Hundertwasser in New Zealand

The Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa

Not many destinations are famous for their toilets... Kawakawa does have steam locomotives and an old train station, but the Hundertwasser toilets are a must stop for everyone travelling through Northland.

They have been voted the 'best toilets in the world', since then many tourist shops and cafes have created a small boom around those arty toilets. They are located at the pedestrian crossing in the middle of the tiny town.

Since 2020 there is a new attraction in Kawakawa, a new cultural center, the Te Hononga Hundertwasser Memorial Park! The building has of course been fully designed in the Hundertwasser style and symbolically connects different things: the village of Kawakawa and Hundertwasser, the visitors with the locals, Maori and non-Maori, the past with the future and the people with the environment. Like the famous toilets the building is also especially worth seeing from the inside, it houses a library, a community office, more crazy toilets and an art gallery.

Hundertwasser himself lived not far away, on his property called Kaurinui at Waikare Inlet, near the Bay of Islands, which may be open to the public in future.

Te Kakano in Whangarei's Town Basin

Te Kakano means 'The Seed', it is a kind of experimental building for the planned Hundertwasser Museum. Here the local construction experts have adjusted their building know how under close supervision and according to specifications of the official Hundertwasser Foundation in Vienna. The art of how not to build something with straight lines!

It is located in the Whangarei Town Basin, next to the beautiful marina and the construction site of the future Hundertwasser Museum. You can climb the small ramp to the viewpoint, ideal for a souvenir photo!

The new Hundertwasser house in Whangarei

Friedensreich wanted to realise some further projects in his chosen home country New Zealand and Whangarei as the next bigger city (the capital of Northland) was an ideal possible location for such ideas.

A new indoor swimming pool for the city was discussed, but more tangible was his suggestion in 1993 to transform an existing building in the Whangarei Town Basin into a Hundertwasser house, complete with onion turret and the biggest rooftop garden in the southern hemisphere, with 200 plant species! The museum will exhibit Hundertwasser artworks on loan from Vienna worth NZD 20 million and the onion tower will be adorned with 24 carat gold leaf.

Unfortunately, with his ecological mindset and ideas he was too far ahead of New Zealanders at the time and the support for his idea was modest.

The old building was still there in 2008, unused for many years and ugly, in a prime location in the beautiful Whangarei marina. The project was somehow resumed and new plans were put in place with support from the official Hundertwasser Foundation in Vienna.

Once again the population was divided, opponents were just as passionate in the fight against a weird house in their city as enthusiastic supporters. After the project was more and more successful with the first pledges for donations, in 2014 a newly elected council stopped everything again.

Disappointed business people and artists finally took matters into their own hands and developed an ambitious plan for a realisation - after a successful public referendum in 2015 the council finally renewed its support - the last Hundertwasser House in the world shall be built after all!

In June 2017 the wonderful news came that funding for the overall construction of the museum was secured, a proud $30 million. There is still no opening date, it will probably be in 2021, but construction started and Whangarei will probably go 100% all out with the Hundertwasser theme! 40,000 red bricks from the old building and tens of thousands of handmade ceramic panels will be used, of course none of them in a straight line.

The city is already full of murals, Hundertwasser mailboxes and artwork in the galleries. The contrast to the previous ugly building could not be greater, hundreds of children and volunteers will be involved in the project - a reconstruction in the original sense Friedensreich intended.

The last Hundertwasser house in the world!

Its name: Hundertwasser Art Center with Wairau (Maori: wai = water and rau = hundred) Maori Art Gallery!

The upkeep will be expensive, donations are still welcome, see www.bepartoftheart.co.nz.

Why Hundertwasser in New Zealand?

Hundertwasser is not really famous in New Zealand, most people know his name only because of the toilets in Kawakawa, but have no idea about his artistic life and the rest of his art. For most, 'Hantawassa' is just a funny hippie whose designs have little to do with New Zealand.

Hundertwasser actually chose this to be his new home country, even becoming a New Zealand citizen in 1983, and just as with his natural environment in general he started to include the local Maori culture into his projects. His proposal for a new New Zealand flag found some fans, but not quite enough when New Zealand really did vote on a new flag. The depicted Koru symbolises an unfolding fern leaf, for Maori a symbol of new beginnings and development.

Hundertwasser permanently moved to New Zealand in the 1970s, quite a distant home for someone who did not like planes! He once sailed here on his yacht Regentag (‘rainy day’), later on he mostly travelled with cruise ships until he finally died on the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2000 while on the way to Europe. Friedensreich finally found eternal peace on his New Zealand property.