Hundertwasserhaus

The Hundertwasserhaus was built by the city of Vienna between 1983 and 1985 as ordinary subsidised housing, designed by the painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser with the architect Josef Krawina, and it is a direct argument against the postwar modernism around it: no straight lines where they could be avoided, an undulating floor described by Hundertwasser as a melody for the feet, façades of irregular colour blocks and mismatched windows on the principle that each tenant should be able to reach out and paint around their own, ceramic columns, and around two hundred and fifty trees and shrubs planted on the roofs and in the walls. It is fifty-odd occupied flats and not open to visitors; you look at it from the street. The Hundertwasser Village opposite is a small shopping arcade in the same manner.

What to look for

• Irregular colour blocks - façades divided by colour rather than by floor.
• Trees growing out of the building - planting on roofs and in the wall openings.
• Mismatched windows - the principle that each tenant owns their own frame.
• Ceramic columns and uneven paving - the deliberate refusal of straight lines.

When to go

All year; mornings before the coach parties. An hour.

Good to know

It is private housing - you cannot go inside, and residents ask visitors to keep the noise down. The street is narrow and gets crowded. The arcade opposite is a souvenir operation.

Nearby

The Kunst Haus Wien, Hundertwasser's museum, is two streets away; the Prater is north.

Key facts