THE COLUMNS
Against the disease of modern architecture of far overhanging canopies, balconies and building portions, we have only one remedy: columns.
The overhanging building portions with no support are probably intended to demonstrate the daring of the architect and statical engineer, but they only produce uneasiness in anybody standing under them. Sometimes the “floating architecture” collapses as at the Berlin Congress Hall.
The column is an important element of Western architecture.
Next to a column one feels as under a tree.
A column must be beautiful and colourful and shine in the rain and in the moonlight of its own accord.
Written as an explanation for the architectural characteristics of the Residential Building of the City of Vienna, the so-called Hundertwasser-House, 1985.
Published in:
Das Hundertwasser Haus, Vienna: Österreichischer Bundesverlag and Compress Verlag, 1985, p. 238 (German)
Hundertwasser Architecture. For a More Human Architecture in Harmony with Nature. Cologne: Taschen, 1997, p. 289 and Edition 2007, p. 209