Ten years ago, the "Austrian Gaudí" Friedensreich Hundertwasser died

Vienna/Prague - His buildings resemble a fairy-tale scene more than a residential block. They are colorful, irregular, full of towers, mosaics, and windows of various sizes, with trees growing on the roof and green plants climbing the walls. Austrian architect and painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser absolutely rejected straight lines, arguing that they do not exist in nature. This eccentric artist died on February 19, 2000, aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 ship while returning from New Zealand, which was his second home, and where he was also buried according to his wishes.
    Hundertwasser was born on December 15, 1928, as Friedrich Stowasser. He left his studies at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts after three months. He gained fame first for his colorful paintings, in which he combined abstract and concrete elements and where the spiral was also a central motif. Among his architectural works, which number around 200 objects mainly in Austria and Germany, the Hundertwasser residential complex in Vienna (completed in 1985) stands out.
    Another success for Hundertwasser was the renovation of the Vienna waste incineration plant combined with a heating plant, originally a stark industrial building in the central part of Vienna, transformed into a building adorned with colorful and whimsical elements (a huge hat on the roof, a blue and gold chimney). The reputation of a "remover of architectural grayness" was also applied in the renovation of a high school in the German town of Wittenberg, originally a panel building from East Germany.
    The last Hundertwasser project, which was opened five years after his death, is the multifunctional complex Green Citadel in Magdeburg, Germany. The building has a sharply pink facade with typical onion-shaped towers, featuring a hotel, a kindergarten, rental apartments, offices, and around two inner courtyards, there are shops, restaurants, and cafes.