Crazy, colorful building for kids

"Regenboogspiraal of Valkenburg aan de Geul" is a recently completed hostel for seriously ill children receiving treatment at the nearby clinic in the south of Holland. Their families can stay with them there, which is a wonderful thing if you're spending every waking hour with your child in a hospital. According to my rough computer translator, it also acts as a vacation destination for families with disabled children.

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It's the design of the famous Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and this is his first building in the Netherlands. Funded by the Ronald McDonald charity. How fantastic to embrace color and organic shapes in celebrating life and children. I mean, who -says- walls have to be straight, and colors neutral and subdued?

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Sadly, Friedensreich didn't live long enough to see his last artistic creation. He died back in 2000. Very Gaudí-esque, except instead of mosaic tiles, he uses paint.

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Hundertwasser House is another building he did, a huge apartment building in Vienna. One source said it was for low-income housing, but I couldn't find verification of that. I just love how he's injected such joyful color into his designs. No depressing, lack-luster, regimented building structures here!

via Livelygrey