New construction: Kindergarden building in Frankfurt/Heddernheim, Germany
1988-1995
I think its great that whenever I think of Osaka, I remember they are the sister city of Dunedin, New Zealand and that they have a rather interesting incineration plant.
An incineration plant that with its golden balls looks more like some bizarre Islamic mosque than the usual image of somber grey tower and glass and concrete blocks surrounded by starkness.
This is hardly your usual incineration tower!
And the base of the tower looks like some whimsical tree in a children’s story. I can just imagine Dinglemouse from that absolute classic “Badjelly the Witch” pop out of here.
It should be no surprise then that this amazing piece of industrial architecture is one of Hundertwasser’s final works.
Even potential expanses of concrete wall have been painted different colours and those boxy shapes softened by mosaic curves. And the windows are all different.
Note the reflection! It must be a very interesting experience driving down that road and then arriving here…
Love those warm oranges, terracottas and red and the contrast with the jade green.
And someone has remembered the other meaning of the word “Plant”:
Oh, and where was that boring old chimney again?
Found it…
So does the inside reflect the outside?
Pure Hundertwasser. Minimal straight lines.
And he’s even encouraged people to sneak in an extra curve in a purely functional area.
Shows that ‘industrial’ and ‘functional’ need not be synonymous with ‘boring’ and ‘ugly’!
Good on the city of Osaka for having the courage to do something so radically different :).
Saint Barbara Church, Baernbach, Styria, Austria
Saint Barbara was a beautiful girl who dwelt in the city of Nicomedia in Asia Minor. Dioscurus, her cruel pagan father, had her shut in a tower in order to preserve her from suitors. She nevertheless secretly converted to Christianity. Her father commanded that she be built a bath-house, so that she would not have to use the public baths. The design for the bath-house originally had two windows, but Barbara had a third installed to commemorate the Trinity. Her father, seeing this change, discovered that she was a Christian. He had her taken to a Roman imperial magistrate during a persecution of Christians, who ordered her to be beheaded, and directed that her father carry out the sentence himself. He did so, but, according to the story, was struck dead by lightning in divine retribution. Juliana of Nicomedia suffered the death of a martyr along with Barbara and was likewise sainted.
St. Barbara was formerly one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Her association with lightning caused her to be invoked against lightning and fire; by association, she also became the patron of artillery and mining. Her feast was formerly celebrated on December 4; in the 1969 reform of the Roman Catholic liturgy her public cultus was suppressed to a purely local celebration, and her name was dropped from the litany of saints.
In the 12th century, the relics of St. Barbara were brought from Constantinople to the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kiev, where they were kept until the 1930s, when they were transferred to St. Vladimir’s Cathedral in the same city. Her veneration in the Eastern Orthodox Church remains very popular and her feast day is celebrated on December 4.
Patron of artillery gunners, masons, mathematicians, miners, military engineers, stonecutters, anyone who works at risk of sudden and violent death.
Attributes:Tower, palm, chalice
[Information taken from Wikipedia]
Everyone has heard about Antoni Gaudi. Fewer know about Hundertwasser. Friedensreich Hundertwasser is probably Austria’s most famous artist.
Hundertwasser’s original, unruly, sometimes shocking artistic vision expressed itself in pictorial art, environmentalism, philosophy, and design of facades, postage stamps, flags, and clothing (among other areas). The common themes in his work are a rejection of the straight line, bright colours, organic forms, a reconciliation of humans with nature, and a strong individualism. He remains sui generis, although his architectural work is comparable to Antoni Gaudí in its biomorphic forms and use of tile.
He was inspired by the works of Egon Schiele from an early date, and his style was often compared to that of Gustav Klimt. He was fascinated with spirals, and called straight lines “the devil’s tools”. He called his theory of art “transautomatism”, based on Surrealist automatism, but focusing on the experience of the viewer, rather than the artist.
In his later years he became a New Zealand citizen and is most famous there for designing the Koru flag, a proposed alternative for the current flag based on the Union Jack and the public toilets in Kawakawa [which have been previously featured in this blog].
The Wohnen unterm Regenturm [or Raintower] in Plochingen, Germany was built in 1992.