We have family in Darmstadt, Germany, and try to swing by at least once a year. And every time, we promise ourselves to visit Hundertwasser’s Waldspirale. But when you’re visiting family on a short trip, things happen, plans change, and the things you wanted to do for yourself are the lowest priority. On our last visit, though, we finally managed to carve out some time for ourselves, and check out this insane construction.

Darmstadt has always had a thing for unique architecture. Back in 1899, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig rounded up a bunch of radical artists and architects, plonked them on a hill called the Mathildenhöhe, and basically said: go nuts. The result was the Artists’ Colony: an experiment in living where everything, from the buildings down to the cutlery on the table, was part of one big unified artwork. It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Then, nearly a hundred years later, along comes an Austrian eccentric with a napkin sketch and a manifesto against straight lines. He must have known that Darmstadt seems to appreciate this type of thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7ZllLlmWeM And we weren’t exaggerating about the napkin sketch. Hundertwasser made the original design for the Waldspirale on a napkin, and the actual building barely varies from it. Construction started 1998 and finished in 2000. During this time I was in the USA, where Mike and I met, which helps explain why I hadn’t seen the final building until now. And I wasn’t the only person far away during the construction. Unbelievably, so was the architect! Friedensreich Hundertwasser was located in New Zealand throughout the process, so the construction team had to send photos of the progress for his approval. He inspected each carefully, making sure there were no straight lines in sight. Sadly, the Waldspirale never got his final seal of approval — in 2000, on his way to Darmstadt to see his latest work, he died aboard the RMS Queen Mary 2.

The Waldspirale offers 105 apartments. All of them have different windows; not a single one is alike. This gives you an idea how insane the interior of the complex must be. Good luck with standard build-in kitchens and closets! We have a feeling everything inside is custom-designed. Because it’s an active residential complex, you can only admire the building from the outside, and peek inside the inner courtyard. There used to be a rooftop cafe for visitors, but it’s no longer in operation. From our Travel Blog.

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