Welcome to the Crazy House: Architect builds bizarre-looking hotel in Vietnam that the locals have slowly grown to love
- The Hang Nga Villa in Da Lat City was built in 1990 in a bizarre style
- It is known locally as The Crazy House, and is a functioning hotel
- The architect Dang Viet Nga says she wants the house to help people reconnect with nature
It may look more like a Disneyland attraction than a place you would actually live.
But, believe it or not, this topsy-turvy piece of work is actually a hotel in Vietnam, known locally as The Crazy House.
Designed by eccentric architect Dang Viet Nga, and described by some as 'expressionist', the bizarre building in Da Lat City is covered in bizarre wooden sculpture, features a life-size model tiger to leer at guests, and contains no square windows.
Crazy: The bizarre structure rises several stories above the buildings around it, and from this angle looks like a kind of convoluted tree stump
Wild: This inner area of the house features railings painted to look like giraffe skin and trees growing out of the house's roof
Uneven: The rooms inside feature mismatched furniture made from tree stumps, and have undulating ceilings. This room also has a tiger with glowing, red eyes
All natural: The house is decorated with bizarre wooden features, such as this textured wall (left) and a wooden staircase (right), which appears to have been cut straight from a tree trunk
Officially known as Hang Nga Villa, the house, still a work in progress, has been expanding steadily since it was begun in 1990 by Ms Dang.
It was converted into a hotel, where rooms are available for around £40 a night, as a way of dealing with the huge losses it incurred. It now attracts 90,000 visitors a year.
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It contains ten rooms, each of which are themed after a different animal, including the ant, tiger, kangaroo and bear.
At first it caused quite a stir with the locals, but they have since grown to appreciate the odd construction.
Attraction: The Crazy House, which welcomed 90,000 people last year, can command a sizable audience
Eccentric: The steeply-slanted roof of this portion of the house is just one of its out-of-the-ordinary features
What lies within: All the doorways in the house are an unusual shape, and wood and sculpted concrete interweave in the walls
Business manager Thang Viet Nguyen, 38, said: 'At the beginning most of people did not accept Crazy House because it was too abnormal, odd, and strange.
'Gradually people understand it more, little by little.
'Now Crazy House has become acceptable, and is a place that attracts tourists from many other countries.'
Ms Dang, who is said to draw paintings of her ideas then give them to local craftsmen to make a reality, said the design of the house is aobut bringing people back in touch with nature.
Leafy: Ms Dang, the architect, says she wants the house to bring people and nature closer together
United: Wood used as part of the structure and trees which grow free around the house are almost indistinguishable
Ornate: The house, which seems to look different from every angle, has a rich mixture of features and styles
She said: 'Although I was trained in the mainstream of architecture, I wanted to step out of it, and feel I did so when I created Hang Nga Villa.
'Since the end of the last century till now, nature and the environment have been destroyed.
'I would like to bring people back to nature to be more friendly with it and to love it.
'I do not just want them to make full use of it then destroy it, as people in many places of the world including Vietnam have been doing.
'Everyone aspires for independence and freedom and through the Crazy House I want to realise my dreams of independence and freedom in the art of architecture.'
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