many architects fly under the radar in north america. architecture hasn’t had the same kind of star quality as it has enjoyed in europe. mies van de rohe, le corbusier, frank lloyd wright, frank gehri, antoni gaudi, paolo solari are the names that quickly surface for me. well, when the team dropped the name friedensreich hundertwasser on my in-tray i can’t say that it rang a bell or even tickled a memory. i’d hazhard a guess that it’s new to most of my readership as well.
so. hang on tight. here’s a man with a singular vision who actually managed to see buildings built that are so unique and maybe even beautiful that when i first saw them i wasn’t sure what to say other than “i’ve got to go and see these places”.
hundertwasser wasn’t simply an architect. he was involved in art, designing postage stamps, flags and clothing. his thinking is a little left of centre as he termed straight lines “the devil’s tools”. his approach to his place in this world doesn’t seem to have been focussed exclusively on design but also on reacquainting people with their right to be creative expressive individuals.
his name - which he created for himself - translates into english as “peace kingdom hundred water”. what can you say that takes the idea that a person created their own name for themselves beyond merely acknowledging "hey. that seems so very right to me. i wear my name. it was gifted to me by by my parents. i know its origins and significance but what if i found my own name? perhaps it would seem more real?"
here’s a tiny fragment of his thinking but tell me if you (like me) live in a featureless community where personal expression is more or less limited to the kinds of plants you put out front of your house, the colour of your garage door, and the shade of roofing tiles you choose, tell me that this doesn’t resonate with some deep tucked away part of yourself:
here's something he said: "A person in a rented apartment must be able to lean out of his window and scrape off the masonry within arm's reach. And he must be allowed to take a long brush and paint everything outside within arm's reach. So that it will be visible from afar to everyone in the street that someone lives there who is different from the imprisoned, enslaved, standardised man who lives next door."
wow. thanks for that. i wonder what would happen if this became the common understanding of all tenants and home owners?
i hope that you are as excited and surprised as i am at this man and his work. if you’d like to know and see more then follow these links. this building is named after its architect hundertwasser - a singular brilliant amazing talented creative human being living out loud! here's an exterior shot - trees grow right out of the apartments. oh yeah.
this is the entrance . . . makes me think of the alhambra - more on that another time:
this is a shot of a typical balcony. can you see yourself out here with chocolate croissants and some freshly made sumatran coffee? a little pile of books and magazines in a wicker basket that you take out in the morning.
the front face of the building.
an excellent page devoted to this building can be found here: http://www.escapeartist.com/OREQ16/Vienna.html
a page filled with excellent photos of both the interior and exterior of the building can be found here: http://www.phototravels.net/vienna/vienna-hundertwasser-photos.html
here are some images of other works by hundertwasser. this is part of a spa that he designed.
this is one view of the maishima incineration plant in japan. that's right - an incineration plant!
this is the front entrance to a kindergarten school in frankfurt - would you send your children there? well yes you would because you just know that if the thinking on the inside of the structure is as wickedgood as the thinking on the outside, you're children are in for a life affirming life changing treat!
2 comments:
Why don't ALL buildings look like this? Or different in just as creative ways?
Ali, I know that in many of the very old cities around the world there's a different relationship people have with the buildings and then between the buildings themselves. it's obvious looking down a street or walking through a neighbourhood, that people have lived in them and added and subtracted from the bodies of the buildings not only in response to practical needs but also in response to the need to express the passing through that space of their particular presence. it's a sweeping generalization and i should probably not commit it to print because there are so many wicked exceptions to this but i find north americans tend to internalize their expressive selves. external conformity is valued. unexpected quirkiness which rises out of the murky depths of the inner self is valued only when appropriate and usually devalued by not being accepted. wade through suburbia and see external conformity. go inside the homes, very deep inside in some cases and you'll find the true spirit residing their. hundertwasser figured to cut to the chase and externalize the true spirit. placing it where it belongs!
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