By Kate Dannies
he Waldspirale, or Forest Spiral, is a wacky and wild residential tower in the southern German town of Darmstadt. Far from the sleek towers of Frankfurt and Munich and the industrial-chic lofts of Berlin, this innovative building is a testament to the playfulness of German design.
Completed in 2000, the Waldspirale is the brainchild of Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, a controversial contemporary artist who passed away the same year. The artist’s vision was planned by architect Heinz M. Springmann, and built by a local German company.
Hundertwasser’s work is marked by a vibrant colour palette, rejection of straight lines, and strong individualism. These signature elements are reflected in the Waldspirale, a structure that shuns straight lines and embraces colour at every opportunity. The brightly painted exterior, glossy and vibrant ceramic columns and rounded edges and Russian-style onion domes all speak to the artist’s unique style.
The U-shaped building has an irregular façade, which features an uneven grid of over 1,000 windows, no two of which are quite the same. The building’s height is also irregular, with a diagonal roof reaching twelve stories at its peak. The roof, which is green, features a bar-café and a landscaped garden that rises ramp-like over the U-shaped structure. Trees poke out of the windows at sharp angles, emphasizing the integration of the residential building with surrounding nature. A small playground and artificial lake occupy the interior courtyard of the structure.
Inside the building, all sharp angles are rounded, and no two door handles to the 105 apartments are the same. A handful of the Waldspirale’s apartments are decorated by Hundertwasser, and feature vibrant tiling and rounded corners. Individualism and organicism are key elements that pervade the space: uniformity is shunned and the quirks and irregularities of difference are embraced.
The Waldspirale leaves the impression of a fantastical graphic birthday cake; something straight out of Alice in Wonderland that awakens the senses and inspires a playful happiness in the viewer. We imagine that living there is an exercise in joy and unexpected revelation. We think more of our favourite artists should turn architect: what could be better than living inside spaces designed with aesthetics in mind?