nguyen qui duc's tam dao - a house in the mtns
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By ro / lu in architecture Published: Thursday, 29 January 09 - 07:43 PM (GMT -06:00) Last Updated: Friday, 30 January 09 - 09:20 AM (GMT -06:00) |
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about a year ago i received a super nice email from a man named duc nguyen. he'd stumbled onto the rolu blog while searching for andy goldsworthy images. i emailed him back and probably expressed my idea that most of the art i love is man showing man the rhythm of nature; but how i think goldsworthy kind of inverts that in some way, nature with man showing nature the rhythm of man? doesn't quite make sense and that's probably why i like it.
we started trading some emails and i always noticed there was a depth and an almost poetic sensibility to his words, present even in our short exchanges. so i wasn't surprised after googling of my new penpals name to find that he is an award winning journalist, translator and author. very impressive stuff. but, what really blew me away was this house he's slowly been building outside hanoi in the mountain near a village called tam dao.
as you can see it's an amazing project in an absolutely amazing place...
tam dao is a gentle, natural place that seems to seamlessly exist inside its surroundings... emerging from the traditionally layered ridges in the mountainside that call to mind a maya lin sculpture... honoring the amazing views and celebrating traditional materials in a way that results in an unmistakebly singular place. all my favorite paradoxes seem to exist here... warmth through cold... complicated through simplicty... presence through absence. and if it sounds like i'm getting all lofty and hippie about it i am. i've really been struck by tam dao.
our intern nicolas and i have both been lucky enough to spend some time at the schindler house in los angeles and he pointed out some visual connections i could really agree with. that sense of hushed clarity created by the wood and concrete in the interoir.
so obviously i wanted to write about this amazing place he's creating but i was almost scared to ask in some way. it just looks like such a quiet and personal space. so personal in fact that i felt like maybe i'd be intruding by even asking too much about it. after seeing this article in the new york times i finally felt like i could pour out a bunch of questions and duc was kind enough to answer.
matt - besides being the name of the nearest village, do you refer to the retreat as tam dao? like a name?
duc - i tend to just say tam dao or the house in the mountains. any name would sound corny or pretentious. i think of it as a retreat for friends, artists, local villagers. the doors and gate are often left open.
matt - the house feels poetic, lyrical, very personal and sculptural. what inspired you? how do you think the fact that you're not an architect affected it?
duc - the view was what drew and inspired me. everything was built to give the guests and occupants a view of the mountains and valley - so i kept designing plans so that whether you're in the wooden house, sitting on the roof, in the pool, or on the bed loft, you can have a view. i even put holes in the stone wall in the courtyard so you can look out to the view. i started with wanting a simple safari cabin-but it's too windy there so i built a wooden home on top, and a stone house below. not being an architect i did not work from a single plan-kept adding details and drove the construction people insane. i also took away anything superfluous, and kept it simple. i'm also inspired by water. most of my flower arrangements have to do with suggesting ponds and lakes. being in the mountains and having built two houses and two courtyards, plus a pool, all rectangular, i also built a rectangular pond underneath my small deck and areas where water flows along the walls the bridge and along the lines on the roof. i was hoping to suggest a stream coursing down the mountain and around the house, into the swimming pool. it works well as water overflows, drips into a trough in the sunken rock courtyard. but i'd have to build an expensive filtering system if it's to flow into the pool. for now, it waters the fields below the house. all the water in the house comes from a mountain stream. it's wonderful to swim in such water.
matt - how much of a role did vietnamese building traditions and / or culture play in your aesthetic / functional choices?
duc - the wooden house is built to resemble and emulate a traditional vienamese house with a middle area where traditionally an altar for the anscetors is kept and guests are received. a sleeping area on one side, dining area on another - but i use the dining area a lot as a writing space. there's a smal kitchen, but like the vietnamese i also cook outside. the idea of using bamboo branches to line the roof is vietnamese, although i know the japanese do it also. i also wanted a thatch roof at first but with the rain humidity and wind there we opted to use tiles. i found an old house that was being torn down and bought all of the roof tiles. in the sunken coutyard, i've built a firepit inspired by the homes of mountain tribal people in the northwest of vietnam. they live on stilt houses keeping animals below. they use packed dirt floor in an area inside their house and that's where they cook - on open fire.
matt - the glass pyramid is one of my favorite elements... can you talk about that a little bit?
duc - construction workers thought of the traditional entrance, but i didn't want to obstruct the view or have something rising so high from the roof. so we left it open for months until i took a friend to the town. we'd gone to the scrapyard of old airplane parts , i wnated to put a replica of an old airplane on the roof. that's when i thought of putting a pyramid there, like a sliding cockpit. but rather than a round structure, i wanted it to echo the lines of the mountains in the distance. i'm thankful it worked out and lends a james bond 'modernist' touch to the house. i also think it's a play on the pyramids of egypt. whilst the pyramids hid treasures and secrets,mine is glass, open and slides open to go into a very open area and further views. it's not so much secrets as further surprises.
matt - what artists presence do you see or feel when you look at the house? architects? music?
duc - i originally thought of the house as a place for a writer, away from the noises of the city. i imagined someone hunkering down, turning back to the town at the top of the mountains, above the house and facing the clouds and mountains to help oneself look inside oneself. the garden is kept spare for that purpose, less distraction. now that i've come up to the house a lot, i see that the light in the rock house would also be good for a visual artist, the sunken courtyard is where one can paint in solitude, surrounded by four rock walls, but having the open sky above. after seeing the [david] horvitz videos, i also imagine a video artist capturing the mountain scenery, the fog and clouds, insects and butterflies, and working with that. and the water in the green pool.
matt - do you actually live there full time?
duc - i wish i'd decided to live there full time. i brought my mother here from the states as she has alzheimer's. that has been a big factor in staying in the city, to have access to things medical etc. as i was opening the cafe/gallery, i thought, why burden myself? i am calmer, at peace and creative when i'm in the mountains. for a while i was coming up weekly, bringing friends (the house gives you a lot of privacy. while it's fairly open, there are many areas to be by yourself. people can be in the pool, or on the roof while others can be in the wooden home or the courtyard - you're nearby but hidden from each other.) these days i make the trip up there once every two weeks. i like to ride up on a motorcycle and it can be blistering cold. in the summer hanoi is hot and humid you go up there and it rains and rains. in winter it's sunny all the time up there, while hanoi is pleasant and you want to enjoy that. get up at 6 and it's sunny for three hours, we go swimming, then it's misty for three hours then the sun comes out and you sit opn the roof enjoying the view til sunset. it gets cold in the evening around 10pm, the wind whips up, rain and thunder come after midnight; only to clear by the time you get up. there are many seasons in a day. last week in the middle of december i was stretched out on a cement slab looking at the stars and full moon.
matt - is there anything you're especially proud of ?
duc - I'm thankful many things worked out. The garden took discipline, but it's calming. The pyramid is a modern touch while you’re in a rural setting. The sunken courtyard looks like a prison cell, reminds me of my father who spent 12 years in prison. It's also a combination of design elements from Japan & Morocco. I’ve been inspired by both–one always busy, the other sparse and minimal. With the stone walls & arch, I'm reminded of my time in Morocco. But keeping plants to a minimum, w/ water dripping into a small basin, & a water trough with koi fish, I'm reminded of Japan. I'm happiest about not copying but suggesting worlds as different as Morocco, Japan, & VN in harmony. When I come from the “New York loft” up the stairs & see the old woodhouse, I don’t feel discordant. I'm glad not to obstruct the view for villagers, & can work w/ them on preserving the natural setting. They use the pool & garden, sit by my parking area, on a stone wall, talk, watch less TV, & are my friends. They bring me things they thought should be thrown away. Rather than neon lights & chrome furniture, they're interested in old ceramic pots, a stone covered with moss, a water basin their father threw in a corner of a garden 20 yrs ago. People talk to me about building concrete bridges & courtyards. I remind them that there's natural sound of a stream outside their window, better than an electric wall-hanging with fake water sound, & throwing plastic bags in the stream is bad.
matt - what does the concept of home mean?
duc - This is a book, or 10. Like many exiles, I've been obsessed with home. I spent my time abroad trying to belong to New York, London, San Francisco, & look for friends who are spiritually & culturally compatible. (I always think of friends as people living on scaffoldings around the globe. We don’t live in a physical space at any one time, but we move about and we see each other and that moment becomes home. After 30 yrs of roaming around, the state of mental & cultural homelessness becomes home. You’re forever in exile.) I always think nomads used to go around looking for food and water. Modern nomads go looking for themselves. I’ve traveled a lot because I always think there’s something missing. Tam Dao reminds me of Dalat, the town I was born & grew up in. I'm grateful to have a place that gives me back my youth, before the war destroyed everything. As isolated as I am in Tam Dao, I feel whole again.
matt - looking at tam dao, it's not hard to imagine that. thanks duc for sharing this wonderful project with me. i can't wait to see it in real life some day.
it's truly an honor to watch and learn.
photo nytimes
with the exception of the above, these photos are all from duc's personal collection and there are many, many more. i wish i could post them all. (link to nytimes slideshow)
in a recent late night email he told me about the layers of clothes he was putting on to make the motorcycle journey from his gallery in hanoi up into the mountains to tam dao. as i laid in bed waiting to sleep, i tried to imagine him driving into the cooler altitude, traveling towards a place that made him feel whole. it made me happy to think that far across the planet, 7331 miles away, a friend was traveling towards a place that he loved.
i've spent many hours during this cold mpls winter looking at the photos of tam dao and they've made such a surprisingly emotional connection with me...
sometimes, it almost feels as though i'm looking in the mirror.
please, enjoy.
posted by matt olson
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