The Hundertwasserhaus

The Hundertwasserhaus is the most cheerful building in Vienna and one of its most photographed. Designed by the painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser together with the architect Josef Krawina, with Peter Pelikan as implementing architect, and built by the City of Vienna between 1983 and 1985 as municipal housing, it was Hundertwasser's manifesto in brick and plaster against what he saw as the tyranny of the straight line. The facade is a patchwork of colours, each apartment marked out in its own shade; the windows are all different, and residents are allowed to decorate the wall around their own windows; floors undulate, columns are mismatched and ceramic, onion domes and golden spheres crown the roof, and more than 200 trees and shrubs grow on the balconies and terraces, some of them from inside the apartments, the trees Hundertwasser called tree tenants. It is still home to people, so the building can only be seen from the outside, but the view from the corner of Kegelgasse and Loewengasse is the classic one and costs nothing. Directly opposite, the Hundertwasser Village, created in 1990 and 1991 from a former tyre workshop, is open to visitors, with shops, a bar and a little village square in the same style, uneven floors included, and clean public toilets that are themselves a small attraction. A few minutes' walk away, the KunstHausWien, a former furniture factory that Hundertwasser redesigned, has around 1,600 square metres of exhibition space, with a permanent exhibition of his paintings, graphics and architectural models and temporary shows of photography and art, plus a café in a leafy courtyard. Together they make a fun, colourful half-day in the Landstrasse district, an easy contrast to the Baroque and imperial city, and the place where children usually get most excited about architecture.

Who was Hundertwasser? Born Friedrich Stowasser in Vienna in 1928, he became one of the most famous Austrian artists of the post-war era, known for his spirals, bright colours and passionate ecological ideas. He campaigned against flat roofs, sterile modernist blocks and the loss of nature in cities, proposing green roofs, organic forms and the individual's right to shape their own windows. The Hundertwasserhaus was his first major chance to put those ideas into practice, and it was controversial when it opened, admired by many and mocked by architects. Today it is protected and loved, and his ideas about greening buildings look prophetic. He also redesigned the Spittelau waste incineration plant on the Danube Canal, with its golden ball, which you can see from the U4 and U6.

Visiting tips: come in the morning or late afternoon for softer light on the facade, and be respectful, as people live here: do not try to enter the courtyard or ring the bells, and keep noise down. Walk around the whole block to see the different elevations, including the terraced roofs. Then cross to the Village, browse the shops and take the obligatory photo of the wavy floor. At the KunstHausWien, allow an hour or two for the permanent exhibition and the current temporary show, and stop at the café, whose floors are as uneven as you would expect.

Getting there: the Hundertwasserhaus is at Kegelgasse 34 to 38 in the 3rd district. Tram 1 stops at Hetzgasse, a few minutes' walk away, and it is about 15 to 20 minutes on foot from Schwedenplatz or the Stadtpark. The KunstHausWien is on Untere Weissgerberstrasse, near the Danube Canal. From here it is easy to continue to the Prater across the canal, or back to the Ringstrasse through the Stadtpark. The surrounding Weissgerber quarter, once the district of tanners, is a pleasant residential area with cafés and small shops, and the Danube Canal promenade, a few minutes away, is lined with street art and summer bars, making a good walking route onward.