Born Friedrich Stowasser, he started using the name Hundertwasser to sign his work during the three months he spent at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna after WWII.Over the course of his career, Hundertwasser worked in painting and architecture as well as applied arts such as creating flags, coins, clothing, stamps and posters. His most famous flag is the Koru flag which was proposed as a secondary flag for New Zealand. Its motif was based on the Maori pattern of a curling fern and spiraling white space around it is reference to Aotearoa meaning Land of the Long White Cloud. This was the Maori name for the Island.
In architecture, Hundertwasser had quite the unique ideals surrounding his designs. He approached each space almost as he would his paintings. He wanted his buildings to be beautiful and stand out in their urban environment. He felt that having a window was a right, giving each citizen air and light as well as the ecological impact of helping with heating, maintaining lower costs. The "window right" included the ability to be able to take a long paintbrush and paint everything within arms reach. This thus identifies the locations inhabitants also distinguishing them from those enslaved by the common standard of boring facades. The beauty he desired for his spaces extended into the incorporation of vegetation such as trees and plants to the rooftops, staggered planes and even interiors of his structures.
He created the design for one of his most famous buildings (an apartment block in Vienna) free. He believed that his input into the creation of something beautiful was worth the investment in order to "prevent something ugly from going up in its place". He describes these views in his "Mouldiness Manifesto against Rationalism in Architecture".
He was also the creator of Transautomatism, a painting style involving aspects of surrealism and relying on what the viewer saw. As Hundertwasser saw straight lines as 'godless and immoral', he used spirals, drops and wave lines painted in vibrant colours as defining aspects of his style.
Want to learn more?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedensreich_Hundertwasser#Artistic_style_and_themes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transautomatism
A Village he designed in Vienna http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHvQX_05QWM
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