Hundertwasser, a photo from Hessen, West

Photographer's Note

The "Waldspirale" is the name of a residential building complex in Darmstadt built in the 1990s. The name translates into English as spiral forest, reflecting both the general plan of the building and the fact that it has a green roof. It was designed by Viennese artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, built by the Bauverein Darmstadt company, and planned and implemented by the architect Heinz M. Springmann. The building was completed in 2000.

The Waldspirale apartment building is located in Darmstadt's Bürgerparkviertel. It contains 105 apartment , a parking garage, a kiosk as well as a café and a bar (the last two being located at the top of the spiral). The inner courtyard contains a playground for the children of the residents and a small artificial lake. Peculiarities of the U-shaped building are the unique facade, which does not follow a regular grid organization, and the windows, which appear as if they were "aus der Reihe tanzen," (dancing out of line) [1] everywhere different and appearing out of order, often with 'tree tenants' - trees growing out from the windows. The diagonal roof, planted with grass, shrubs, flowers and trees, rises like a ramp along the U-form. At its highest point, the building has 12 floors.

The windows of the Waldspirale, which number over 1000, are all unique: no two windows are the same. Similarly, different handles are attached in each apartment to the doors and windows. Some of the apartments are decorated in Friedensreich Hundertwassers's personal style and exhibit the colourful tiles in the bath and kitchen that are characteristic of his work. Furthermore, all the corners are rounded off in these apartments along the roof and walls in an application of Hundertwasser's dogma "gegen die gerade Linie"[2][3] or "against the straight line." For cost reasons, only a few of the apartments' interiors were designed individually.

From the outside, the typical elements of Hundertwasser's personal style attract attention: the gilded onion domes, the absence of straight lines and sharp corners, the multicoloured painting of the building in earth tones and the colourful ceramic columns.
(from Wikipedia)

More pictures of Darmstadt in my gallery on Die Darmstadt Galerie

Distance between my last shot and Darmstadt about 410km.

snunney, saylan-cb, TGULUMSER, ktanska, carper, ribeiroantonio, thor68, evanrizo, gildasjan, jjcordier, Buin, paura, atus, jhm, feather, dip, belido, josepmarin, riclopes, jafadabret, pasternak, pierrefonds oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

snunney (130967) 2007-12-14 3:43

Hello Achim,
A most interesting piece of modern architecture that harks back to 1930's Art Deco. The light shows off the golden tones to great advantage. Excellent tones and clarity. Thanks for sharing the photo and the explanatory note.

ktanska (45046) 2007-12-14 4:01

Hi Achim,
While I've seen some of Hundertwasser's works this is new to me. Beautiful spiral like building with walls resembling birch bark. Excellent sidelight and sun reflecting from that golden sphere.
Kari

TGULUMSER (13252) 2007-12-14 4:05

Hello Achim,
Your photo represented the beauty of this nice, colorful, modern residential building. The light and the POV are very well,
Best regards,
Tulay

carper (96) 2007-12-14 4:08

very nice one Achim,
unusual but nice photo, good pov and a fine quality job, good contrast, have a nice day.
gr. jaap

ribeiroantonio (22730) 2007-12-14 4:13

That is a very strange looking building. But the picture is nice in that warm light from a setting sun. The colours came up very well against the nice blue sky. I like it. Well done.
Antonio

thor68 (5586) 2007-12-14 4:32

wow, so etwas tolles gibt es in darmstadt?! :-) 100wasser hat mir schon immer gut gefallen und so wie dieses photo von dem ausgefallenen gebäude - perfekt im wunderschönen goldenen sonnenuntergangslicht in szene gesetzt. ich glaube, ich muss mal nach dorthin. well done & viele grüße, thor.

UnTrained (0) 2007-12-14 5:09

Hallo Achim,
die Entfernungen werden kleiner. Wenn Du als nächstes ein Osthessenbild nimmst, könntest Du noch weniger erreichen :-)
Vor diesem Himmel macht sich das Haus ausgezeichnet, die Farben machen sich besser aus, als wenn dieser knallblau wäre. Schön die Schräge mit der Bepflanzung integriert, die Aussage wird dadurch anschaulicher.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf (grau und frostig, nicht ich, das Wetter)

gildasjan (43826) 2007-12-14 6:15

Bonjour Achim
Une architecture moderne bien particuličre bien mise en valeur par une bonne orientation de la lumičre.
Bonne journée.
Amicalement
Gildas

jjcordier (79299) 2007-12-14 6:17

Achim
J'apprécie beaucoup l'oeuvre de Hundertwasser (voir mon dernier post) et je ne peux donc qu'apprécier cette belle photo d'un immeuble que je ne connaissais pas.
Amicalement
JJ

wolf38 (30) 2007-12-14 6:59

Hallo Achim. An den kreativen Gebäuden bzw. Kunstwerken von Hundertwasser kommt man nicht vorbei. Sie sind so expressiv in ihrer Wirkung, das man sich damit auseinandersetzen muss. Genau diese Faszination zeigt Dein excellentes Photo. Es ist bei idealem Licht wundervoll komponiert. Viele Grüße, wolfgang.

Fis2 (171849) 2007-12-14 8:17

Witaj Achim!
Very interesting building. Good frame and curious light and colors. Well done.
Regards
Krzysztof

Buin (42580) 2007-12-14 12:26

Hallo Achim!
Das hast Du aber in einem sehr schönen Licht erwischt! Hierdurch wird die Architektur sehr plastisch und dreidimensional. Ein tolles, nicht alltägliches Foto. Hier wird das Auge wirklich beschäftigt ... sehr schön!
Grüße aus dem kalten und wolkigen Westfalen - und ein schönes Wochenende!
Frank

mesutilgim (0) 2007-12-14 14:43

Hallo Achim,
Ganz toll ! Wunderbares Blickwinkel und tolle warme Farben. Und ganz wichtig ; wunderbare İnformationen, die diesen Beitrag ein echtes TE Beitrag macht.
Danke schoen und schoenes Wochhenende
Mfg
MESUT ILGIM

paura (25802) 2007-12-14 17:12

Achim,
Amazing architecture here. The point of view and the lighting are very nice to show to all us this interesting building.

Abraços

Paulo

atus (15878) 2007-12-14 18:50

Hi Achim,
very interesting shot of this unusual architecture, captured with this fantastic warm light. Perfect sharpness and very useful note,too.
Tfs and best wishes.
Attila

jhm (211738) 2007-12-15 1:23

Hello Achim,

The name is very perfect choose spiral forest, I see really the spiraal around the building.
Maybe not my achitecture image for my house but I think that a lot architectes have to get to a extraordinarily project for more attention.
Vey well composition and very well colours too.
Thanks for sharing.

I wish you a nice weekend,
John.

saylan-cb (12738) 2007-12-15 2:03

Hi Achim
İnteresting architecture a very good composition and details.
Great colours and POV here,well done.
TFS/Regards

evanrizo (462) 2007-12-15 2:51

Hallo Achim, before ich es gelesen habe dass das von Hundertwassres designed ist dachte ich das es von ihm ist, sein merkwürdige styl is leicht zu erkennen.
Mit dem Licht ist super aufgenohmen.
Schoenes Wochenende.
Evangelos
Morgen wieder da...

Cormac (26565) 2007-12-15 8:22

This is a great example of how important good light is to a shot. The light coming from the side, and the warm colour, really shows the building well. The building itself makes a great subject, so unusual and beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

feather (51130) 2007-12-15 8:46

What amazing architecture. You probably had a good reason for losing some of the bottom, but I would like to see all of it. However you chose the perfect time to take the image as the light is wonderful, enhancing the earth tones of the building. I bet the appartments cost a fortune.
Kath

dip (21408) 2007-12-15 13:19

Hallo Achim,
schön und interessant Dein Foto,Licht und Farben sind einmalig!
Ich finde sowieso sehr interessant das ganze Werk von Hundertwasser,
Viele Grüße,
Dimitris.

Gerrit (62042) 2007-12-16 7:07

Hi Achim,
good picture of this excellent architecture with the crooked windoows and round forms.
Regards, gerrit

Giorgio (11279) 2007-12-17 0:46

- Curious architecture, an occasion for to shot a beautiful image perfectly coloured and gilded, the light is superb here, cheers and TFS.
giorgio

danyy (0) 2007-12-17 1:29

Bonjour Achim,
trčs curieuse architecture en effet, c'est un peu déroutant pour la vue.
Des couleurs douces et chaudes, dans des lumičres feutrées déjŕ.
Excellent cadrage.
Regards.
Daniel.

josepmarin (59385) 2007-12-17 8:33

Hallo Achim,
The light allows us to best enjoy the great beauty of this architecture, on having given more strenght to its sinuous reliefs that play with the shades.
The absence of straight lines gives a very voluptuous aspect to this building, of which your setting has could catch these beautiful constructive and decorative details. The golden sphere is specially attractive.
Fantastic work, my friend.
Best regards,
Josep

belido (19934) 2007-12-18 2:02

Hi Achim,

the great feature in this beautiful seen is the lights. I think the moment was more than proper for the result you have here. Very unusual and interesting architecture you've captured. Great work!
Regards,
Carlos

riclopes (35577) 2007-12-18 2:10

Superb shot of this fascinating architecture. I love the work of Hundertwasser and never visited this building. Great POV, lovely golden sillouette against the sky. Nice to see the people in the balconies. The WS is also a fantastic complementar image. Tfs,
Best wishes,
ricardo

jafadabret (56501) 2007-12-18 7:22

Hello Achim.
Tu as fait une belle photo de cette architecture des plus originales. J'aime les couleurs et le graphisme de cet édifice qui s'apparente beaucoup ŕ une sculpture.
Jacques

pasternak (15185) 2007-12-20 11:45

Excellent golden hues here, Achim, produced by favorable low light... I didn't know one can find Hundertwasser's buildings in Darmstadt, so far I've seen only the most famous one, in Vienna...

Cheers
Alexander

pierrefonds (115462) 2007-12-21 15:00 [Comment]