Helpful Moving Advice from a Radical
Thanks to wyjunkie - Friedensreich Hundertwasser's Window Dictatorship and Window Rights, 1990, has some useful tips when living in a rental unit.
"A person in a rented apartment must be able to lean out of his window and scrape off the masonry within arm's reach. And he must be allowed to take a long brush and paint everything outside within arm's reach. So that it will be visible from afar to everyone in the street that someone lives there who is different from the imprisoned, enslaved, standardised man who lives next door."
Yes, I must remind myself to submit this to the NYC Rental Guidelines Board and the New York Housing Authority. I'm sure it'll be as well-received as junkies on a doorstep... which a waste because in New York, there actually ARE lots of ugly masonry within arm's reach that could use some creative coverage. In Hong Kong, all I'd touch is someone else's laundry. *yuk*
And some very thought-provoking observations:
"Today we live in a chaos of straight lines, in a jungle of straight lines. If you do not believe this, take the trouble to count the straight lines which surround you. Then you will understand, for you will never finish counting."
- Mould Manifesto against Rationalism in Architecture, 1958
That said, one of his most famous designs in Vienna, although artistically bold, must have been an engineer's nightmare. And a furniture maker's challenge. And an interior decorator's ultimate job. I couldn't get in there the last time I was in Vienna - must try next time, to see if there are artificial floors set up inside.
"A person in a rented apartment must be able to lean out of his window and scrape off the masonry within arm's reach. And he must be allowed to take a long brush and paint everything outside within arm's reach. So that it will be visible from afar to everyone in the street that someone lives there who is different from the imprisoned, enslaved, standardised man who lives next door."
Yes, I must remind myself to submit this to the NYC Rental Guidelines Board and the New York Housing Authority. I'm sure it'll be as well-received as junkies on a doorstep... which a waste because in New York, there actually ARE lots of ugly masonry within arm's reach that could use some creative coverage. In Hong Kong, all I'd touch is someone else's laundry. *yuk*
And some very thought-provoking observations:
"Today we live in a chaos of straight lines, in a jungle of straight lines. If you do not believe this, take the trouble to count the straight lines which surround you. Then you will understand, for you will never finish counting."
- Mould Manifesto against Rationalism in Architecture, 1958
That said, one of his most famous designs in Vienna, although artistically bold, must have been an engineer's nightmare. And a furniture maker's challenge. And an interior decorator's ultimate job. I couldn't get in there the last time I was in Vienna - must try next time, to see if there are artificial floors set up inside.
posted by tygertyger at 4:05 PM
1 Comments:
I went in and really, it's not that different from other buildings, I think some of the panels can even be retrofitted, like his makeover for the garbage disposal plant - turning it into something out of the arabian nights. What I really liked was the lack of corners in rooms, so it just sloped up - great for easy cleaning!
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