Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s New Zealand Legacy

“[Friedensreich] Hundertwasser designed buildings in many countries across Europe, in California’s Napa Valley, in Israel, in Japan. But I’m not in any of those places. I’m on the other side of the world in Whangārei, a small regional city two hours’ drive north of Auckland in New Zealand,” Justine Costigan writes for a story published by The Guardian.

“Although he spent much of his later life in New Zealand, the Hundertwasser Art Centre is one of only two Hundertwasser buildings in the southern hemisphere. The other is a toilet block about 50km up the road,” Costigan writes.

“When Hundertwasser’s toilet block in Kawakawa opened in 1999, it put the tiny town on the tourism map.”

Original article by Justine Costigan, The Guardian, February 3, 2024.

Photo by Barac Underwood.