Hundertwasser, Vienna

This block of apartments are fairly famous throughout the continent of Europe, but seem unknown in the rest of the world. The building was decorated in the 1980s by Austrian artist Hundertwasser and opened in 1986. They are all private residences, so this makes going in difficult, but there is an Artists house next to it, where you can go and shop, and have a cup of coffee or some food. Inside the artists house, there is the 'Toilet of Modern Art' which you can use, or just look at for €0.50.

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This last stop on the Hundertwasser trail involves a much longer trip north to the Spitelau area of the city. The best way to do this is to catch the U-Bahn to Heligenstadt and from the station and the nearby bridge you have superb views of the power plant. Thiswas a real highlight of the day for me and I absolutely loved it . The Fernwarme Wien is actuallya paper incineration plant used to generate electricity and whoever thought of asking HW to decorate it deserves a medal in my opinion. It stands proud against the sky, its huge chimney resembling an upmarket Mosque, apart from the plumes of pink smoke being disgorged into the atmosphere. This chimney and the cheeky cap on the roof are the most outstanding features but the whole plant is done in characteristic rectangles of colour with golden domes on many of the uprights. A sight to cherish and totally spectacular in the glow of the setting sun

KunstHausWien overlooks the banks of the Danau Canal, a canal which has several landing stations for boat tours. A very short distance away from the Kunsthaus is a a disembarcation point designed by Hundertwasser. This landing, the Weissgerberlande has four brightly coloured ceramic pillars over which the name is written in large letters. Though this is a fairly insignificant affair by any standards, the four pillars immediately proclaim Hundertwasser's involvement and make a nice splash of colour on the canal bank. Wholly appropriate for people disembarking here to visit the KunstHaus,and a foretaste of what's to come. This walk along the canal is absolutely gorgeous and at he level of the water, so rural you could almost believe you were in the countryside.

Next stop on the Hundertwasser trail is KunstHaus Wien, about a 10 minute walk away further up the canal bank. This building, a former furniture factory has also been redesigned by Hundertwasser and is immediately recognisable as such. At the rear of the crazily black and white splashed building, entry is through a delightful yard sprinkled with trees, pumpkins and wooden furniture. Once inside you are immediately walking on floors that rise and fall and surrounded by a myriad of colourful tiles and pillars. There is a shop and a cafe here also but upstairs is a huge gallery where HW's paintings are exhibited. Temporary exhibitions are also housed here but there is a distinctly un-museum feel to the whole place. If you don't want to go to the museum you can still visit downstairs and get a really good feel for the place.

Open daily from 10am to 7 pm. Admission EUR 9 but it is half-price on Mondays.

Hundertwasser Village is rather an odd name for what is essentially a shop and a cafe across the road from the re-designed apartments. Apparently, tenants in these apartments were so annoyed by people badgering them to see inside that HW decided to build this village so the general public could see for themselves how the interior matched the dramatic exterior. Of course HW was a shrewd operator and the fact that this building serves as an outlet for his artwork can hardly have escaped his notice. Inside we have all the trademark HW feature: the uneven floors; the mosaic tile work; the ceramic pillars; curved passageways and balconies popping up all over the place. Some may find it tacky but I thought it was colourful and amusing and extremely interesting. The shop has a great range of souvenirs, as you would expect but what I didn't expect was that some of them, notebooks and diaries especially, were very reasonably priced. Walking away my guide remembered that we had not visited the Hundertwasser toilet but we decided to give it a miss. You can see pictures of this most quirky WC on Globetrott's Vienna page.

Open 9 am -7 pm daily. ENTRANCE FREE.

To see the Hundertwasser buildings you must leave the Innere Stadt and take tram N to the third district. Here in the north-eastern corner of Landstrasse, within a very small area, you will find most of the important landmarks. Whether you think of HW as an eccentric genius or a crazy old hippie it would be a shame to miss these colourful quirky buildings. As a long-time fan of Gaudi, I was very keen to see HW's work as in terms of originalityand colour he seems to me to be the Gaudi of Vienna. The Hundertwasser House did not disappoint me and seeing it in brilliant winter sunshine greatly enhanced the experience. It's far bigger than I expected for one thing and seeing it in the flesh, so to speak, you notice lots of little details that photos simply don't do justice to. I loved the way the deep umber colour contrasted with the blue; the little pot-bellied balconies and the trees sprouting up from all angles. Mostly, I loved the weird symmetry that manages to happen in the midst of this jumble of style and colours.This is local authoruty housing re-designed by HW in 1983 and all I can say isthat we could badly do with some public housing like this in our corner of the world.

I realized I've already covered Hundertwasser in my "Things to Do" section, but many people limit their Hundertwasser experience to the KunstHausWien and Hundertwasserhaus in the Third District.

A trip to Spittelau metro station (U4 or U6 line) is a great opportunity to see another of this artist's fantastic works. As you are going up the escalator to get out of the station, you can see Hundertwasser's characteristic wavy lines and flashy colours outside!

When you do exit the station, you are faced with the Spittelau heating plant, that Hundertwasser was asked to "redecorate" in a more appealing manner. Mission accomplished! The best way to appreciate the final product is to take a walk around the plant, as each facade has a different look. For example, the view shown in the picture can be seen from the bridge to your left when you get out of the metro.

This shows you contrary to popular belief, industrial buildings do not have to be ugly.

Much like Barcelona and the works of Gaudi, Vienna's modern architecture legacy is dominated by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. I have posted some other tips of buildings that I visited designed by this self conciously eccentric architect but one building that really struck out at me was the Fernwärme Wien. When I first saw this building from a train on the way from Durnstein, I said to myself "What the heck is that?". So the next day I actually sought it out to investigate further. Much to my surprise it was a rubbish incinerator plant called the Fernwärme Wien. Well it certainly was an improvement over such buildings that I have seen elsewhere in the world. The incinerator itself is suppose to dispose of waste in a very clean manner that recycles energy.