buses, and guests of the capital are photographed against the backdrop of its richly decorated multi-colored walls. To it, travelers can easily find their way, who independently inspect the sights of Vienna. The description of how to find the house itself, is in all tourist brochures.

It is possible to relate differently to the House of the Hundertwasser. Some people at his sight are delighted, others consider it ridiculous and completely insipid. But one thing is obvious: the creation of the architect does not leave anyone indifferent. And in order to get your own impression of the building, you need to come to Vienna and see it with your own eyes.