In the North of Bucharest a most unexpected building emerged, a building unlike the glass towers that mushroom in our Capital, or the grim working class blocks in the districts further away.
Showing a façade combining yellow and blue, brick and orange, Hundertwasser House Bucureşti was created by its owner Sanda Maican, professor at the Electronic Faculty of the “Politehnica” University of Bucharest.
Prof. Maican supervised closely the works and jokes that after a Ph. D. in computers she could now get one in construction. From the very beginning, Maican chose a “oak” classical concrete structure, stronger and safer in case of earthquakes, over a glass giant: “And that I thought of something with more character, that wouldn’t look quite like a school”.
“It was no flop. It could have turned out into kitsch”
The source of inspiration is to be found in the bright colours, the wavy lines and the preference for round shapes used by the Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser as well as the Catalan Antonio Gaudi. “I was many times in Vienna and I visited the Hundertwasser’s houses. I liked them very much and I noted how popular they were with tourists. I was in Barcelona, too, so I had the idea to build something similar in Romania.