The Hundertwasserhaus, built between 1983 and 1985, is an expressionist landmark in Vienna, and is based on the concepts of Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser with architects Joseph Krawina and Peter Pelikan. It comprises of 53 apartments, offices, and over 250 trees - many of which are growing inside the building, poking through the windows and growing up the outside. Many more trees are on the roof. The floor around the building is steeply undulating and I nearly tripped over more than once while photographing this building as the brain doesn't expect a road surface to have large, steep mounds. The undulating floor continues inside the building. Highly decorated mosaics draw lines and patterns around the building, which again continue inside.
Friedensreich Hundertwasser was born in 1928 and began his career as a painter. After travelling around Morocco, Tunisia, Nepal, Tokyo and Siberia, Hundertwasser developed an abstract, decorative, vibrant and two dimensional style utilising ornamental spirals, circles, meanders and biomorphic shapes. But from the early 1950's he became increasingly interested in architecture. His designs incorporated the same elements as his earlier paintings, combining natural life, trees, hills, colour, pattern and meandering shapes to create beautiful and unique structures.
