Before beginning this post, make sure to check my previous one for a quick giveaway. I don't know why this didn't reach many of you as I expected but there is still time to register in case you are interested.
But, let's focus in today's post now. A while ago I posted about the most colorful house from Burano Island (Italy) which does stand out for its colors but also gives a mood that it's hard to meet again in other places. One of the places where I managed to feel a similar mood was yet in front of another colorful house, but this time in Vienna, Austria.
This one is known as Hundertwasser House or Hundertwasserhaus and it's high on my top experiences from Vienna where I managed to discover and explore a lot of unique places. Either way, Hundertwasserhaus did conquer my heart differently, especially that I am not a person who wears colorful clothes in general but I do enjoy being surrounded by as much color as possible. No matter the forms it comes in.
We were actually at the beginning of a new day spent in Vienna, having Hundertwasserhaus as the first stop of the day, so this trip was taken quite early in the morning.
Being pretty exhausted from the previous days that were very loaded with points of interest from Vienna, we had this walk on quite a lower pace than in general, taking time to stop by and look for souvenirs to bring home, but also seek for a patch.
Back when I had my first experience traveling outside my country I thought this is going to happen pretty rare, so I missed the opportunity of getting a patch from Barcelona, Spain.
But when I began seeing 1-2 foreign countries yearly, I thought that it's time to also pick something from each country I visit as a present for myself, and that's how I ended up collecting patches that sooner or later will find a place either on my backpack or on my denim jacket I usually wear in my city breaks.
Anyway, after quite a few breaks, minimum shopping and a coffee drunk, we finally reached our destination. At first, we met it from one side missing the front angle, but which already gave us a bit of adrenaline before crossing the street and start admiring it closely.
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The best way to admire Hundertwasserhaus is definitely from the distance, as if you get too close to it, then your vision angle will be quite limited. But this is also a good way to take a closer look to the small details that bring their contribution to the whole building in one way or another.
The first things we noticed, was the lion head and little colorful tiles above it, but also the black informative panels which even though they were basically sharing information as most of the panels do, they looked pretty classy in comparison with anything similar I've seen before.
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From this point is where the whole fun begins, with a unique architectural style at every step, being unable to meet the same colors and structure twice. From messy windows that look almost unfinished but still surrounded by color, to pillars of different shapes, styles and length and then to a very irregular path that seems like it was raised over a ground that endured no surface smoothing.
Everything just comes with its unique touch, creating an architectural chaos that speaks so loud that it's hard not to adore and crave for more.
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Along with the art and the skill and freedom of creating, there was also one more thing that surprised me and which perhaps pops up as a question in many heads when sitting in front of the Hundertwasserhaus.
That is, how was possible to have everything all together when everything seems like out of control, with materials and designs that each cover a part of the building like someone ran out of resources while designing it, as well as the pedestrian path which comes in such an irregular form.
It's already obvious that the trees surrounding this place adapted to the conditions which doesn't surprise me since the roof of the building shelters a tiny forest, but there is also the sewer system, the lighting, and even the structure of the building which are facing the same conditions.
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Hundertwasser House dates since 1985 when the building was finished by the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser who started as a painter but he quickly became interested in architecture.
He had his first architectural model made for the TV show Wünsch dir was ("Make a wish") in 1972 where he presented his first ideas of creating forested roofs and having an arch around each window. But this was only the beginning when he discovered his passion for unique architectural shapes but also the possibily to connect as much as possible architecture with nature that was a big passion of his.
Friedensreich Hundertwasser faced quite a few conflicts at the beginning of his career being a very severe person when picking the designs for each of his creations, but he ended up raising the house from Vienna which has his name in the title that took two years to be completed. Along with the undulating floors, a roof covered by grass and trees, and large trees growing inside the rooms with limbs extending from windows, the whole building includes no less than 53 apartments, 4 offices, 16 private terraces, and 3 public terraces, the whole scenery being completed by 250 trees and bushes. Each of them comes with a unique style design and colors used on the facade of the building.
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Despite the thing that at first the building was raised with no payment requirements from Hundertwasser as he declared that the efforts were worth it in order to prevent something ugly being built in its place, these days there is a tax for visiting some of the rooms of the building which even if it's quite an expensive ticket, I'm sure it's worth it. But the access is fairly limited since real people are living in most of the rooms of the building.
I, along with the girls I was traveling decided to not enter the building even though I bet it would be a unique experience, but considering that Hundertwasser has a lot more buildings around the world, most likely we will end up exploring some of them on the inside at one point in our lives, while some can go just as an experience from the outside.
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We decided instead, to enter the little souvenir shop placed at the bottom of the building where we enjoyed a 360° mockup of Hundertwasserhaus which allowed us to re-discover it in a different way since we didn't surround it entirely during our walk.
Along with the mockup there were plenty of specific souvenirs but also some books presenting other architectural masterpieces of Hundertwasser that managed to conquer me through his art even though he doesn't enjoy the same popularity as some of the other famous artists out there knew by the world for their unique ways of creating things.
Fairly close to this souvenir shop, there was a whole commercial center with a lot more souvenirs and items to purchase and at a more decent price, including food and drink to keep yourself warm during the cold days of the winter. You can see more images and impressions from there over here.
The full address of Hundertwasser House (Hundertwasserhaus) is Kegelgasse 36-38, 1030 Wien, Austria and you can reach it either by walking (as we did) depeneding on the side of Vienna you are coming from, but also by Taxi, Tram (Line 1) or by Bus N29 during the day and N75 during the night.
Other articles from my trip to Vienna:
- The Austrian Parliament Building
- Capuchin Church (Katholische Kapuzinerkirche "Hl. Maria von den Engeln")
- Christmas Markets tour in Vienna, Austria
- Stadtpark
- Hundertwasser House (Hundertwasserhaus)
more coming soon...
Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (260+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 550+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.
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