The KunstHaus is a museum in a former furniture factory in Vienna and was designed by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. His philosophy, paintings and architecture clearly do not correspond to any of the other numerous “traditional” museums in Vienna. The museum is fairly traditional on the outside with irregular elements of colorful glass, metal, bricks, wood plus enameled, checkerboard mosaics on the facade. It is reminiscent of Antonio Gaudi’s house in Barcelona, Spain. Down the street, there is the so-called “HundertwasserHaus” which is Vienna’s most original public housing complex. Only the museum is open to the public.
Interestingly, in 1983, Hundertwasser started with a public housing unit complex and converted it into a bizarre looking colorful patchwork of materials and varied window shapes on the fascade. Apparently, once it was completed several years later, it created quite a stir with the locals. This complex is situated in a lovely, traditional neighborhood; so this building really shouts out at you. Apparently, after completion, this oddity became an instant hit with the general public.
On display in the museum was a model of a local garbage incineration plant actually located in Spittelau (not far from downtown Vienna) where Hundertwasser changed the plant’s fascade into a psychedelic looking castle with bright colors and a tall tower crowned with a metallic sphere.
The museum is designed with wavy undulating floors, tree tenants growing out of the windows and a notable lack of straight lines. Bright, glaring colors are used throughout the museum and foliage abounds. An unevenly winding staircase leads to the main part of the museum on the upper floors. To keep the rooms flooded with daylight, Hundertwasser, fond of sunlight, had a glass frontage built into the front of the building. Both buildings do not follow the usual design standards and are an adventure into creative architecture similar to Gaudi’s quest. We were anxious to compare Hundertwasser’s work with Gaudi’s talent but felt that Gaudi’s abilities were far superior.
After lunch at the delightful museum cafe, we did the 6-mile round trip trek to the Schonbrunn Palace. (Although most summer palaces seem to be in the middle of nowhere, this is not the case for the Schonbrunn). It was the summer home of the Habsburgs, Austria’s royal family for 650 years. If you have seen Versailles, the castle is not particularly impressive from the outside. Many reviews of the interior of the palace stated that palace rooms were quite modestly decorated; so, we opted just to view the outside and gardens.
