Hundertwasser House, Vienna, Austria

Hundertwasser House (German: Hundertwasserhaus) is a colourful council apartment building in Vienna’s 3rd district, on the corner of Kegelgasse and Löwengasse. It was built in 1983–1985 by the City of Vienna to designs by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, with the architects Josef Krawina and Peter Pelikan, and it has 52 flats. Hundertwasser rejected straight lines, which he called “godless”: the facade is a patchwork of colours and ceramics, no two windows are alike, the floors undulate, golden onion domes crown the towers, and around 250 trees and shrubs grow on the roofs and terraces.

The house is still lived in, so you can only see it from outside, but it is one of the most photographed buildings in the city. Opposite stands Hundertwasser Village, a former tyre workshop that he redesigned in 1990–1991, with shops, a café and colourful toilets, and about 400 m away, at Untere Weißgerberstraße 13, the KunstHausWien shows a permanent collection of his work.

Key points:

• Built: 1983–1985, Friedensreich Hundertwasser with Josef Krawina and Peter Pelikan.
• Visit: outside only, free; the flats are private.
• Getting there: tram 1 to Hetzgasse, or U3 to Rochusgasse and a 10-minute walk.
• Nearby: Hundertwasser Village, KunstHausWien, the Danube Canal.