Hundertwasser and the Creation of Harmony Between Nature and Architecture
Ezra Barrett
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Table of Contents About Hundertwasser Chapter 1: The origin of Hundertwasser’s Ideas Chapter2: Hundertwasser’s Paintings of Inspiration Chapter 3: Architectural Models and Plans Chapter 4: Projects and Areas of Interest
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About Hundertwasser Friedrich Stowasser was born in December 15, 1928 and died in February 19, 2000, better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser, was an Austrian-born New Zealand visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection. Hundertwasser stood out as an opponent of “a straight line� and any standardization, expressing this concept in the field of building design. His bes known work is the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, Austria which has become a notable place of interest in the Austrian capital, characterized by imaginative vitality and uniqueness.
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The Second World War was a very difficult time for Hundertwasser and his mother Elsa, who were Jewish. They avoided persecution by posing as Christians, a credible ruse as Hundertwasser’s father had been a Catholic. Hundertwasser was baptized as a Catholic in 1935, to remain inconspicuous. Hundertwasser developed artistic skills early on. After the war, he spent three months at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. At this time he began to sign his art as Hundertwasser instead of Stowasser. He left to travel using a small set of paints he carried at all times to sketch anything that caught his eye. Hundertwasser’s first commercial painting success was in 1952– 53 with an exhibition in Vienna.
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Chapter One: The Origins of Hundertwasser’s Ideas
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The Origins of Hundertwasser’s Ideas Hundertwasser’s life dream is to build. Building - to him that is primarily an existential question. To him building means first of all meeting the need for protection, refuge, a secure cave. The non-housed man of our time is looking for has aptly been characterized as a place to get under cover, or even more, a fixed point, a definite spot from which he can find his bearings. Hundertwasser’s architecture is not about daring construction. Technological invention is not for him. He sets great store by the fact that the buildings he designs are easily realized, at no great expense.
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“The Seven Prosperous Years of the Mole”
The most important tool is the shovel. Digging a cave in the ground and finding shelter in it - that is the fundamental, archaic idea of all his architectural designs. One might say that in Hundertwasser’s view, the mole is the father of all architecture. The mole, with its predilection to bury itself in the ground, has always been a favorite animal of his. He even painted this picture titled “The Seven Prosperous Years of the Mole”
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For Hundertwasser, houses in general are defined by their windows , thus his architecture is defined by windows. In his opinion, the ideal house should have a thousand windows. To him windows are eyes - if during its journey the house turns into a ship, the windows become bull’s eyes.
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He not only wants to create a molehill for himself, but he wants to reveal himself to the world. This why he demands window rights. Everyone pauses for a moment an sympathizes with the fate of the person living on the other side of the window. The window right is not the elitist privilege of the artist or architect. It is a right which Hundertwasser demands for everyone.
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Chapter Two: Hundertwasser’s Paintings of Inspiration
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“Blobs Grow in Beloved Gardens”
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Hundertwasser’s Paintings of Inspiration
Hundertwasser’s aspiration to be a painter is even older than his dream of being a builder. It is recorded that his painting style was initially inspired by the childrens books he read in his boyhood, by Pooh Bear, rabbits and other animals who dig themselves a cave to hide in.
“A Yellow Last Wil”
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“Grass for Those Who Cry�
These instinctional actions of the cartoon animals reinforced not only his building habits but the way he paints, as well. These ideas seem to make their way into almost all of his painting in a beautiful way.
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“Green Town” “The Rain Falls Far From Us Falls the Rain”
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“Green Power” 17
“Rebellion of the Grid” “The Third Skin”
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“Blue Blues”
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“Peace Treaty with Nature”
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“Window Rights”
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Chapter Three: Architectural Models and Plans
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Models and Plans
A building of this kind only seems to be more expensive, but the savings in heath-care, heating fuel and air-conditioning are enormous, because the building produces much oxygen and promotes health. The upkeep of the roofs will be less costly, and the most important thing is that the people will be happy, and happiness can not be measured monetarily.
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“High-rise Meadow House”
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The “Eye-slit House” is so totally integrated into nature that it is practically invisible, particularly useful for farmers or in landscape reserves. The glass front faces the cold north. One can walk through the landscape without realizing that one is walking on roofs.
“Eye-slit House”
Motorways are the ugliest part of our landscape. They dissect the country and strangle our world with their cancerous growth. But it should be possible to build invisible motorways under overhanging meadows. People in houses just above or next to these highways would neither notice, feel, hear nor see them. This is what Hundertwasser was envisioning when he was modeling the “Green Motorway”.
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“Green Motorway”
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“Terrace House for Many Trees and Many People�
From Above no houses are seen, just forest and meadows. The horizontal belongs to nature, the vertical to man, which means wherever snow falls, and rain, vegetation must be allowed to grow free. Roofs must become forests, roads green valleys. The relationship man - vegetation must become religious. Only if you love the tree like yourself will you survive.
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When you go for a walk you will not even notice the houses no matter how they are arranged. The advantage of these pit houses is the absolute perfect air-conditioning; it is very cool even in the hottest summers, as well as bright and warm during the cold winter months.
“Pit House�
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“The Green Service Station�
As the main perpetrators of ecological and particular visual environmental pollution, they have a gigantic task of compensation to fulfill - but it is a task which is only joyful and provides benefits at all levels: of spirit, health, culture, and money-wise, too. The additional cost for a service station such as this, in harmony with creation, nature and man, and more than offset by the enormous benefit for the general public.
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A house on which even a brook can flow all the way down and on which you can walk up and down like on a promenade or path between trees and brooks. Even Grey water could be purified by seeping through water plants on the roof. (water cleansing treatment by root action)
“Spiral House�
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Chapter Four: Projects and Areas of Interest
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Projects and Areas of Interest
Many of Hundertwasser’s projects consisted of renovating and embellishing factories, grain elevators, and general exteriors of buildings. The main focus was creating a space more inviting and harmonic with nature for the residents around and in them. Below and to the right are some of the most famous facades that Hundertwasser designed using his principle of Window Rights that will be talked about again later on in the book.
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Hundertwasser’s main goal is to always go with the flow of nature and never fight it. This idea, in execution, makes for a more inhabitable structure that does not fight the power and natural track of nature.
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Hundertwasser took on the large task of redesigning the exterior of this “District Heating Plant” in Vienna. At first he refused this project due to having objections to a garbageincinerating plant as all possibilities for avoiding garbage were not exhausted. But his mind changed when it was promised that the plant would be equipped with the most modern equipment that would heat 60,000 homes.
“District Heating Plant”
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“The Blumau Hotel�
The Blumau Hotel is a massive complex designed by Hundertwasser. It is built on a hot spring causing perfect swimming water and location.
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“Hundertwasserhaus”
One of Hundertwasser’s most famous designs is the “Hundertwasserhaus” a large apartment complex following his rules of window rights and tending to not only human needs but the needs of nature as well in his design.
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“The Ronald McDonald House�
Hundertwasser built one of the first Ronald McDonald Houses in Germany at the time of its construction. He did so the whole time without abandoning his constraints of the necessity of harmonic relationships between Nature and the built environment.
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“The Green Citadel”
The Gruene Zitadelle is a huge complex designed by Hundertwasser and is an “oasis for humanity and nature in a sea of rational houses”
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“The Waldspirale”
The “Waldspirale” was Hundertwasser’s finale masterpiece that he complete right before he passed away. It is an apartment complex is more than one hundred units. This is Hundertwasser’s finale example to show the world that we are not building harmoniously with nature.
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Bibliography
Hundertwasser. For a More Human Architecture in Harmony with Nature: Hundertwasser Architecture. Taschen, 2007. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Friedensreich Hundertwasser.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 15 Feb. 2020, www.britannica.com/ biography/Friedensreich-Hundertwasser. “Friedensreich Hundertwasser - 82 Artworks - Painting.” Www.wikiart.org, www.wikiart.org/en/ friedensreich-hundertwasser. “Paintings.” Hundertwasser, www.hundertwasser.com/en/art/paintings. Study.com, Study.com, study.com/academy/lesson/hundertwasser-prints-paintings-art.html.
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