Call me crazy, but I’m one of Da Lat’s top tourist attractions

(14-03-2008)

DA LAT — The so-called Crazy House in Da Lat, an original design that has been controversial since it was built 18 years ago, has finally received what it had long been waiting for – official recognition.

In mid-February, the local People’s Committee awarded it a certificate, designating it as a serious architectural work.

Dang Viet Nga, owner and designer of the house, which also serves as a hotel, received the certificate of "architectural ownership rights", the first of its kind granted to a privately owned house in Lam Dong Province.

The house, located on nearly 1,600sq.m at 3 Huynh Thuc Khang Street in Da Lat, has been known to locals and tourists alike by a variety of names, including Strange House, Hang Nga Villa, Cast of Cobwebs, or House on the Stump.

Disputes about its design stem from the argument made by some that the structure has no architectural integrity and that it lacks a formal aesthetic not based on any known school.

With such prevailing attitudes, the house and its owner became widely known and appreciated only in international tourism guidebooks to Viet Nam.

Nga says that at first she wasn’t going to go through with the plan to build the house.

"But living in Da Lat, the surrounding wilderness inspired me to focus on nature. In the past, people lived closer to nature, and as a result they lived more harmoniously with each other," she said. "But now they have seriously damaged nature."

With such a free-form design, the house’s style has evoked a wide variety of impressions from guests and local residents.

Some say the exterior of the building looks like a tree with trunks and branches growing from stationery walls, making it look like a "tree-house" rather than a "house-tree." Others say its convex and concave doorways and many curves resemble a jungle scene.

As you enter the house’s gate, stumps of century-old trees and replicas of mountains lend the space a mysterious air.

Inside, the house, which is unorthodox in that it has few right angles, twists and turns at every corner.

The misshapen windows look as if they came straight from a fairy tale, as friendly stone bears, giraffes and spiders linger around the premises.

Nga says that real and mythic stories are depicted in the sculptural and decorative additions to the house.

All facilities in the house are connected within "a cobweb considered to be a bridge linking reality and the spiritual world, linking the self and the infinite universe," she says.

In the outdoor garden, a statue of a young nude woman trying to escape from the entangled roots of a century-old tree is especially atmospheric. At another garden corner is a giraffe who appears to be guarding his animal friend who is drinking from a nearby small stream.

The garden, with its small pond, is also a good spot to admire the view of Da Lat, known in Viet Nam as the city of flowers.

Totally wild

Nga says 10 of the rooms, which are used as a hotel, are luxuriously fitted out, with fireplaces in each room in the shape of a wild animal, named Tiger, Bear or Kangaroo. The hotel’s top room, with a skylight, has an unobstructed view.

"I have for years dreamt of having a house resembling a jungle with flowers, trees, birds and beasts," Nga said. "With such a place, I want to bring people back to nature."

"Many people criticised me, even my colleagues. I don’t blame those who don’t understand me."

Nga has been selling tickets to visitors since late 1990, with entrance fees priced initially at VND200 and now VND10,000 (US$.75).

"When they first saw the house, many visitors uttered the phrases, ‘crazy architecture’ or ‘crazy house’! So that’s how it got its name, and then it became one of Da Lat’s tourist destinations," Nga said.

With the new certificate from the city administration, Nga now can expand and plans to invest an additional VND6 billion from now to 2010 to build another house on the land. — VNS