A hundred shapes, a hundred colors: Friedensreich Hundertwasser was an architect and artist who shaped the construction industry like no other. Everybody knows one of his famous works. Curved transitions between floors, small balconies, and, of course, one tree or another that stretches, bright green, out of the sea of colors towards the sun. A colorful oasis in the middle of the city.
Houses that breathe, that seem to be alive, surrounded by the dead, gray concrete of the city center. One of these famous buildings of the visionary architect is the Hundertwasserhaus Vienna. Together, we'll take a look at what makes this building so special and immerse ourselves in the world of an artist who brought nature back to cities.
Fascination Hundertwasserhaus
Vienna, the Austrian capital, is always worth a visit. Especially for friends of architecture and engineering. Why? There are so many impressive buildings to admire! The city center alone is an architectural masterpiece. Different styles come together without stealing the show.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of the city, however, some colorful facades stand out. A colorful jungle in Vienna: the Hundertwasserhaus Vienna. Here, art and architecture merge to create one of Austria's most famous buildings. But what is it that makes the Hundertwasserhaus so special? Is it just the facade? Not by a long shot.
Who was Friedensreich Hundertwasser?
Friedensreich Hundertwasser, whose real name was Friedrich Stowasser, was an artist who had been working with architecture since the 1950s. This period is, of course, the most interesting for us. Hundertwasser was very committed to ecological building and living, with a focus on people themselves. He wanted to create buildings that would allow their inhabitants to live a free, healthy life.
It was important to him to emphasize that every person is different – and therefore every building inhabited by people should be unique. No one can really feel comfortable in a uniform world of raw concrete. And nature should always be an integral part of life, even in a big city like his native Vienna.
With this approach, he polarized the architecture of the second half of the 20th century – and to a considerable degree. It was characterized primarily by postwar buildings, such as the New Building movement, which we discussed in an earlier blog post. The goal was to create as much living space as quickly and cheaply as possible, while stripping the architecture of any soul. Empty, unadorned concrete walls, every building looking the same – this was exactly what Hundertwasser wanted to oppose.
Blog Post on New BuildingThere were no straight lines and dull colors in the public areas of his buildings. This is why he rejected his project partner's first, rather conventional, model proposal for the housing estate in Vienna. He wanted his work to be full of life: Vibrancy and a connection to nature.
General Facts About Hundertwasserhaus Vienna
The Hundertwasserhaus apartment complex in Vienna was built between 1983 and 1985. The colorful building is located at the corner of Kegelgasse 34-38 and Löwengasse 41-43 in Vienna's 3rd district. Friedensreich Hundertwasser worked on this project together with the architect Josef Krawina. There were already problems with the creation of a model for the structure of the residential complex.
Due to disagreements, especially regarding the facade, Krawina withdrew from the project in 1981. He was replaced by Peter Pelikan, an architect who had experience working with artists on designs for real buildings. He thus became Hundertwasser's long-term project partner. However, since Krawina had worked on the residential complex for years, a court decided a few years ago to name him as the author of the building together with Hundertwasser.
At a cost of 6 million euros, 50 apartments, four shops, and even a doctor's office were built on an area of 1,092 m². Up to 150 residents live in 3,550 m² of living space. There are also two large community rooms where children can play undisturbed, and a community conservatory.
What makes the Hundertwassehaus's design so special?
At first glance, the facade of the Hundertwasserhaus is striking. The windows are irregularly arranged, and very few resemble each other. Each one seems to be unique, and this was in fact Hundertwasser's explicit wish.
Anyone who moves into an apartment in the Hundertwasserhaus has the right to design the facade according to their own taste. The result is a colorful palette of shapes and curved lines. As a resident of the house, you have the opportunity to express yourself to a certain extent. A privilege rarely found in cities.
Another special feature of the residential complex is Hundertwasser's ideal of integrating nature into his buildings as much as possible. A house in which people live should be alive of its own accord, not just through its inhabitants. This is why the green roofs and the trees and shrubs on the balconies are so striking.
Not only the facade, but all public areas of the Hundertwasserhaus Vienna are designed in the style of the Austrian artist and architect. Curved floors, colorful mosaics, and curved columns in a variety of colors await tourists and residents alike.
By the way: Hundertwasser never set foot in his own house. He was convinced that such a house should only be there for the residents and visitors who lived in it or came by to admire it. His approach was to build for people, not for personal fame.
What is the Hundertwasserhaus Vienna for?
The Hundertwasserhaus building in Vienna is, of course, first and foremost a living space for the people who live there. However, Hundertwasser always wanted to make his buildings accessible to everyone. That is why the Hundertwasserhaus has always been used both as a residential building and as a tourist attraction.
For both residents and visitors, however, the same principle applies: to find a living building. Characterized by all the shapes and colors of life, framed and interspersed by nature itself: a truly impressive living concept worth living in.
Structural Challenges of Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna
Attentive readers of this blog will no doubt have an important question on the tip of their tongue: how was it possible to realize such an unusual building as the Hundertwasserhaus? The many shapes and irregular facade sections alone are enough to make any structural engineer sweat.
Add to that the greenery of over 900 m² of roof terraces, where not only simple shrubs grow, but a whole park of trees. There are even trees on the balconies that are several decades old. How does the Hundertwasserhaus hold up without collapsing?
As with many large-scale projects that involve artists, the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna had a long planning and design process behind it. According to Hundertwasser, art and functionality should not get in each other's way, but they clashed often enough. What's more, it was his first major architectural project, and he had precise ideas about how to live in harmony in the middle of the city.
In order to realize the artist's wishes and ideas, his architect, Josef Krawina, drew up a 10-point plan. This was to ensure that art and statics would ultimately come together successfully.
- Breaking up the structure of the building with stairs and curved passageways
- Integrating nature with green roofs and open spaces
- A car-free zone with a play street and a planned three-level underground garage
- Child-friendly with paintable walls and ample space for movement
- Using a variety of apartment types
- Unconventional facade design avoiding straight lines and edges
- Including community facilities (playgrounds, shops)
- Using ecological building materials (brick walls, wood, ceramics, natural binders)
- Energy efficiency through thick brick walls, special triple-glazed windows, heat pumps, and cisterns to collect rainwater
- Evaluation and verification of tests to ensure compatibility with municipal housing
Many of these points are already familiar to us in modern construction. However, we should keep in mind that the planning and design phase for the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna was 50 years ago. At that time, when rectangular concrete buildings were at their peak, the construction of such a building was not only unusual, but an absolutely unique and progressive project.
Challenge 1: Variety of Shapes and Asymmetry
Engineers love straight lines, edges, and symmetrical structures. These are quick and easy to calculate. Hundertwasser, on the other hand, dreamed only of irregular lines, curved surfaces, and varied shapes that could break up the dreary cubic gray of the city.
The structural analysis for such a building was more complex and very unusual for the zeitgeist of the '70s and '80s. The Hundertwasserhaus was undoubtedly a real challenge for structural engineers. To ensure that art and safety could go hand in hand, the engineers who were involved used a complex system of load-bearing walls and columns that allowed for optimal load distribution.
Challenge 2: Plants and Soil
Of course, nature in an apartment complex is beautiful to look at. But anyone who has ever planted a flower bed knows how heavy the soil alone can be. The Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna is practically overgrown with trees, shrubs, and climbing plants. For the opening of the Hundertwasserhaus, a total of 900 tons of soil were spread on the roof terraces, which cover an area of about 900 m², and on the balconies.
But it wasn't just the earth itself that added to the load. The planted trees and shrubs themselves have a certain self-weight, which is not necessarily reduced by the growing roots. And then there is rain and irrigation water. So how can such a large structure reliably withstand these additional loads?
The supporting structure of the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna was designed to transfer these loads. A complex, reinforced roof system reliably deflects the load of soil and vegetation downward. This means that even heavy rainfall cannot overload the structure, and excess water can drain freely or be collected in cisterns for dry periods.
Challenge 3: Uneven Floor Slabs
Anyone who has been to the Hunderwasserhaus in Vienna knows how strange the floors are there. You simply don't see them in cities. At most, you see them on lovelessly asphalted bike paths, which, due to earth movements and roots, gradually resemble a mini-version of the German foothills of the Alps.
Hundertwasser insisted that not a single floor of the residential building should be completely flat. At least not in the public areas of the building. The undulating shape of the floors created something unique, but what was exciting for tourists was a headache for the engineers of the time.
In the end, the solution was not to consider a floor as a single level, but to divide each large level into many smaller ones and calculate them individually. The result was a system of differently arranged levels that, despite their visual inequality, were able to transfer forces evenly to the adjacent supporting structure.
Challenge 4: Long-Term Maintenance
Have you been to Vienna in the last few years? Maybe you've passed the Hundertwasserhaus and thought to yourself: Wow, that looks dilapidated. Will it last much longer? In fact, it is the vision behind the building itself that is responsible. The integration of nature naturally leaves its mark on a building. Plants create areas that get more or less sun. This results in fading patches of color on the colorful facade. But it's not just the amount of light that makes a difference.
Whether it's the lingering moisture from the soil on the terraces, the root pressure of ever-growing trees, or the remains of plants on the facade, vitality doesn't always mean beauty, but also transience. Moss on the walls, deposits of climbing plants that wither in winter only to sprout again in spring.
Even regular cleaning can only do so much. And on colorful facades, of course, this is more noticeable than on bare concrete walls. There, people would probably be grateful for any variation. Special seals on the building are regularly renewed to prevent moisture from penetrating the masonry.
The work on the facade of the Hundertwasserhaus is not the only challenge. The photos show how many mosaics were used everywhere. It is quite normal for some of the tiny ceramic pieces to break or fall off from time to time. It is therefore a constant task to keep the interior in order. It is never boring in the Hundertwasserhaus.
Summary: Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna
To this day, the Hunderwasserhaus is one of Vienna's architectural highlights. In the more than 40 years since its construction, it has served as an inspiration for numerous other buildings. Not only for Hundertwasser himself and his later works.
Hundertwasser's vision of bringing nature back to the inner cities is an incentive for the entire construction industry to bring efficient building, living, and modern living comfort on the same level. Modern construction and individuality do not have to be mutually exclusive, as we have often stated in our blog.
This makes it all the more important to break away from conventional construction methods, because we can do much more than just string together soulless concrete blocks. Engineering is about adapting to different environments and materials to create structures that fit seamlessly without losing their function. Creative approaches don't hurt our building industry, on the contrary.
They inspire us to break away from established patterns and evolve with every project, no matter how unusual. Lifelong learning meets lifelong building, so that our ideas and approaches live on after us and inspire others. Just as Hundertwasser still does today, well beyond his death.
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