Wild, strange, wonderful… there are many ways to describe Crazy House (Crazy House, also known as Hang Nga Villa) in Da Lat. Not only does it attract many domestic and foreign tourists, this villa has also been voted many times by magazines around the world as one of the most bizarre houses in the world. Recently, the unique strangeness of Crazy House was praised on CNN.
Located within 2,000 m2Located on Huynh Thuc Khang Street (Da Lat), Crazy House is a stark contrast to the surrounding French villas. The house is a maze of spiral staircases, sculpted bedrooms, undulating surfaces with swirls of bright colors, narrow bridges and hidden nooks everywhere.
The "crazy" house is just over 1 km from Da Lat market.
The artist who built this project, Ms. Dang Viet Nga (79 years old) - daughter of the late General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Truong Chinh, answered an interview with CNN Travel that this house is the pinnacle of her life and creative career. "I wanted to create something pioneering, different from other houses in the world."
In February 1990, she sketched out plans for the Crazy House. A year later (1991), the house opened for business and welcomed its first guests. Today, the Crazy House offers visitors the feeling of being lost in a magical forest in the middle of a metropolitan city.
Ms. Dang Viet Nga, owner of Crazy House
The house has no right angles or straight lines; instead, everything seems to have been melted and frozen into strange shapes. Natural elements are everywhere: mushrooms, shells, caves, and spider webs.
Crazy House from above
In addition, she used many different materials to build the house such as: steel, wood and concrete. Her son Dang Viet Nga shared: “My mother used a lot of concrete because it was cheap and easy to shape. She could use it to create any shape she wanted, so it reflected what she was envisioning in her head.”
“With this style, you can freely imagine. There are no rules, except for simple structural principles to keep the house stable and safe. The most important thing is how you express yourself,” said Ms. Nga.
"The most important thing is how you express yourself"
The main house sits high in the center of a large, tree-filled courtyard and is surrounded by four giant tree houses. Large concrete “branches” twist and connect the houses so people can move from one to the next.
This surreal texture recalls the twisting scenes in the paintings of Salvador Dali or the organic works of modern architect Antoni Gaudi.
Crazy House attracts many domestic and foreign tourists.
The tree houses are designed with a playful style. Each has 10 guest rooms. Each room is named after an animal or plant and is filled with cave-like beds and wooden seating areas.
Connecting with nature is a message Ms. Nga wants to convey through the house. “I feel like in the past centuries, humans have been destroying nature. Not only in Vietnam but also around the world. So I want to create a project that helps people get closer to nature.”
“But there is also another message that we should think creatively. Don’t limit yourself with rules or expectations. Let your mind wander and your imagination run wild.”
Based on her own advice, she is planning to add more details to the house such as two new gardens - the Ground Garden and the Sky Garden - to add more greenery and flowers, and also build more tree houses.
“The Freak House will never be truly finished. It's like a living thing. It will always change.”
