 |
|
|
There is the stately Schonbrunn palace and its manicured gardens; the towering ancient cathedrals like Stephensplatz in the city's center; and the world's oldest zoo, amusement park and horse riding school also call Vienna "home". Even the giant Ferris wheel in the Prater amusement park, which was featured in Orson Welles' 1940's movie The Third Man, attracts thousands of tourists throughout the year. So you would think that this country's third largest tourist attraction would be something other than a 52-unit apartment complex amid the gray and tan edifices in the city's quiet Third District. That is, until you actually see that place, and then you will understand perfectly why it is so highly considered and visited by millions of people who flock to the intersection of Kegelgasse and Lowengasse. They know full well that they won't be allowed to get inside the structure for a tour, as the residents of the building cherish their privacy, but still they come in droves just to see the place. Hundertwasserhaus,
designed and constructed under the watchful eye of Austrian architect and
renegade artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, is just about the oddest and
most intriguing combination of bricks, mortar and natural elements ever
assembled.
On a daily basis, camera-toting visitors from all over the world flock to the location just to snap photos and loudly proclaim: "This is the strangest building I have ever seen." Especially intriguing are the building's "tree tenants", which grow on balconies and into the sunlight. They provide both a source of oxygen for the residents and a tangible sense of nature living in harmony with the manmade world. Upon first seeing the building myself, I marveled at the way the building is fully integrated into its neighborhood setting and yet still manages to propel itself into my astonished eyes. The branches of the trees planted at the base of the building seem to intertwine themselves with the trees located stories above ground level. The flowers, shrubs and other plantings on the building's exterior and roof meld effortlessly with the vibrant colors of the apartment complex's exterior walls. Each individual apartment is delineated on the exterior with its own hue of blue, red, white or yellow, giving it a "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" feel. The mosaic tiles, arranged at incongruous angles, catch and throw light in all directions, and the falling water from the fountain lends a wonderful natural melody to the surreal setting. Surely, if Mother Nature was an architect, this would be the building she would construct. As I sprain my neck taking pictures of the building, no less than three large tour groups enter the pavilion where I stand and chatter in their native languages. But it's easy to tell that they are all saying, because "WOW" is a universally understood exclamation. According to the complex's official website, http://www.hundertwasserhaus.at , the building boasts approximately 250 trees and plants within its structure, with at least three trees growing from balconies which are visible from the street. This was just part of Hundertwasser's vision of creating an "eco-friendly" living space for Vienna's population. The city of Vienna is the legal owner of the building, after the city's mayor Leopold Gratz offered Hundertwasser a plot of land in the city in 1977 "on which to build a house in line with your ideas and wishes (with trees and grass on the roof)." After the mayor contracted a professional architect to help create the model for the house, Hundertwasser was apparently so appalled by the cold geometry of the architect's design that he went out and purchased 50 match boxes and stacked them into a design more to his liking, including the two towers and stepping-stone terrace design. After parting ways with the first architect, the eccentric Hundertwasser finally found his architectural ally in a most unexpected place: the city's coldly-named Administration Department 19. The man's name was Peter Pelikan,. Pelikan joined the project in late 1981 and quickly helped Hundertwasser turn his original vision into reality instead of trying to impose one on the artist. The completed project eventually mirrored Hundertwasser's "fairy tale castle" match box design more than the original architect's stark and geometric rendering, much to the delight of its many residents as well as tourists and architectural buffs today. Construction of the apartment complex began August 13, 1983 and was completed Oct. 15, 1986 at a cost of 7,122,000 euros (1986 value). According to the book The Hundertwasser House, sponsored by the Austrian government: "From the summer of 1984 onwards, Hundertwasser worked almost constantly on the construction of the house. Every day, he worked with the construction workers from morning to night. In the work breaks, they drank coffee at Grete Faast's, the pub on the corner. It is a miracle that Hundertwasser was not run over by a car or tram on the narrow Lowengasse when he ran across the street countless times to look at work in the upper stories. There were often collisions when drivers became distracted by the house. In the last months, work was impeded by the many curious onlookers walking around the construction site, along the corridors and stairways. Doors had to be locked, and night watchmen and barriers kept people away out of hours. The growing number of guided tours had to be cancelled to avoid impeding the work." An opening day celebration of the official opening of the house had to be stretched out over two days in Sept. 1985 to accommodate the 70,000 people who wished to view it. The first tenants moved in March 1, 1986, and many of them still call the place home. The 52 units which make up the bulk of the building cover 3,556 square meters of space, giving its 200 residents plenty of room to enjoy their surroundings. The building weighs approximately 12,400 metric tons, 1,000 of which are made up by plants and soil. The house is built entirely by 2,800 metric tons of brick, with no interior skeleton of concrete, which further reinforces the organic nature of the project. Hundertwasserhaus also includes a "wintergarten" and two 'kids rooms" for use by all tenants, and also includes a café and a doctor's practice within its walls. Across the street, visitors to Hundertwasserhaus can browse through the gift shop and purchase t-shirts, books and postcards bearing the unique building's image. 19 roof terraces (16 common and three
private) cover approximately 1,000 square meters of space and many of the
250 plants and trees that grow within the structure are visible to passersby.
According the book Hundertwasser, written by Wieland Schmied, the designer's goal was a complex of simplicity, an idea as contradictory as the man himself. "Using often amazingly simple means, Hundertwasser endeavored to incorporate romantic elements into his house and suggest an unbroken link with nature and the life forms of past epochs." Writers Hametner and Metzer sum the building's bells and whistles this way: "No column is like any other, their bulges and rings are irregular … everywhere on the façade further unusual details can be discovered: spheres to enhance corners of the brickwork, various figures made of molded marble, cones on Kegelgasse and lions looking down on Lowengasse. Ventilation ducts and chimneys in the Venetian style were turned into decorative elements, and the steep stairwell on Lowengasse is decorated with specially manufactured mirror tiles which reflect the sun, moon and stars." While viewing the structure, one might think that the labor involved in such a construction would have been tedious and difficult for the men and women involved in the task. But according to Schmied, the artist said of the complex construction process: "The wonderful thing was that during the construction work the motivation of the construction workers was completely different than is the case with a normal building, where everything is standardized and prefabricated and sterile; then you work … without much enthusiasm. Here they had enjoyed working and it is a fact that this complicated building, with such different battlements and points ¬– it's a castle in which every window is different – was completed in just one year. And that is how I see the construction method of the future. People who help with the building, the construction workers and bricklayers as well as the municipal authorities, will enjoy doing it. At the same time, I would like to say here that this should not be protected as an historic monument. For when people live in a house under such protection, it acts as a constraint. It should be possible for every person living there to change the facades I have installed at any time in line with his or her own wishes…" As I prepare
to leave for home, completely impressed with Hundertwasser's completed
vision, I spy a mosaic face looking at me from one of the walls near the
café. I take a picture of it and think to myself that only a man
as unique as Hundertwasser would think to add a human face on such a natural
and odd expression of architecture. But it is a public housing apartment,
after all.
I have seen great architecture on three continents, toured Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob in the wilds of Pennsylvania, but I have never walked away from a structure with so much respect for its creator as I took with me on that visit to the corner of Lowengasse and Kegelgasse in Vienna's Third District. In Sept. 2005, Hundertwasserhaus celebrated its 20th anniversary of providing a unique living space for the people of Vienna. It continues
to stand out as a vibrant architectural monument of the 20th century, honoring
both the natural world and the architectural rebel who once proclaimed:
"You are a guest of nature: Behave."
|
