Hundertwasser train station

On Wednesday we were scheduled to visit another aunt of mine, because nobody else ever visists her. The nearest trainstation in Uelzen is still a distance away and in a vey boring town, but it got an overhaul a little while back by nobody else but Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928 - 2000) was a painter, architect and sculptor from Austria. He was a very original artist, a true individual, with strong environmental and philosophical convictions. His architecture is wonderful, it has some fairy tale feeling to it, it appears rather grown and natural and less man made. In a way it represents life and not rigidity. I cannot help but feel happy when I look at his buildings.

The train station in Uelzen, between Hamburg and Hannover in Lower Saxony, has been the victim of damage in war and subsequent changes and additions and was nothing special and a concept was developed to turn it into an environmental and cultural station. It runs on solar energy and the roofs are all planted.

Hunderwasser’s philosophy saw the vertical line as the line of people and the horizontal line as part of the natural world and as something that needs to be greened, he wants roofs to be turned into meadows and woods. That is a sentiment that I already shared as a child, when I believed that buildings need to replace the green space they take away by having that green space on the roof.

The architecture of the buildings feels like a fantastic piece of fairy tale. There are colorful columns throughout the whole complex, since he believed that a column gives people the same feeling as standing under a tree. Even though I think columns do not offer the same feeling of shelter we get from a tree, the strong support that both give is very similar though. Also there are towers and happy spires with golden tops. Hunderwasser who despised the straight line, made sure everything possible is in curves and feels natural. Every elevator and doorway has its individual treatment and the corner between floor and walls are like waves on the ocean.




The designs of Hundertwasser always use a lot of mosaics, irregular stone and ceramic pieces and plenty of color. He only designed the train station, unfortunately he died before it was even finished. Nonetheless did he give the town of Uelzen and the region a wonderful gift. Since its opening in 2000 the Hundertwasser train station has beckoned loads of visitors to show off. It used to be an uninteresting brick bullding and has been turned into a piece of art, not high brow but rather eclectic, fun, happy, organic, ecological sound and absolutely accessible art. It is one of the most beautiful train stations in Germany.