The Hundertwasser House is one of Vienna’s most exuberant buildings: a municipal apartment block on Kegelgasse in the 3rd district, dressed in irregular patches of colour, tiled columns and greenery. Designed by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser with architect Josef Krawina, it offers a vivid counterpoint to the grand, orderly architecture often associated with the city.
Completed in the 1980s, the building expresses Hundertwasser’s belief that architecture should make room for nature and individual expression. Trees grow from terraces and parts of the facade, while uneven surfaces, mismatched windows and an onion dome give the house its unmistakable silhouette. It remains inhabited social housing, making it a lived-in experiment rather than a museum piece.
The Hundertwasser House can be admired free from the street, but its residential interiors are not open to visitors. Keep noise down and respect residents’ privacy when taking photographs. For more of the artist’s work, walk to the nearby Kunst Haus Wien, a museum housed in another Hundertwasser-designed building.