Hundertwasser House

A block of council flats turned into a manifesto: uneven floors, onion domes, patchwork colours and trees growing out of the windows, in a quiet corner of the 3rd district.

The painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who railed against the straight line and the grey rational city, designed it for the City of Vienna together with the architect Josef Krawina; it was completed in 1985. It remains municipal housing with around fifty flats, and the roof terraces carry more than two hundred trees and shrubs, which Hundertwasser called tree tenants. No two windows are alike, and the ceramic columns and wavy pavements are all part of the idea.

This is a home, not a museum: the building can only be seen from the outside, and the residents deserve quiet. Across the street, the Hundertwasser Village is essentially a small arcade of souvenir shops with a café. For the artist's work indoors, walk about five minutes to the KunstHausWien, which he also remodelled — checked on kunsthauswien.com in September 2026, €16, open daily 10:00–18:00.

Honest advice: allow twenty minutes, come in the morning before the coaches, and combine it with the KunstHausWien or a walk along the Danube Canal a few streets away. Neighbourhood: Landstraße.