Description: The Hundertwasser house is at Lowengasse and Kegelgasse 3.
It is like nothing I had ever seen before. Imagine trees bubbling out of rooftops, tilting floors, mad yellow and white towers, patches of metal everywhere and you will come somewhere close to what the Hundertwasser house is like. It is probably the sort of architecture children would dream up.
The architect was actually a man called Friedensreich Hundertwasser - this was not his real name, but was a name he invented. He was an eccentric and brilliant architect.
Hundertwasser house is a low income housing project in a modest area of Vienna. You can only see it from the outside, but the wacky exterior really stands out on the working class street. The windows are irregular, there are sudden eruptions of colour and mosiac and rambling black lines criss cross the facade.
Apparently Hundertwasser considered straight lines and right angles to be "the devil's tools." He reportedly designed this building for free, just so nothing ugly would be built in its place.
It is a 5 minute walk from the bus stop, but you know you are getting close because you start to see zany things and pieces of Hundertwasser architecture start popping up in the neighbourhood.
The house is still lived in, so you have to content yourself with the outside view.
There is a shopping area across the street from the house called Hundertwasser village. It has a little gallery with Hundertwasser souvenirs, a shop, bar/cafe area and a fountain in the centre. It was also designed by Hundertwasser so the zany theme continues in here. Be sure to use the toilets, the decor is perhaps the most unusual I have seen.
This place is definitely worth a visit - it is very interesting and a complete contrast to anything else you will encounter while in Vienna.
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