Surprise delights Austrians

HERITAGE: At the Hundertwasser information centre checking out the model of the building destined for the Whangarei Town Basin are Austrian Fifa Under-20 delegation members Iris Stoeckelmayr (front left), Walter Konir and Gerhard Goetschhofer. PHOTO/JOHN STONE

Members of the Austrian football delegation didn't expect to find a piece of Vienna in Whangarei, but they are delighted one of their country's most famous sons will be honoured here.

Three senior members of Austria's Fifa Under-20 crew were surprised to learn that architect/artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser had lived in Northland.

They called into Prosper Northland's pop-up shop in Whangarei on Wednesday afternoon and were intrigued to hear about the wrangle that started more than 20 years ago about a Hundertwasser-designed building at the Town Basin.

They were also impressed at the amount of information on display about the artist and the high level of interest in the Austrian artist from Whangarei schoolchildren and other groups.

The head of the delegation, Gerhard Goetschhofer, team manager Walter Konir and press officer Iris Stoeckelmayr said Hundertwasser was extremely famous in Austria and his buildings were part of the nation's architectural heritage.

Examples of those buildings in Vienna alone included the "Hundertwasserhaus" apartments and, among other industrial sites, the towering Spittelau waste-to-energy incinerator.

"He made something beautiful for something that was not beautiful, for recycling rubbish," Ms Stoeckelmayr said.

Mr Goetschhofer joked he had never before seen a Hundertwasser model in a glass cabinet before but had seen his full-sized buildings in several cities.

Whangarei was not a place he had expected to find one, he said.