History of the Hundertwasser Village

In the 19th century the building was built as a horse stable of the local post office. After that it was used as a garage and petrol station. Klaus Kalke bought the building in 1971 and opened the most modern tyre factory in Vienna at that time. A decade later just opposite of his tyre factory Kalke watched the construction admiringly of the Hundertwasserhaus with its fascinating architecture. After completion of the Hundertwasserhaus Friedensreich Hundertwasser gave a visit to his neighbours and also knocked at Kalkes door. He then complained that visitors could not see his interior design of the Hundertwasserhaus. The idea of redesigning a part of the tyre factory by the concepts of Hundertwasser was born. At least both he and Kalke wanted to think about it.

Soon the flood of visitors to the Hundertwasserhaus proved to be quite hindering for the regular works at the tyre company. In a long discussion between continents from Vienna to New Zealand finally the decision to reconstruct not only parts but the whole building by the concepts of Friedensreich Hundertwasser and to open it to the public was made.

Klaus Kalke characterized Friedensreich Hundertwasser as “a calm person who is creatively and daintily accomplishing his ideas”. Almost every day Friedensreich Hundertwasser visited the construction site and sometimes he even did some works by himself. “This ground wave must be higher“ he said, took the dipper and scooped up concrete until he was satisfied by the size of the ground wave. Obviously both the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and the art lover Klaus Kalke enjoyed the transformation of a tyre factory into an architectonically impressive work of art.

After one year of constructions works Hundertwasser Village opened to the public on June 17th 1991.