Tuesday 16 February 2010

The Great Adventure: Day Four: Kawakawa

The Hundertwasser toilets have been described as 'gorgeous, creative and democratic' .  The public restrooms in the centre of Kawakawa, Bay of Islands, were designed in 1997 by Friedensreich Hundertwasser the famous Austrian architect, painter and print maker.  These colorful restrooms feature smashed tiles and glass in curves and spirals reminiscent of Gaudi. Bottles embedded in the wall allow natural light to enter. The building is topped off by grass roof:
 
  
  

And other buildings have jumped on the design bandwagon:

  
 

9 comments:

  1. I love seeing creative things made out of everyday places! I like the trees and grasses on the roof too!

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  2. What? No photos of the interior?! The exterior is inventive though, I must say ;)

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  3. Democratic toilets?

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  4. I guess men have to be careful with cameras inside toilets. I took a few but have deleted them all (they were lousy)! Kawakawa has to be the only town in NZ famous for its toilets!

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  5. @ Pauline - GB has shown photos of interior decorations in toilets before, that's what caused my comment ;)

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  6. The problem here was that the toilets were being very well used and taking out the camera might just have been , well, far too much. I had no desire to be arrested!

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  7. Very wise! (I was just teasing you with that interior comment, but you know that, don't you...)

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  8. Yes, Monica, I realised that. I would have done, though, had they been empty 'cos they were interesting. But not like the ones in Queenstown! They were something else again!

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