Selected News Articles

New Khmer Architecture of

The City He Built The New York Times Magazine, May 15, 2005

Building : an Angkorian heritage The International Herald Tribune, March 27, 2007

Reminiscing Past Achievements The Reastr Niyum Building Designs

Olympic Stadium From Ambitious 1960s Icon to Playground of the People The Cambodian Daily, October 31, 2007

Celebrating the past The Phnom Penh Post, April 3, 2008

Traditional Knowledge key to Cambodia’s built future The Phnom Penh Post, December 31, 2008

Reimagining Cambodia The Phnom Penh Post, August 18, 2009

Modern Masterpieces The Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2010

Bon voyage or déjà vu? The Phnom Penh Post, November 7, 2013

Vann Molyvann: the unsung hero of Phnom Penh architecture South China Morning Post, February 9, 2014

Is Phnom Penh Losing its Luster under Rapid Urbanization? In Asia / The Asia Foundation, February 18, 2015

Building a legacy The Phnom Penh Post, July 11, 2015 The New York Times Magazine May 15, 2005

The City He Built By Matt Steinglass

It is hard to imagine a crueler fate for an urban planner than seeing his country taken over by a regime with a murderous hatred of cities. As Cambodia's pre-eminent architect and chief urban planner during the 1960's, laid out significant portions of Phnom Penh and designed dozens of landmark structures fusing High Modernist design with classical Khmer elements, including the Corbusier- influenced Independence Monument, the stacked-block minimalist Front du Bassac housing development and the National Sports Complex. Then, in 1975, the Khmer Rouge marched into the capital and evacuated its entire population. They used the stadium for political meetings and mass rallies. In the southern port of , they tried to blow up Vann's National Bank of Cambodia building (having abolished money) but gave up when the vaults proved too strong.

"They took Cambodia from a country in the process of development to a communal society without the slightest vestige of the modern or the urban," says Vann, who is now 79. Today, having weathered invasion by Vietnam, decades of civil war and a U.N.-run transition period, Cambodia has settled into a relatively stable, corrupt quasi-democracy, dominated by the ex-communist Cambodian People's Party. Foreign aid has fueled a measure of economic growth. And Vann's legacy now faces a new menace: development. Indeed, ill-conceived development may do more harm to his structures than the Khmer Rouge ever did. "The buildings survived being abandoned better than they've survived being misused," says Helen Grant Ross, a Phnom Penh-based architect and an advocate for the preservation of Vann's work.

In the most egregious case, the government awarded a contract for the renovation of Vann's stadium complex to a Taiwan-based real-estate firm that threw up a clump of charmless low-rise retail and office buildings on its grounds. These filled in the network of pools that Vann had designed, like the moats around the ancient temples of Angkor Wat, to absorb monsoon-season rains. "Now the streets next to the stadium are constantly flooding," Vann says ruefully. Meanwhile, part of the Front du Bassac housing complex has deteriorated into a slum, while the rest was transformed by a recent renovation into a dull, suburban-looking box. Next door, the 1968 Preah Suramarit Theater, an elegant brick-and-concrete wedge with angular staircases cantilevered over an interior reflecting pool, was gutted by fire in 1994. In February, the telecom magnate Kith Meng reportedly agreed to reconstruct the theater in exchange for construction rights on the surrounding land, but some fear a repeat of the sports-stadium fiasco.

Asked how he feels about the plight of his buildings, Vann responds with a 20-minute soliloquy. (Among the first Cambodians to graduate from college, Vann attended École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and École du Louvre in Paris, and retains the French intellectual's verbal athleticism.) He depicts his buildings' travails as part of a more general urban crisis: a "guerre foncière," or "real-estate war," with roots in the 1979 takeover of the country by the Vietnamese and their Cambodian allies. "They consider the property that they acquired after their entry into Cambodia as war booty," Vann explains.

One of the seized houses was Vann's own, an airy multilevel villa that he designed and built in 1969 -- just a year before a U.S.-backed coup escalated Cambodia's civil war. Vann fled the country in 1971 and soon after settled with his wife and children in his wife's native Switzerland. He spent much of the next two decades working on the development of third-world housing for the U.N. When he returned to Cambodia in 1991, he found his villa serving, of all things, as the office of the national land-registration administration. "It was completely neglected," he says, "in a shocking state." He applied to the government to have his house returned. Amazingly, it was.

Vann spent the 90's as head of Apsara, an independent government authority created to safeguard the temples of Angkor Wat. By authoring a zoning plan that kept big hotels outside the borders of the ancient temple complexes, he was instrumental in preserving the area's authenticity and nurturing its tourism industry. Eventually the C.P.P. pushed him out of Apsara: he was deemed insufficiently friendly to development.

Not all of Vann's buildings are threatened. His fan-shaped Chaktomuk Conference Hall and his State Palace building are mainstays of Phnom Penh's public architecture. The low-cost private houses he built in the west of the city are very much lived-in. In Sihanoukville, the showcase factory he designed for the SKD brewery is still churning out bottles, and the National Bank of Cambodia building is once again taking deposits. The Institute of Foreign Languages in Phnom Penh is in full use, though construction nearby will partly hide his original design from the street.

Vann is concerned less about the fate of his buildings than about the neglect of Phnom Penh's infrastructure. The city has a precarious relationship with water: each summer, the combination of monsoon rains and melting snow flowing down the Mekong from the Himalayas floods the farmland surrounding the city and causes the Tonle Sap River to reverse direction. The government has failed to build dikes to keep up with the city's expansion, while shortsighted development is filling in the lakes and canals designed to channel floodwaters. A particularly heavy flood year, Vann fears, could prove disastrous.

It is one of the standard critiques of the Modernists of Vann's generation that their grandiose designs crushed the street-level urban fabric and ignored environmental sustainability. Vann's case stands this critique on its head. His 1960's vision for Phnom Penh epitomizes the grandiose optimism of "la Ville Radieuse," the French version of midcentury utopian urbanism. Yet it was Vann's city plan that paid exquisite attention to Phnom Penh's environmental concerns and urban fabric, while the privatization and decentralization of the last 15 years threaten to scar the city's landmarks and wreak havoc with its water management.

One of Vann's admirers told me that it would serve the government right if there was a major flood. When I clumsily repeated the wisecrack to Vann, he didn't find it funny. "Three hundred thousand people would lose their homes," he said soberly. "You can't imagine what could happen here."

Matt Steinglass writes for the Boston Globe, the Nation and other publications. He lives in Hanoi. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/magazine/the-city-he-built.html The International Herald Tribune March 27, 2007

Building Phnom Penh: An Angkorian heritage By Robert Turnbull

PHNOM PENH — Many Asian cities have laid claim to the title of "Paris of the East." During the 1930s, Phnom Penh's candidature was supported by no less a luminary than Charlie Chaplin, who described its orderly, tree-lined avenues as "little sisters" to the Champs-Elysées.

But today's visitors to Cambodia are surprised to discover that the true architectural legacy of this former French protectorate is not colonial at all, but a unique synthesis of postwar European modernism and what might be called "Angkorian vernacular."

"" emerged from Cambodia's 15 years of prosperity following the end of French rule in 1953. The euphoria of independence spawned an entire school of designers and architects who, rather than replicate international styles, chose to reinterpret them according to a set of local conditions, foremost among them flooding and hot temperatures. It was a kind of Asian Bauhaus in that its members worked concurrently and in a similar . The movement's influence was short-lived: few of its architects survived the Khmer Rouge. However, Vann Molyvann, the leader and most prolific member of the group, remains, at 80, an enterprising and respected figure, even if his work has yet to acquire the protection it so patently deserves.

The first Cambodian architect to be trained in Europe - at Paris's Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux- arts - Vann returned to Cambodia in 1956. Introduced to the left-leaning King , the two spearheaded a campaign of urban development and construction that transformed Phnom Penh from a sleepy colonial backwater to a vibrant, ambitious capital.

From universities to sports facilities, the architect and his royal mentor created more than a hundred public projects throughout Cambodia, using funds from the Chinese, Russian and French governments as well as "nonaligned" states during the decade and a half before Cambodia was dragged into a regional war with the United States. The engineer Vladimir Bodiansky and the urbanist Gerald Hanning provided technical assistance.

Vann's imposing Independence Monument at the intersection of Sihanouk and Norodom boulevards symbolizes the era. Paying direct homage to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the chocolate-hued Phnom Penh structure built in 1960 is adorned, appropriately enough, with a profusion of nagas, the protective serpents of Hindu mythology.

Vann's 1964 National Sports Center, constructed before Kenzo Tange's Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, is as clear a statement of civic pride and for Sihanouk an attempt to proclaim the country's neutrality in the face of growing Cold War hostilities. Cambodia's rejection by the pro-Western International Olympic Committee prompted Sihanouk to join Ganefo (Games of the Nonaligned and Emerging Forces), a sporting event created by China, Russia and others. Cambodia's turn to host the Games came in 1966.

Though Vann shared Sihanouk's utopian vision, his inspiration is drawn from his own architectural heritage. The Sports Center's large ornamental pools directly imitate the barays, or reservoirs, surrounding Angkorian temples, while the elevated walkways at both his Cham Car Mon palace and the School of Foreign Languages pay homage to Angkor Wat's kilometer-long causeway. Vann's signature suspended "zigzag" roof lines created artificial space to enable air to flow in what he describes as "a reworking of the concave shape of the temple roofs."

The other major influence was Le Corbusier and his complex theories of communal living. Vann's use of the Frenchman's "modular"' as a tool for establishing proportions is best emulated in the "White" and "Gray" buildings of the Front du Bassac, a development begun in 1964 to house foreign advisers and Ganefo's athletes. "His buildings are like sculptures in the way they celebrate depth and space as well as light and darkness," said the architect today.

Assessing Phnom Penh at that time as "an active sedimentation zone with poor ventilation and prone to flooding," Vann found traditional solutions to mass housing in a rapidly expanding city. A new book, "Building Cambodia: 'New Khmer Architecture' (1953-1970)" by Darryl Leon Collins and Helen Grant Ross (The Key Publishers, 2006) applauds the movement's aims and philosophy while establishing Vann as a seminal figure in postwar Asian architecture.

But while steadily collecting admirers abroad and celebrated by the more enlightened sections of Phnom Penh society, this architectural patrimony has not been protected by the authorities. Rather than celebrate the achievements of Sihanouk's "golden age," the government of Prime Minister seems to go to considerable lengths to undermine them.

To the dismay of international groups attempting to stimulate cultural continuity, Vann has been largely shunned by the political establishment in Cambodia. When Unesco organized a conference on how to protect this legacy and designated Vann as its head, it had to disinvite him after complaints by the government. Rarely consulted on the fate of his buildings, Vann has been forced to watch from the sidelines while his work has been ripped out or ineptly renovated.

The refurbishment of Vann's fan-shaped Chaktomuk Conference Hall met with the architect's general approval. However, the Taiwanese Yuanta Group's cosmetic makeover of the National Sports Center in 2000 robbed this voluminous site of a good deal of its land to make way for commercial development. "Economic tradeoffs with foreign developers result in short-term quick-fix solutions that ignore longterm planning," Collins said.

The latest building to attract scrutiny is a theater commissioned by Sihanouk in 1966 to promote Cambodia's performing arts. A masterpiece of concrete plasticity with staircases suspended over shallow pools of water, the Preah Suramarit was gutted by fire in 1994, devastating the auditorium and stage area. It has remained in its ruined state for more than a decade.

Only days after Cambodia's new King declared a desire to see the theater rebuilt, the government pre-emptively announced its sale to a local telecommunications company, which is expected to replace it with a conference hall and TV tower.

Given the minimal architectural merit, much less public interest to be found in the latest rash of government offices, casino and private villas, this is especially depressing. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/travel/27iht-cambarch.1.5041754.html The Cambodian Daily October 31, 2007 http://nka.lumhor.org/?page_id=1895 2 His Majesty’s Birthday

REMINISCING PAST ACHIEVEMENTS The Sangkum Reastr Niyum Building Designs

BY MICHELLE VACHON can accommodate at least 200 place lowing week, we were digging the [nearly 2 meters], baths in the settings.... I also would like to hold foundations: The visit of the French palace’s bathrooms are far too short n 1966, Vann Molyvann recalls, [Cambodian] classical ballet per- president could not wait.” for him.’ Such supplies were not “[then-Prince Norodom Siha- formances in the new summer But Prince Sihanouk had a sec- available in Cambodia. Therefore Inouk] called me in and told me, palace that you will build.’” ond request that had to do with a team went to Hong Kong by ‘We will be receiving General “As I walked out of the audience,” housing de Gaulle at the palace, chartered Royal Air Cambodge [Charles] de Gaulle and his very Vann Molyvann said, “I had started Vann Molyvann says. “He told me, flight to get all that was needed for

large delegation. We need a hall that to draw the foundations and, the fol- ‘Since General de Gaulle is very tall the new facilities—candelabra, Photo by Heng Chivoan A Special Supplement to The Cambodia Daily 3 carpets and so on,” said the archi- called under-developed.” tect who designed several of the This involved an ambitious urban country’s landmarks in the 1960s planning policy made possible only and will be 81 years old on Nov 23. because of Norodom Sihanouk’s The new state palace envisioned full support as, Grant Ross said, by Prince Sihanouk became part of “There can be no urban planning the Chamkar Mon compound that without politics.” now houses the Senate near the “It was a policy that I would intersection of Norodom and Mao describe as the building of inde- Tse Tung boulevards. pendent Cambodia: in other The site, which was a swamp in words, building immediately what the 1950s, was developed in the the country needed most,” Vann early 1960s by architect Lu Ban Molyvann said. “This led to the Hap, founder of Phnom Penh’s overall development of communi- Town Planning and Housing cation infrastructure throughout Department. Cambodia’s territory—roads, After abdicating from the throne bridges, railways—to link all parts in 1955 and founding the Sangkum of the country.” This was made Reastr Niyum—the political party the responsibility of the Ministry that would lead Cambodia until of Public Works where Vann Lon Nol’s coup in 1970—Prince Molyvann served from 1956 to Sihanouk ran the country from 1962 as chief architect for state and lived in the Chamkar Mon buildings and head of urban plan- compound. ning and housing. Having to build at the last minute “In my opinion,” Grant Ross said, a reception hall large enough for a “[Cambodia’s program] was linked major foreign delegation is just one to a group of ex-colonized countries example of what the country faced which [after World War II] united after declaring independence from and formed a front of non-aligned France in 1953. nations.” “France virtually left Cambodia a Following the Bandung Con- disaster area because France had ference of 1955, attended by Asian perceived Indochina as a country in as well as African countries, the first which Cambodia had been seen as official meeting of the Non-Aligned a rice field area,” said architect and Movement had been held in 1961 urbanist Helen Grant Ross. during the Belgrade Conference in “When then-Prince Sihanouk Yugoslavia. obtained independence, it was no Founded by Indian Prime Min- picnic: he inherited a country with ister Jawaharlal Nehru, members nothing, very poor and hardly included Ghana’s Prime Minister equipped since France’s infrastruc- Kwame Nkrumah, Egypt’s Presi- ture investment efforts had been in dent Gamal Abdel Nasser, Indo-

Vietnam, which was considered the nesia’s President Achmed Sukar- Heng Chivoan nicest piece of Indochina’s cake,” no, and Yugoslavia’s President (Above) The Preah Suramarit National Theater, now known as the she said. Tito. Bassac Theater, was inaugurated in 1968. Damaged by fire in 1994, Infrastructure was non-existent, This movement of rebellious its future is uncertain and so were healthcare and educa- countries, Grant Ross said, “were tion systems, she said. The country tremendously bothering to the (Opposite) Interior of the Teacher Training College, now the Institute of Languages, which was designed by architect Vann Molyvann in the needed to be built from the ground United Nations: It was a thorn in the late 1960s up, literally, as the government serv- foot of Western countries.” ices to be created needed facilities to “Those countries were looking in France returned, Norodom for instance, was appointed head of house them. for a world economic model dif- Sihanouk basically hired them all to the country’s urban planning and But by the mid-1960s, Cambodia ferent from the one promoted by undertake his vision for Cambodia. housing at 30, and the following had become Asia’s sixth richest Western countries,” she said. This Norodom Sihanouk’s talent being year, he was put in charge of build- country and one of the most ad- issue remains timely as some to put each person to work where ing facilities for the celebrations mired and influential in the region, developing countries currently his competence would serve best, marking the 2,500th anniversary of said Grant Ross—who along with are struggling with globaliza- Grant Ross said. the birth of Buddha in which 2,500 art historian Darryl Collins recently tion—the sole economic model “It was a sort of general mobiliza- monks were to take part. concluded their years of research put forward in the international tion of all the country’s brains,” she “I was afraid, terribly afraid,” he on post-independence architecture arena today. added. recalls of the responsibilities hand- with the publication of their book Cambodia’s development strat- In their book, Grant Ross and ed to him in his early 30s. “Building Cambodia: ‘New Khmer egy in the 1960s triggered the Collins note that Prince Sihanouk But among those young, bright Architecture’ 1953-1970.” emergence of a new Khmer even intercepted Lu Ban Hap in Cambodians, fear did not last long. As Cambodia became economi- architecture. the early 1960s in France as he was “It was a general euphoria—and the cally affected by the US war with “This architecture was not there about to move to Brazil, and con- world was young. To use a popular Vietnam in the late 1960s, Phnom to beautify the country: It was vinced him to return to Cambodia. expression: We were gutsy,” Vann Penh was transformed into South- meant to serve the country,” Grant Among other projects, Lu Ban Hap Molyvann said. east Asia’s hub, the area’s most Ross said. designed in 1969 the Chenla State Once enrolled, Prince Sihanouk vibrant city, Grant Ross said. France having neglected, among Cinema, now called Chenla let his brilliant people free to create. The Sangkum Reastr Niyum other things, to establish higher Theater. At times, he would give them government’s approach was a sin- education institutions, few Cam- As they returned home with their directions, such as asking that gular development model, she bodians had the expertise to em- French university diplomas, these materials for the Independence said. “It was both a political and bark on such a development agen- young Cambodians found them- Monument be those used by their development experiment of a da. Therefore as the Cambodians selves heading national-scale con- Khmer ancestors and its style be country that could have been the government had sent to study struction projects. Vann Molyvann, inspired by Angkor’s Banteay Srei 4 His Majesty’s Birthday temple, Vann Molyvann recalls. results in architectural form were “He would define the program a clear Khmer solution to struc- and it was up to us to execute it, tures, whether it was a private CONTEMPORARY without any concern about fund- house or public building,” he ing—we had total freedom,” he added. said. “Factors such as proportion, air ARCHITECTS All these projects, which in- flow and space were used in ways cluded universities in Kompong that echoed a continuum from tradi- Cham and Battambang provinces tional wooden models, but also met REFLECT ON and a network of health posts and contemporary needs.” cultural centers, Prince Sihanouk Those urban planning and archi- did without placing the country tectural achievements came out of, KHMER DESIGN into debt, Grant Ross said. And Collins said, “a sense of purpose in there was actually money in the providing for the population as a BY KUCH NAREN style has been one focused on the country’s coffers when Lon Nol whole. The words ‘independence’ ccording to an old Cambo- outdoors with people often doing lit- ousted the prince from power in and ‘spirit’ acted as a dynamo that tle more than sleeping in their 1970, she said. drove so many...to contribute to the dian proverb, everything is born out of mixing water, homes, as they work, cook and In urban planning, Cambodians emerging nation.” A gather in the open air, said Nuon adapted the French model, which As for today, Vann Molyvann earth, fire and air. This, Cambodian architects and Ratana, a 31-year-old architect they did especially well, but they laments. Homes today should reflect also developed a distinctive new “From an urban planning stand- urban planners of the 1950s and 1960s kept in mind as they de- this lifestyle, said Nuon Ratana, Khmer architecture, Collins said. point, the situation can absolutely who works with “Heritage Mis- “The truly amazing amalgama- not be managed by urbanists or signed buildings and homes filled with natural light and cooled by nat- sion,” a cooperation effort of the tion of international influences with planners because Phnom Penh is Ministry of Culture and the Cambodian youthful energy and under the heel of land speculation,” ural ventilation in cities that made ample use of trees and gardens. French Embassy which aims to verve produced some wonderfully he said. preserve Cambodian culture and inventive architectural solutions,” “When I see attempts by the Cambodian architects have not forgotten the importance of allow- style in architecture. he said. Municipality of Phnom Penh to “Life lived in a house without air “We looked at neighboring coun- develop gardens, improve some ing air and light to enter a structure, several said in recent interviews. flowing in and out seems like living tries in Southeast Asia...and found streets and relieve congestion at in a hole,” Nuon Ratana said. But for an array of reasons, ranging that during this period, Cambodia intersections that are completely “When I go into some houses, from an infatuation with air condi- was a leader in climatically-aware blocked: It is not piecemeal works the environment is so hot and tioning, land prices and a dearth of structures,” Collins said. like those that will contribute to dark—for a family to have happi- construction standards and urban “There were some good exam- improve the life of Phnom Penh’s ness to live in a happy house, the ples in the Philippines and a few citizens,” he said. planning enforcement, contempo- house must be built to let in abun- other countries, but not the concen- And yet, Vann Molyvann re- rary architects have limited oppor- dant fresh air and light,” he said. tration of structures found in mains optimistic. tunities to build the homes and But nowadays, many wealthy Cambodia,” he said. “I have hope for my country—I buildings they feel might be better Cambodians, he said, “just think of “And for all the modern materi- have never given up hope,” he said. suited to inhabitants. having thick [security] bars in their als, style and influences, the THE CAMBODIA DAILY The traditional Cambodian life- windows and forget to leave space for air flow and greenery.” “The main characteristic of the architecture of [the 1950s and 1960s], both for government build- ings and private homes, is that they were meant to reflect the spirit of Khmer culture and Khmer souls,” he added. At that time, the government led by then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk not only encouraged but also initiat- ed and applied urban plans and ar- chitectural innovations. For example, in the Bassac The- ater, Nuon Ratana said, “there was a water system in the center of the ground floor that kept the building quite cool even during the hottest months.” The cooling principle ad- hered to Cambodia’s millennium- old tradition of water basins in and around buildings, examples of which can still been seen at Angkor. Yam Sokly, a 23-year-old student now in his fifth year of architecture at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, said Khmer archi- tectural style goes beyond just dec- orating buildings with traditional figures such as the mythical bird Garuda. The form and design of the Olympic Stadium was inspired by

Princess Norodom Buppha Devi’s pavilion inside Heng Chivoan the Baphuon temple at Angkor and the Chamkar Mon compound, designed by architect Lu Ban Hap in the late 1950s or early 1960s A Special Supplement to The Cambodia Daily 5 was set in a park setting, though high buildings,” he said. not adorned with any traditional Spontaneous and private devel- decoration, Yam Sokly said. We cannot force them to agree to our opment along with the pressure of Today, however, little or no space recommendations—we need to do a fast growing population has com- is reserved for gardens or trees on plicated the task of Phnom Penh’s the lots of government and private- projects in accordance with the urban planners, Phan Vanny said. sector buildings, Yam Sokly said. developers’ and clients’ wishes. In the private housing market, There are, however, exceptions some Cambodians value traditional “ —PHAN VANNY such as the new National Assem- construction materials such as bly grounds that includes garden ARCHITECT wood and sandstone, Phan Vanny features, and the Embassy of Singa- said. But convincing them to opt for pore’s compound, which consists Phan Vanny said. approved in November 1997 are an airy and open plan can prove dif- of a modern structure amidst Parking has become problemat- unevenly applied, he said. ficult, he said. greenery, he said. ic around some of those institutions In 1996, the year Ly Chin For some people, air-condition- Because of the escalating price of as well as in other parts of Phnom Torng designed the Buddhist In- ing has not only become part of life, land in Phnom Penh and areas with Penh where construction has stitute, he also drafted ”an urban but has also turned into a status promising development prospects boomed, causing traffic jams at plan for Phnom Penh that clearly symbol used to show one’s wealth. such as town, some peak hours, he said. set residential zones in the city Today’s architects should re- business people have tried to fit in Architect and urbanist Ly Chin and the maximum height of member “to make buildings for peo- as many apartments and business Torng, 71, said that giving free buildings at 30 meters—it was ple to stay and live in,” said Mam So- facilities as they can on their lots and rein to developers has caused a never approved. phana, whose 1969 design for the left no room for green zones, said clash of architectural styles and Until recently, tradition in the cap- Electricite du Cambodge’s training Phan Vanny, an architect special- uneven construction standards in ital was not to allow structures that center—now the National Technical ized in residential homes now work- Phnom Penh. would dwarf Wat Phnom, where— Training Institute-had earned him a ing for Canadia Bank PLC who will In the 1950s and 1960s, he said, as legend has it—the city began. gold medal from Prince Sihanouk. be 29 in December. “design and urban planning was However, high-rise projects now Cambodian architecture should, All that an architect can do is sub- done without any influence and in- include tall buildings near the said Mam Sophana, “respect the mit their designs to business peo- terference from other countries, Phnom Penh train station, just a few environment” by including natural ple and developers, Phan Vanny and architects could freely use the city blocks from Wat Phnom, which light and air, and good scenery. said. “We cannot force them to concepts of their choice to adapt proves the need for a strict urban By designing buildings sensitive agree to our recommendations— [structures] to the climate in which plan to preserve Phnom Penh’s his- to the Cambodian environment, we need to do projects in accor- people lived.” torical zones, Nuon Ratana said. the nation’s architects will not only dance with the developers’ and Today’s situation is mostly due to Countries with skyscrapers such design beautiful structures but will clients’ wishes,” he said. poor enforcement rather than a as and France, Ly Chin also “respect the ethics of the pro- Prohibitive land prices have also lack of policies, Ly Chin Torng Torng said, “have experienced neg- fession,” he added. led some private educational institu- said. For instance, the temporary ative effects from those skyscrap- (Additional reporting by Michelle tions to rent facilities ill suited for construction regulations he wrote ers, which is why they now have Vachon) the purpose of educating students, and which the Council of Ministers stopped the construction of too THE CAMBODIA DAILY 12 His Majesty’s Birthday OLYMPIC STADIUM FROM AMBITIOUS 1960S ICON TO PLAYGROUND OF THE PEOPLE

A group aerobics session in full swing atop Olympic Stadium on a recent evening Photos by Heng Chivoan

BY EMILY LODISH the drainage system greets visitors troversial at its inception. Many became a symbol of Cambodia’s AND CHHAY CHANNYDA who approach the complex from Si- thought that the money—which boldness and coming of age in the hanouk Boulevard. But if one looks came almost exclusively from post-colonial 1960s. very evening just before sun- beyond, the majestic lines of the sta- Cambodia’s own funds—could be In 1966, the stadium hosted the down, the sky glows in cen- dium rise up from a graceful plane better spent in a newly self-reliant World Games of the New Emerg- Etral Phnom Penh and created from earth—not concrete, country. ing Forces, known as Ganefo, throngs of people gather on the ele- the mode of the day—just as they But it was also a time of conta- which gathered athletes from the vated perimeter of Olympic Sta- did for the temples of Angkor, upon gious enthusiasm—something ap- world’s “non-aligned” countries— dium, waving their arms in the air which the stadium is conceptually parent in Prince Sihanouk’s confi- those that opposed the Cold War. and stepping in time. modeled. dent speech, which congratulated That same year, French President If it weren’t for the blaring dance Renowned architect Vann Moly- Cambodia on its “achievements Charles de Gaulle lauded Cambo- music emanating from a nearby vann, who views the creation of the and progress in all fields” since win- dia’s neutrality during a famous amplifier one might think the roughly 40-hectare complex as the ning independence in 1953. speech at the stadium that called for crowds were invoking the spirits of pinnacle of his career, remembers “We have certainly shown to the peace in Indochina. a bygone time. when crowds gathered on the stadi- world that we are not a bastard na- Now, it is primarily the informal As it is, they are there for a bit of um’s upper rim for its inauguration tion deprived of intelligence, cour- groups of athletes, fitness folk and fresh air and some aerobics-cum- in late 1964. age and energy—as the enemies of regular citizens trying to stay line dancing exercise at one of the “It was a very emotional time our country and people have often healthy and have a good time that city’s only outdoor exercise facili- for us all,” he said, describing pretended,” Prince Sihanouk said, characterize the stadium’s purpose ties, albeit a slightly dilapidated one. how 100,000 people packed into apparently referring to the US and in today’s Cambodia. “I come to stay healthy,” said Ith the 60,000-seat stadium to hear its allies engaged in the Second Practically every weekend, there Seng, 65, who takes part in the up- then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s Indochina War. is a football match in the outdoor beat ritual at least four times a week. address. According to Yem Oddom, Min- stadium. Martial arts, boxing, “I like the fresh air and it lowers my “He had a speech prepared, istry of Education sports depart- wrestling, volleyball, tennis, pe- blood pressure,” he said without but he threw it away and impro- ment director, everyone regards re- tanque and swimming all take place missing a step. vised completely,” recalled Vann tired King Sihanouk as the “father on the grounds. The parking lots Though rundown and surround- Molyvann. of national sports,” perhaps largely see regular pick-up games of foot- ed by haphazard development, the Fireworks popped. Troops because he called for the stadium’s ball and badminton. National Olympic Stadium Com- marched. At one point, Vann creation in 1962 prior to the South- The stadium is a “public building plex is still an impressive reminder Molyvann said, organizers turn- east Asian Olympics and was “pres- for public use,” said Yem Oddom, of the optimistic age from which it ed off the floodlights and every- ent at every phase of the project,” though he added that the sports emerged. one in the crowd struck a match, according to Vann Molyvann. sector in Cambodia does not play A stagnant pool of foul-smelling filling the stadium with tiny Though it never hosted the the crucial role it did in the 1960s, putrid water where thoughtless specks of hopeful flame. Southeast Asian Games for which it something evidenced by the stadi- construction has encroached on The stadium complex was con- was scheduled in 1963, the stadium um’s worn appearance. A Special Supplement to The Cambodia Daily 13

“Today’s management at the sta- Architect and urbanist Helen dium is weak,” he said, adding that Grant Ross said she is glad people athletes are also not as well trained are getting some use out of the as they used to be. structure. He said the facilities are open dur- “I like to see it being used be- ing the day free of charge, though cause I know it’s being remem- parking and formal use of the stadi- bered by the people of Phnom um cost money. Aerobics and use of Penh. They do seem to respect it. the swimming pool is a few hun- They don’t put [graffiti] tags all dred riel per session. over the place.... They haven’t Squatters have been seen setting ripped out the seating,” she said, up temporary homes at the com- musing that an abandoned stadi- plex and individuals sometimes um in the US or Europe would be informally charge for “tickets” at the dismantled and vandalized in main gate—despite the fact that the short order. facility is open free of charge from “I do worry that it will suffer from 4:30 am to 7 pm, according to the deterioration over time,” she said, ministry. adding that she would like to see Vann Molyvann smiled at the the complex being used primarily notion of people assembling at the for its intended purpose. complex for jogging, aerobics and “It needs a lot of repairing, but it swimming. could be used for big meetings, “It is their own property,” he said. music concerts and sporting “It belongs to the people.” events...if the government decided However, for an architect who to integrate it as part of the public believes that a structure should domain...renovate it, and promote it purely show its function, the botch- as a venue for world events,” Grant ed private developments around Ross said. Olympic Stadium is particularly “It’s the best facility in the whole offensive. of Southeast Asia,” she said, com- In 2000, the Taiwanese firm Yuan paring it to Parc des Princes in Paris Ta Group was awarded a contract to and London’s Wembley Stadium. Children jump from renovate the stadium in exchange “It could be an icon on which to the diving platform for the land surrounding it. build a new image. It was once and at Olympic Stadium, “I don’t like to go there now it could be again. It could be a as others play on because of the building all around,” Wembley. It could put Cambodia the bannisters in the Vann Molyvann said. “I don’t want back on the map.” viewing gallery to suffer.” THE CAMBODIA DAILY The Phnom Penh Post 3 April 2008

Celebrating the past By Brendan Brady

New Khmer architecture’ once inspired the region but today risks obscurity in a rapidly changing Cambodia.

Visitors to Cambodia are oriented toward the ruins of the sprawling Angkor complex or what’s left of the capital’s early 20th century French colonial structures. But often overlooked is an authentic heritage of structures designed and built a half century ago. One of the most significant stages in the growth of Phnom Penh came during its short-lived golden age after independence, when the city was marked by a strong sense of urban identity and evolved from a provincial town into a modern capital.

In their book on architecture in Cambodia corresponding with the Khmer renaissance of the arts from 1953-1970, Building Cambodia: New Khmer Architecture, Helen Grant Ross and Darryl Leon Collins write that “by the swinging sixties, Phnom Penh was not only hip – it was the city that most other Southeast Asian nations wished to emulate…” They go on to explain that during several visits to Cambodia in the 1960s, , the first Prime Minister of Singapore, was so impressed by the beauty and new architecture of Phnom Penh that he expressed the desire for Singapore to be developed along similar lines.

Young Cambodian architects trained in Europe cultivated an original style – coined New Khmer Architecture – that mixed postwar European modernism with Angkorian motifs, and took into consideration the country’s hot temperatures and regular flooding. Leading architects such as Van Molyvann, Henri Chatel, Lu Ban Hap and Ung Krapum Phka applied themselves to the capital’s major public works as well as landscape improvement projects and modest housing developments. The movement’s tenure was cut short by the civil war and the subsequent targeting of artists and professionals by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. However, its leader, Van Molyvann, 80, remains a national figure, even as some of his marquee structures have been neglected or torn down – the most recent loss being the Bassac Theatre, the architect’s favorite creation.

The first Cambodian architect trained in Europe, Molyvann returned from Paris in 1956. He developed a relationship with King Norodom Sihanouk who wanted Phnom Penh to undergo a program of urban development, from universities to promenades to sports facilities.

Molyvann embodied the spirit of New Khmer Architecture – to make the city beautiful and outwardly Cambodian, as well as accommodating to its inhabitants. His waterside Chaktomuk Conference Hall has been the site for a variety of functions over the years, from speeches by the king to the trial in absentia of Pol Pot in 1979. Positioned along Sisowath Quay, not far from the Royal Palace, the conference hall was inaugurated in 1961 and is regarded as one of Molyvann’s most iconic works. Elevated on pillars and with a pointed roof, the building uses elements of traditional Khmer design, but its triangulated concrete structure radiating in a fan shape is distinctly avant-garde.

The crumbling Bassac municipal apartments, now the site of a heated evictions controversy, are praised by many Molyvann enthusiasts for their social utility. The 300-meter-long, low-cost housing complex consists of six separate blocks joined by open-air staircases which afforded easy access to the park that used to surround it.

Meanwhile, the Molyvann-designed Independence Monument, positioned prominently at the intersection of Sihanouk and Norodom Boulevards, remains one of the capital’s principal landmarks. Built in 1958, the lotus-shaped stupa is reminiscent of the style seen at Angkor Wat, yet modern in its simplicity and clean form.

With little interest in preservation and a take-no-prisoners construction boom, the architectural legacy spearheaded by Molyvann increasingly appears to be in danger. “Older Cambodians generally look back with nostalgia and recognize the qualities of this period, whilst the younger generation has lost contact with it through years of chaos,” says Collins. “The aspiring Cambodian of today is not interested in these examples that, after suffering years of neglect, look a little shabby compared with the bright new buildings of today.” http://www.phnompenhpost.com/special-reports/celebrating-past The Phnom Penh Post 31 December 2008

Traditional knowledge key to Cambodia's built future By Christopher Shay and Nathan Green

As Cambodia modernises, traditional Khmer architectural techniques, materials and urban planning methods have a key role to play, architects say

The Royal University of Phnom Penh may have only been built in the 1960s but its architectural heritage stretches much further back, rooting itself not only in French modernism but also in the Angkorian empire that flourished from about the ninth century to 15th century.

Today, local architects fear that the drive to combine the best of the traditional and the modern has been lost as developers rush to build with little regard for the landscape or climate. They warn that greater heed needs to be paid to traditional Khmer architecture, materials and planning methods in order to match buildings to the local ecology and preserve the country's heritage.

French-chartered architect, urbanist and architecture historian Helen Grant Ross said vernacular architecture, which refers to methods of construction that use locally available resources to address local needs, holds the key to good design for any architecture. "It's a question of common sense as local builders have integrated thousands of years of knowledge about the climate, readily available building materials, spatial organization to suit family needs and public space into the vernacular," she said via email from France.

But rather than simply copying traditional architecture, she said, developers need to explore how "this intelligence can be integrated and transcended into modern buildings, built economically with readily available materials, plus modern comforts such as sanitation and electricity". "Literal copying of tradition doesn't lead anywhere," she added.

The key benefits of vernacular architecture were in the design of ecologically sustainable buildings, she said. "In the 60s there was good urban planning that integrated water basins, forest trees and cross ventilation. This is all common sense, but seems to have been completely forgotten today in the intensive shop house developments cropping up all over the place, or the banal high-rise."

Cambodian architect and architecture historian Hok Sokol, who worked as a research assistant for Grant Ross on her book Building Cambodia: New Khmer Architecture 1953-1970, which she co-authored with Darryl Collins, is leading the charge for the reintroduction of traditional techniques. "New Cambodian architects and designers should think of where they come from," he said. "They should study Cambodian architecture." He said techniques used in traditional wooden architecture, which he has extensively researched, have a lot to offer Cambodian contemporary buildings. "We can still modernise the traditional," he said. "[Khmer] wooden architecture had hundreds of years of development in this climate."

Environmental cues The Royal University of Phnom Penh was an example of how traditional techniques can be used to locate buildings in the environment, obviating the need to tame natural landscapes and processes, he said. Built in the 1960s, it was part of a series of works that came to represent the New Khmer Architecture movement, which flourished under the patronage of Norodom Sihanouk. "The campus was built to the land," Hok Sokol said. "Where the land is low, they raised the buildings. They kept the water and turned them into architectural elements and flood prevention." "Now, developers don't care if the land is high or low," he added. "They'll just fill it in. They make the land fit the building, but varied land has more value than flat land."

The Royal University campus was designed by a pair of French architects, Leroy and Mondet, and the adjacent Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL) was designed by Vann Molyvann, the spearhead of the New Khmer Architecture movement. These architects took into account the hot climate, seasonal flooding and harsh sun by incorporating lessons from traditional Khmer architecture. In the IFL campus, Vann Molyvann planted lush, indigenous plants in the central courtyard to help keep the campus cool. Today, clay tiles have replaced the foliage that - instead of cooling - only reflect heat into the neighbouring classrooms.

Yam Sokly, an architecture student at the Royal University of Fine Arts, said that young Cambodian architects need to spend more time on the campus to learn how a building can take the environment into account."Young, Cambodian architects today do not learn about the 60s," he said. "They should stay here and see how it all works. Every detail can teach you something."

Simon Wright, managing director of Phnom Penh-based Arti-tech Design Studio, said that unlike Vann Molyvann, the current generation shows little interest in the construction techniques of the ancients. But he warned against the tendency to romanticise the past. Traditional dwellings were constructed out of what was available, not from materials chosen out of some deep ecological concern. Although building large, modern developments in timber is not cost effective or environmentally sustainable, the building principles of old could be utilized by incorporating more natural ventilation and taking note of solar orientation in modern buildings, he said.

He noted that high-pitched roofs serve to distribute hot air more effectively if combined with crossflow ventilation, while raising a house on stilts or poles allows for ventilation and cooling of upper levels and provides a temperate climate for relaxing in the heat of midday. Each of these lessons can be learned by taking a stroll around the Royal University of Phnom Penh, but they seem to have been forgotten by many architects today.

Grant Ross warns that it is the functionality not just the aesthetic that is important, as understood by Vann Molyvann and his contemporaries. "The question of aesthetics is a trap," she said. "If I wear a Khmer dancer's hat will I become a traditional Khmer woman? Obviously not. So why would sticking a roof, a few nagas and so on, on a concrete box, transform a banal building into a Khmer style one?"

Five of the best Helen Grant Ross picks her top five buildings in which the designers have integrated what she call Khmer intelligence into the architecture.

Norodom Sihanouk acclaimed Phnom Penh’s Institute of Technology as the most successfully-designed university building in Cambodia. Inaugurated in 1964, the team of Soviet architects used all the techniques available to accommodate the heat and humidity of the tropics. Walls are made of sunscreens, window openings feature deep recesses and the rooms are cross-ventilated. The roof was also designed to cope with heavy rain. Vann Molyvann’s State Palace is part of the Chamkar Mon Compound in Phnom Penh. Its raised ground floor opened onto the grounds (since walled in) and the design featured cross ventilation and high ceilings. The central reception was initially open on all sides so it interacted with the garden.

Vann Molyvann’s SKD Brewery was inaugurated in Sihanoukville in 1968. Its roof has a six-metre cantilevered overhang to provide protection from the sun, while a skylight diffuses reflected light into the upper floor. The location was only selected after a long search throughout Cambodia for the best water source.

Henri Chatel, the architect behind the National Bank of Cambodia apartment buildings on Sothearos Boulevard, said he always looked for architectural solutions to suit Cambodia’s climate. The suspended VVV-shaped roof provided protection from the heat and rain while providing a space to dry washing. The building was also raised off the ground to provide shade for people or cars. His only regret was that he used concrete, which as a good conductor of heat is unsuited to the tropical climate.

Vann Molyvann also designed the Teacher Training College, library and workshops at what is now the Royal University of Phnom Penh. The buildings were initially surrounded by water so the entrance linking what is now the Institute of Languages to the main campus building takes the form of a huge bridge replete with Angkorian-inspired nagas. The building is raised off the ground in respect of the natural landscape, and it takes the form of an inverted pyramid in which each floor provides shade for the one beneath. It was inaugurated in 1972.

Helen Grant Ross is a dual French-British national who has lived in Phnom Penh since 1997. She was coordinator and lecturer at the Royal University of Fine Art’s faculty of architecture and urbanism for three years and is the author of Building Cambodia: New Khmer Architecture 1953-1970 with Darryl Leon Collins.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/traditional-knowledge-key--built-future The Phnom Penh Post 18 August 2009

Reimagining Cambodia By Dianne Janes

A new documentary provides further impetus to the push to preserve concrete examples of buildings that can inspire the next generation of architects in Asia

The philosopher Alain De Botton once said, "Beautiful architecture has none of the unambiguous advantages of a vaccine or a bowl of rice." And he could easily have been talking about Cambodia - where practical considerations often far outweigh cultural and aesthetic ones.

Preserving modern architectural treasures is an uphill battle when faced with rapid economic change and prosaic attitudes towards development. But a growing number of voices are calling for a new approach to architecture in the Kingdom - one that preserves modern cultural heritage but also acknowledges Cambodians' rights to forms of shelter that go beyond the utilitarian. That is, designs that use space, resources, and the surrounding environment to express local values and ideas about how to live. "It is architecture's task to render vivid to us who we might ideally be," says De Botton.

At Meta House tonight, founder Nico Mesterharm takes over his rooftop pulpit to present an evening celebrating the work of Cambodia's most famous architect, Vann Molyvann. Mesterharm's own recently completed documentary Concrete Visions: New Khmer Architecture will screen for the first time. There will also be a presentation on the work of The Vann Molyvann Project, a group of dedicated volunteers aiming to document Vann Molyvann's work in depth in the hopes of saving it from future demolition.

Following Cambodia's independence from France in the 1950s, then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk commissioned hundreds of new buildings to be constructed as Cambodia sought to express its own identity. Vann Molyvann seized the opportunity to create a form of architecture unique to Cambodia, using design features drawing on international trends as well as incorporating the needs of the local environment. The resulting style created by Vann and his peers became known as "New Khmer Architecture."

Famous examples around town include the Chaktomuk Conference Centre, the Independence Monument and the National Sports Complex (also known as the Olympic Stadium). Vann Molyvann's work has recently experienced a resurgence in popularity due in part to the locally run Khmer Architecture Tours, which have drawn attention to his work, and the publication of a book, Building Cambodia: New Khmer Architecture 1953-1970, by Helen Grant Ross and Darryl Collins.

Mesterharm's documentary is a sad but timely reminder of what is happening to some of Phnom Penh's iconic buildings in the rush to development. Only last year, two of Vann Molyvann's most notable designs - the Council of Ministers and the National Theatre - were demolished to make way for new constructions. Concrete Visions exposes some of the shady deals occurring as the Cambodian government sells off architecturally significant public buildings to foreign owners with little or no regard for their historic and cultural value. One of the joys of the film is the use of plenty of archival footage of Cambodia in the swinging '60s. It is Phnom Penh as you've never seen it - clean, well-ordered streets lined with trees, modern, polished buildings and stylish locals sporting beehive hairdos and miniskirts, strolling by the pool. It's easy to forget that Cambodia was once considered "an oasis of peace in the region", according to Vann Molyvann, envied by its neighbours and rapidly modernising under Sihanouk's firm leadership. The footage is inspiring and a powerful reminder of why Vann Molyvann's buildings are so important. They remind us of a different, peaceful time, of a unique vision for what Cambodia could be, and of Sihanouk's and Vann Molyvann's joint passion for designing Cambodia's future.

The Vann Molyvann Project is the brainchild of American architect Bill Greaves, who visited Phnom Penh in 2004 and says he "was astonished by the quality of the architecture of the 1960s." After the destruction of some of Vann Molyvann's buildings last year, Greaves quit his job in New York and returned to Cambodia to manage the project. He has assembled a team of volunteers from the US, Russia and Cambodia to meticulously photograph and document each of Vann Molyvann's remaining structures. They are hoping to inspire locals to acknowledge his work and value its preservation, rather than merely seeing the buildings as "old" and rushing to tear them down.

"The buildings have so much to teach the next generation of architects in Cambodia, Asia and throughout the world," Greaves says."Long before the concept of 'green architecture' existed, Vann Molyvann created buildings that work seamlessly with the climate and culture. "This can be seen at the National Sports Complex where water-management techniques based on the Angkor era are rendered in reinforced concrete."

Head along to Meta House tonight - and find out what Cambodia's future might look like. Concrete Visions and a presentation on The Vann Molyvann Project will be shown Tuesday from 7pm at Meta House. http://www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle/reimagining-cambodia

The Wall Street Journal May 28, 2010

Modern Masterpieces By Tom Vater

In the years after Cambodia won independence from France in 1953, Mr. Molyvann—then scarcely in his 30s—set out under the tutelage of King Norodom Sihanouk to transform Phnom Penh from a colonial backwater into a modern city. But in the late 1960s the country was drawn into decades of war and terror, including years under the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, and Mr. Molyvann's vision was virtually forgotten. The architect himself had to flee the country.

And while he returned in triumph after more than 20 years abroad, it was to find that grand titles didn't translate into influence in today's Cambodia. His legacy—structures in a style dubbed New Khmer Architecture—lives on, contributing significantly to the flair of the city, but even that is in danger as Phnom Penh, like other Asian capitals, clears historic buildings to make room for skyscrapers.

Cambodia is best known for its magnificent temple ruins at Angkor, remnants of a great Southeast Asian empire that covered the country's current territory as well as parts of Vietnam, and Laos. After Angkor fell to the Siamese in the 15th century, a new Cambodian capital was founded on the banks of the Tonlé Sap River. That city, Phnom Penh, remained an unstable settlement, caught up in the geopolitical ambitions of Cambodia's more powerful neighbors, until the French arrived in the 1860s. The colonial administrators drained the neighboring swamps and created a grid street plan, dotted with sumptuous villas, Art Deco markets and impressive government structures.

Mr. Molyvann received a scholarship from the colonial government and set off for the Sorbonne in Paris where he met Henri Marchal, the curator of Angkor for the École Française d'Extrême-Orient [the French School of Asian Studies]," Mr. Molvyann remembers, " suddenly I knew I wanted to be an architect, so I changed to the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, where I studied until 1950 under Le Corbusier." He regards that modernist architect and designer as his greatest teacher.

Mr. Molyvann stayed on in Paris for several more years, studying Khmer art. By 1956, he was back in Phnom Penh. Independence had broadened Cambodia's horizons, in part thanks to the efforts of King Sihanouk. With tremendous energy and not a little royal eccentricity, the young monarch worked to create a modern nation with an eye on the past. The leading members of an emerging urban elite, many of whom, like Mr. Molyvann, had returned from Paris, sought to create architecture, music, films, literature and art that married Cambodian tradition with modernist thinking.

Nowhere was this more apparent than in new administrative, public and private building projects that sprang up all over the capital—transforming Phnom Penh, within little more than a decade, into one of Asia's most dynamic cities. "It was difficult at the beginning, as Cambodians had never heard of architects," Mr. Molyvann remembers. "All they knew were engineers and builders. There was a real dearth of qualified Khmer experts, as the French had used Vietnamese to administer my country. But within 10 years of independence the management of the country and its capital was Khmer. It was incredible." Mr. Molyvann was made chief architect for state buildings and director for urban planning and habitat in 1956 and given a number of ministerial posts in the following years. Mr. Molyvann had part of the floodplain south of the Royal Palace drained and filled, and on this "Front de Bassac" constructed the country's first high-rises, initially for visiting athletes for the 1966 Ganefo Games, a short- lived Asian alternative to the Olympics. Many of Mr. Molyvann's buildings are traditional in one sense—they are shaped like familiar objects. Chaktomuk Conference Hall, one of his earliest designs, is like an open palm leaf. The library of the Institute of Foreign Languages (now part of the Royal University of Phnom Penh) was inspired by a traditional Khmer straw hat. The lecture halls of the institute rest on sharply angled concrete pillars that give them the appearance of animals, about to jump. They are still in use today, as is the library.

By the early 1960s, for the first time in almost 800 years, Cambodia was blooming. The Angkor ruins were the region's biggest tourist draw, and Phnom Penh had doubled in size and become a city others in the region admired.

But the politics were turning ugly. Soon the Swinging '60s, the meteoric rise of a young nation, the building boom in the "Pearl of Asia” was all over. Mr. Molyvann left for a conference in Israel with his wife and their six children and didn't return. Instead they moved on to Switzerland, his wife's home country. Five years later, the Khmer Rouge marched victoriously into Phnom Penh. The new rulers immediately emptied the cities, and for almost four years Phnom Penh was a ghost town. At least 1.5 million Cambodians, nearly a quarter of the population—Mr. Molyvann's father among them—lost their lives in the killing fields. The fledgling intellectual elite was snuffed out.

"It was not until 1993 that I returned to Cambodia—with the U.N.," he says. Initially, his homecoming was triumphant. He was appointed minister of state for culture and fine arts, territorial management and urban planning and contributed to the application for Angkor's successful recognition as a Unesco World Heritage site.

In the past decade, as investment has begun to pour into the Cambodian capital once more, colonial and 1960s buildings have been replaced by chrome-and-glass edifices, floodwater lakes have been drained, local media have reported almost daily evictions and ministers have gushed over the need to build skyscrapers in order to keep up with the neighbors.

The government frequently declares that preservation has to go hand in hand with development. In practice, it seems to walk well behind. Beng Khemro, deputy director general at the ministry for land management, urban planning and construction, says his department's hands are tied. "Many historical properties are in terrible condition," he says. "The people who own them don't understand the value of the past and would rather demolish them and build high-rises to make a profit. The past is not appreciated. Without a change in attitude amongst the population, we are fighting a losing battle."

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704113504575265531678205848 The Phnom Penh Post 7 November 2013

Bon voyage or deja vu? Post Staff

As Cambodia on Saturday celebrates the 60th anniversary of independence from France, the Phnom Penh property market is still in a quandary about how much colonial architectural heritage should be preserved. Many historic buildings have already gone, some are on the brink of survival, while others, restored close to their former glory, are testament to how the city earned its reputation of once being the Pearl of Asia. This has become a contentious issue. The legacy constitutes part of Phnom Penh’s identity, but some believe the New Khmer Architecture is more vulnerable than its European predecessor. Others believe in development at all cost.

Andeol Cadin, a French architect resident in Phnom Penh for nine years, said this week that whereas the preservation of any noteworthy architecture was in itself worthwhile, there were many competing interests in Cambodia that had to be balanced and many perspectives taken into account. “We all like to see historic buildings preserved, but you have to see it in a cultural context,” he said. “For instance, although there are still many French colonial buildings preserved in Phnom Penh, and many that still could be, the number of outstanding examples of the New Khmer Architecture is rapidly declining,” he said. “It is quite possible that within a few years there may be none left at all.

“The New Khmer Architecture movement is globally recognised – that’s how important it is. So no one could blame people concerned about Cambodian culture to be putting more effort into rescuing those examples. Perhaps that’s where the focus and efforts should be.”

The New Khmer Architecture is more vulnerable than the French, due to the former’s emphasis on external space. In the ’60s, space was an essential notion of architecture. Not only the building itself, but what surrounded the building was absolutely essential. And of course, that space which was part of that architectural composition is threatened because they now build everything they can around it.

Such was the case with Vann Molyvann’s Olympic Stadium, which originally contained a series of pools surrounding the complex that were designed to absorb flood waters during the rainy season. However, that area was filled in with new structures when a Taiwanese firm developed the area in 2000. In addition to harming Vann Molyvann’s architectural vision, the modification has increased incidences of flooding in the area. Such intentional functionality was an integral part of the New Khmer Architecture movement which was unique in the region for its combination of brilliant aesthetics and striking practicality. “I think it is one of the most original types of architecture,” he noted, adding that “Cambodia was the only country in the ‘60s to have this modern, functional architecture in Southeast Asia.” http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/bon-voyage-or-deja-vu South China Morning Post 9 February 2014

Vann Molyvann: the unsung hero of Phnom Penh architecture By David Eimer

Little known among his countrymen, the Cambodian architect's imprints on Phnom Penh are nevertheless iconic. His buildings mostly survived the Khmer Rouge but are now at risk.

There's no mistaking Vann Molyvann's house. Partially hidden behind high steel gates, like most residences in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, his concrete and red brick home supports a soaring, pagoda-like roof. It's a typical Vann Molyvann touch; testimony to the unique ability of Southeast Asia's greatest living architect to fuse European modernism with traditional Khmer design in an apparently seamless style. Built in 1966, the house, on Mao Tse-tung Boulevard, stands in defiance of the homogenous box-like buildings that increasingly surround it. As investment from China and South Korea floods into booming Cambodia, the centre of the capital is changing rapidly, apartment and office blocks being thrown up in seemingly random fashion.

Phnom Penh is renowned for its beguiling blend of architecture: some of the most stunning modernist buildings anywhere in Asia and handsome French colonial structures. Now, rapacious real-estate companies are demolishing much of that past as they take advantage of rising land prices. "I don't think the government cares about or respects architecture. They don't care about the French colonial heritage or my work or that of my contemporaries," says Vann Molyvann, a tall, frail 87-year-old, who nevertheless remains dapper, dressed in an all-grey ensemble of trousers, shirt and tie. "The government could do something to preserve the buildings. They work very closely with the property developers and could tell them. But they're only interested in selling the land."

Watching the transformation of the city is particularly painful for Vann Molyvann. Not only was he Cambodia's chief town planner in the late 1950s and 60s, he was also the kingdom's state architect, and thus responsible for many of the buildings that are being torn down to make way for the steel and glass skyscrapers. In a remarkable burst of creativity between 1957 and 1970, Vann Molyvann designed, or helped plan, almost 100 structures. Ranging from the Arc de Triomphe-inspired Independence Monument and the iconic National Sports Complex, still Cambodia's largest venue and once the finest arena in all of Southeast Asia, to banks, breweries and universities, Vann Molyvann's buildings helped turn Phnom Penh into perhaps the most eye-catching city in the region.

Combining the influence of Le Corbusier's austere modernism with the ancient tenets of Cambodian architecture that produced such wonders as the temple complex of Angkor Wat, Vann Molyvann's buildings were far ahead of their time. Both environmentally conscious and utilitarian, they appear avant- garde even now.

"Whenever I show Vann Molyvann's work to foreign architects or organisations like Unesco, they can't believe that this is indigenous architecture created after Cambodia became independent," says Helen Grant Ross, an Anglo-French architect and co-author of Building Cambodia: New Khmer Architecture 1953-70. "He invented something new. His work is much more audacious and innovative than any British architecture of the 1960s." Yet, for all his achievements and status as the finest modern architect to emerge from Southeast Asia, Vann Molyvann is an unheard prophet in his own country and barely known overseas. That neglect is due mostly to Cambodia's turbulent and tragic recent history. The advent of Pol Pot and the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime forced Vann Molyvann into exile for 20 years and, when he returned, architecture suddenly seemed less important. "It felt like coming home to a different country, when I returned in 1991," says Vann Molyvann. "There were only 14 members of my family still alive. One of my brothers had been killed by the Khmer Rouge and I had to help my other brothers find work so they could send their kids to school. It was a time for reconstructing families."

Some of Vann Molyvann's most impressive buildings are gone forever - in 2008, both the National Theatre and the Council of Ministers building were demolished. The White Building, a vast network of apartments the design of which Vann Molyvann oversaw, has been neglected to the point where it is little more than slum housing. Some of his other buildings, such as the Phnom Penh Centre, have been renovated with little thought and are barely recognisable as Vann Molyvann's work.

Most upsetting for the architect is the fate of the National Sports Complex. Built to host the 1963 Asian Games, the 60,000-seat arena incorporated an intricate series of pools to protect it from monsoon floods, a deliberate imitation of the moats surrounding Angkor Wat, and Vann Molyvann regards it as his crowning achievement. "To be in charge of such a big project at such a young age was exceptional for me," says Vann Molyvann, who was just 36 when he designed the complex. "It's my favourite building, along with my house. When King [Norodom] Sihanouk opened the stadium, it was a hugely emotional moment for me."

But in 2001, the arena was sold to a Taiwanese company. It filled in the pools and constructed offices and shops on parts of the grounds, completely compromising Vann Molyvann's vision. Many believe it is only a question of time before the stadium is razed. "The National Sports Complex sits on 30 hectares of land in the middle of Phnom Penh and that's worth a lot of money now," says Grant Ross. "There's a real possibility that a lot of Vann Molyvann's buildings will disappear. If they don't make any money for the developers and the crony politicians, they'll be squeezed into oblivion."

Such a fate was unthinkable when the arena opened and Cambodia was going through its own version of the swinging 60s. King Sihanouk had won Cambodia's peaceful independence from France 10 years earlier, in 1953, and the country was enjoying a cultural revival as neighbours Vietnam and Laos were enduring war. Until 1970, when King Sihanouk was overthrown in a coup, Cambodia was in its second "golden age" - a deliberate reference back to the time between the ninth and 14th centuries, when the Khmer empire was at its height and Angkor Wat was built. Filmmaking and the arts flourished while a vibrant music scene that, like Vann Molyvann, took its cues from both home and the West emerged as the country underwent an extraordinary cultural rebirth.

"A lot of Khmers who had studied abroad came back and were very keen to explore their culture," says Vann Molyvann. "There were new movements in music, film, dance and art. For example, the Royal Ballet sent people into the forests and mountains to record traditional folk dances and to incorporate them into modern dance. It was a huge renewal of our culture. "It was a heady time and one I look back on with huge affection."

Vann Molyvann was one of those Khmers who had returned to the country post-independence. Born in 1926 in Kampot province, southwest Cambodia, the son of a minor civil servant, Vann Molyvann won a scholarship to study law at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France. "No one in Cambodia really knew what architects did, but everyone knew lawyers could find work so I chose to study law," says Vann Molyvann. "But I failed the Latin part of my Roman law exam and so I went to the School of Fine Arts to study architecture instead." His time in France, and the years he spent in exile in Switzerland with his Swiss wife, has resulted in French being Vann Molyvann's preferred foreign language. And it was the Swiss- French architect and urban planner Le Corbusier who would be his greatest inspiration." Le Corbusier was at the forefront of the movement for planned cities," says Vann Molyvann. "But I was also influenced by the garden cities being built in the UK. I liked both concepts."

By the time he returned to Cambodia, in 1956, Vann Molyvann was one of only four foreign-trained architects in the country. A year later, and aged just 30, he was appointed Cambodia's chief architect by King Sihanouk and began work on the Chaktomuk Conference Hall, his first building. Located on the banks of the Tonle Sap River and close to the royal palace, the startling, fan-shaped hall is one of the few Vann Molyvann projects to have been properly maintained, and it remains in regular use.

Vann Molyvann's real genius was his ability to adapt the concepts of modern Western architecture to the needs of a developing country. "Places like Hong Kong and Singapore have glass and steel buildings because they can afford air-conditioning. Vann Molyvann knew Cambodia couldn't afford that, so he got round it by orienting all his buildings north, so the sun isn't shining directly in and they can be kept cool," says Grant Ross. "He raised his buildings off the ground, which is logical for a city like Phnom Penh, which is located in the Mekong river basin and prone to floods."

Despite his huge impact on the planning and look of Cambodia's capital, Vann Molyvann remains little known in his home country. "I hadn't heard of him until I started studying architecture. But even then, we weren't told much about him," says Keo Rottany, a 33-year-old architect in Phnom Penh. "We didn't study any modern Khmer architecture. We learned only about traditional Angkorian architecture. It was only when I did my master's [degree] in Japan and spoke to foreign architects that I began to understand his achievements."

Vann Molyvann's career as a high-profile working architect lasted only 13 years. Along with his wife and six children, he went into exile in 1971, as Cambodia descended into chaos ahead of the Khmer Rouge takeover, in 1975. He spent much of his time abroad working for the United Nations on housing projects for developing countries. When he returned to Phnom Penh, he found his house had become the government office for land administration. After petitioning for its return, Vann Molyvann devoted the rest of the 1990s to working for an NGO charged with preserving Angkor Wat.

http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1421349/vann-molyvann-unsung-hero-of-phnom- penh-architecture In Asia / The Asia Foundation February 18, 2015

Is Phnom Penh Losing its Luster under Rapid Urbanization? By Silas Everett, Asia Foundation’s country representative in Cambodia

Phnom Penh has played the role of economic, political, and social center of Cambodia for almost 150 years. Now, rapid urbanization threatens the city’s architectural heritage.

There were around 32,000 people living in Phnom Penh when the Pol Pot regime was expelled from the city in 1978. Today, there are over 2 million people crammed into Cambodia’s capital, growing by an estimated 50,000 people each year. Its rapid growth comes with increasing pressure on the city for jobs, housing, services, and transportation. As the informal sector in the city swells to accommodate more and more jobless people, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see how economic development alone will take care of the basic needs of residents such as housing, education, and environmental and health infrastructure and services.

Cities in developing Asia are known to suffer from extreme divisions. In many places, the poor live in informal settlements and slums while the rich live in gated communities and well-serviced condominiums. With urbanization comes the all-too-familiar problems of flooding, gridlocked traffic, trash removal, lack of access to sanitation, insecure land tenure, overcrowding, and air pollution. While the rampant destruction of heritages sites is equally commonplace, it is often overlooked or written off as “collateral damage” of development.

Cambodia in many ways is an outlier. Angkor Wat, a living symbol for the Khmer nation at its height of command almost 1,000 years ago, holds a place on foreigners’ bucket lists, attracting over 2 million visitors last year alone. The quality of Angkor Wat’s preservation is attributed to the Royal Government of Cambodia’s decision in 1993 to combat looting, clear landmines, and turn the site into a world-class tourist destination. Yet even with the influx of foreigners, Siem Reap province, home to Angkor Wat, remains one of the poorest in Cambodia.

Cambodia struggles with its past as much as it does with its current development. Visitors flock to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, while few appreciate the equally stunning sunrise over the less famous Olympic Stadium at the National Sports Complex in Phnom Penh. The complex was sold to a developer in 2001, and today, new high-rise construction projects loom over the stadium, a heaving cornice of concrete. The number of new condominiums alone is expected to increase five times in the next five years. Inspired by Angkor Wat, the Olympic Stadium is a rare piece of Cambodia’s modern architectural heritage. For the thousands of city residents who come to the stadium for their daily morning exercise it provides one of the last open spaces in the city.

Inspired by Angkor Wat, the Olympic Stadium is a rare piece of Cambodia’s modern architectural heritage. For the thousands of city residents who come to the stadium for their daily morning exercise it provides one of the last open spaces in the city.

Following its independence from France in 1953 to the outbreak of civil war in 1970, under the direction of the late King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia experienced a renaissance of architecture and the arts. In the 1960s, Cambodia was the only country in Southeast Asia to have modern, functional architecture, owed in large part to the genius of Vann Molyvann, by far Cambodia’s most prodigious architect and credited with being the father of the “New Khmer Architecture” movement. During this era, Vann Molyvann, leaving the French colonial edifices intact, designed iconic landmarks such as Chaktomuk Conference Hall, the Council of Ministers, the State Palace (now the Cambodian Senate), and of course the Olympic Stadium. Through meticulous city planning, Vann wove environmental considerations into the urban fabric of Phnom Penh, making him stand out among modernists of his time.

From French colonization to Khmer independence, and from Maoist revolution to capitalist revival, Phnom Penh has always appeared to be a canvas on which its rulers have sought to remake their own history through surges of destruction and construction. The Vietnamese-backed government quickly made monuments out of the killing fields and S-21 interrogation center, a stark reminder to Cambodians and the international community of the atrocities committed by Pol Pot. Yet today, the embrace of the French colonial era and Sihanouk’s modernism appears to be less decisive. With foreign funding, the city has carried out rehabilitation projects including the Central Market (Phsar Tmei), and with private funding, rehabilitated several historic buildings in the old city center, including the Khan Daun Penh, for use as hotels, retail stores, and restaurants. The fan-shaped Chaktomuk Conference Hall, managed by the Ministry of Culture, still stands proudly near the Royal Palace. These are treasures of the city, and vivid reminders of Cambodia’s deep architectural heritage.

However, laissez faire city planning might be the greatest threat to the architectural heritage of Phnom Penh. After surviving American bombing, the Khmer Rouge, and the Vietnamese invasion, Vann Molyvann’s National Theatre and the Council of Ministers building were torn down in 2008. As no comprehensive record of these works exist, they have become ghosts of what has been called Cambodia’s “Golden Age.”

The sweet spot for architectural conservation is small and elusive. Finding a balance between individual political and economic interests and collective cultural and social interests is not easy. With an entire generation of intelligentsia wiped out by the Khmer Rouge, reviving collective cultural interests even among the rising middle class will undoubtedly take time and investment.

Fortunately, innovative inroads are being made. The soon-to-be-released film, The Man Who Built Cambodia, which received research and archival assistance from the Vann Molyvann Project and financial support from The Asia Foundation, will help tell the story of architectural icon Vann Molyvann. A crowdfunding campaign for the film offers those who donate $9 the opportunity to get a high-quality digital download of the film before anyone else gets it. It’s a perfect primer before you take a cyclo ride through central Phnom Penh on an excursion guided by Khmer Architecture Tours led by Cambodian architects and students of architecture. But more is needed obviously.

Reaping the full value of Phnom Penh’s heritage requires vision and investment. In the heart of the old city sits Post Office Square, lined by Chinese-style shop houses, restaurants, and a hotel forming an open plaza. From there, you can duck into Van’s Restaurant, converted from the old Indochina Bank building, or enjoy a lunch in the shade of its courtyard. One barely has to squint across the plaza to visualize a pedestrian walk or outdoor shopping street. The possibilities are tantalizingly close and yet, for the time being, AEON Mall, Cambodia’s first mega mall, seems to be capturing the popular imagination.

In Asia is a weekly in-depth, in-country resource for readers who want to stay abreast of significant events and issues shaping Asia’s development. Drawing on the first-hand insight of over 70 renowned experts in over 20 countries, In Asia delivers concentrated analysis on issues affecting each region of Asia. In Asia is posted and distributed every Wednesday evening, Pacific Time and is accessible via email and RSS.

http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2015/02/18/is-phnom-penh-losing-its-luster-under-rapid-urbanization/ The Phnom Penh Post 11 July 2015

Building a legacy By Moritz Henning

Almost 40 years after Lu Ban Hap fled Cambodia, German architect and journalist Moritz Henning set out to find arguably the most overlooked contributor to the Kingdom’s architectural legacy.

It was a cool day last December, the sky overcast with grey clouds. For nearly two years, I had been searching, spending late nights scouring Google, telephone books and architects’ directories – without success. Then, just as I was ready to surrender, I hit upon someone who could help me – a French filmmaker I found via Facebook provided me with an address. And now I was standing in a quiet suburb of Paris outside the rather inconspicuous house of Lu Ban Hap, one of Cambodia’s most significant – and in my opinion most significantly overlooked – modern architects.

In 2006, the publication of Helen Grant Ross and Darryl Collins’s key tome Building Cambodia: New Khmer Architecture 1953-1970, laid the foundation for a renewed appreciation of the architecture of the so called “golden age” – a time of striking architectural flourishing that Norodom Sihanouk himself once announced to be on a par with the achievements of the Angkorians. But in the flurry of interest that has followed, it has almost always been the work of one architect in the spotlight: Vann Molyvann, the creator of architectural gems including the National Stadium and Chaktomuk Theatre.

Molyvann may have been the most radical and, with more than a hundred buildings to his name, perhaps the most successful architect of the age, but he was not the only one. Alongside him there worked a number of ambitious architects and planners, who returned from studies abroad to make important contributions to the country’s urban landscape. Perhaps the most prominent member of this cohort was Lu Ban Hap.

Ban Hap’s architecture still defines Phnom Penh’s cityscape: the Hotel Cambodiana, the Chenla Theatre and – an uncomfortable claim to celebrity – the Lycée Tuol Svay Prey that later became the notorious S- 21 prison camp. His most famous landmark, and one regularly misattributed to Molyvann, is the iconic White Building, which he designed in 1963 together with Ukraine-born engineer Vladimir Bodiansky.

But as head of Phnom Penh’s most important city-planning institution, Ban Hap’s influence on the shape of the city stretched far beyond buildings. He was responsible for creating the public gardens that once encircled the White Building, a park around the now filled-in Boeung Kak lake (modelled on Paris’ famous Bois de Boulogne), and the long boulevard in front of Independence Monument that remains to this day.

As an architect and journalist living in Berlin, I had first heard Ban Hap’s name when I visited Cambodia in 2007. I had discovered the great works of Molyvann, but wanted to go deeper – to open the eyes of others to the role played by the other Cambodian architects. And so I started the search that would ultimately lead me to this address at the very edge of Paris.

A gifted youth Lu Ban Hap was born in 1931 in Kampong Cham province. At the age of 14 he moved to Phnom Penh to attend a secondary school. “Life was hard,” he told me of those early days. “I lived in a pagoda and had no money; my family was far away. I could hardly learn because the daily routine in the pagoda did not fit to mine. When the monks put out the light, I went out into the street and sat down under a streetlight to continue learning.” On the verge of giving up his studies and returning home to Kampong Cham, Ban Hap spotted a familiar face in the street – the Minister of State, Penn Nouth, who he’d known when he was governor in Ban Hap’s hometown. “I gathered all my courage and asked him if he could offer me some work,” Ban Hap recalled. Penn Nouth, impressed by the courage of young Ban Hap, took him into his family, enabled him to finish school and stayed his mentor and friend until his death in 1985.

In 1949, Ban Hap became part of the wave of Cambodian students sent to Paris on academic scholarships. Initially, he wanted to become an engineer. But on the advice of Molyvann – who had arrived in Paris three years previously – he changed course. “At that time, there were no qualified architects in Cambodia,” said Ban Hap. “Molyvann told me that this could be our chance and won me over.”

By the time he qualified, Ban Hap had developed grand designs for his career and was intent on travelling to Brazil to work on the futuristic new capital Brasilia that modernist master Oscar Neimeyer was building at that time. “Friends were already there and urged me to follow,” recalled Ban Hap. “But Sihanouk said no.”

Cambodia’s head of state, who Ban Hap had first met during Sihanouk’s stay in a Parisian hospital when he was roped in by his old mentor Penn Nouth to entertain the prince, didn’t want to let the young, well- trained architect go. Ban Hap obeyed his orders to return to Phnom Penh in 1960, where he was immediately commissioned to set up the Phnom Penh municipality’s department of housing and town planning. In his new role, Ban Hap was given carte blanche by Phnom Penh governor Tep Phan to modernise the city’s planning. It was a task whose vastness he relished. “When I arrived in Cambodia, the land languished,” he told me. “There was no one who cared, no cadres, no administration. had been managed from Hanoi, but the French were gone indeed. We had to build everything new, but for me it was good.”

With 12 employees, Ban Hap, still only in his thirties, managed everything from urban planning to the design and maintenance of public gardens, waste management, street lighting, power supply and building permits. He also carried out a survey of the population and the buildings of Phnom Penh. “If you direct a city, you have to know how many Khmer, Chinese or Muslims live in the city so that you know where to build a school or a mosque,” he explained, adding: “Before me, there was nothing. I was the first who began to look at the city this way.”

Under Ban Hap’s direction, Phnom Penh edged its way towards a new status as a metropolis to be admired. “Once, the president of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, came to see Phnom Penh,” recalled Ban Hap. “He was in despair and asked me how I can do it just to keep the city neat. Singapore then was a dirty city. Phnom Penh, however, was called the Pearl of Asia.”

Alongside his governmental work, Ban Hap established his own architectural practice out of his villa on Monivong Boulevard, and later also founded a construction company. Among the projects commissioned through his private offices were universities, factories and villas for Norodom Sihanouk and his daughter, the princess. The White Building, commissioned by the municipality to house athletes at the Southeast Asian games and then later privatised, was never one of Ban Hap’s favoured designs. “The Cambodiana Hotel and my own house, yes, they were important to me, but the White Building, no. It was not my own project,” he said. A career cut short Ban Hap was well into a four-year-long research project looking at the future direction of development in Phnom Penh when Lon Nol took power in 1970, and all grand plans for the country fell apart. Many of his colleagues, including Molyvann, saw the dark clouds rising and left the country. Ban Hap’s wife and children returned to France, but the architect himself remained, a decision he says he made out of a sense of duty to his country.

In the increasing turmoil of the civil war, work became difficult. “We could not do anything. More and more people came to Phnom Penh. My service was busy only to provide them with the basic necessities,” Ban Hap recalled, referring to the massive rural migration to the capital caused by US bombing in the provinces. “And there were no more building materials. One of my clients had to fly in the cement from Bangkok because he absolutely wanted to go on with building.”

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh, and Ban Hap, like the rest of the population, was evacuated to work in a rural labour camp. After three months he executed a daring escape. Accompanied by his niece, he walked – mostly at night – all the way to Saigon, from where he flew to Hanoi, then Vientiane and Bangkok, and finally Paris. The trip took months, and it was only on reaching Bangkok that he could telegram his family to tell them he was alive. The telegram said simply, “We come.”

Once settled in Paris, Ban Hap started work again, but he never recaptured the magnitude of his Cambodian achievements. He was employed by a laundry chain, and fitted out restaurant interiors on the side. In 1978, he designed and built the house where he and his wife live to this day, and then another house next door for his old friend Penn Nouth, who came to Paris in 1979.

Ban Hap returned to Cambodia for the first time in 1989 to support the work of the NGO Médecins du Monde. Until 1994, he made annual visits to the country, overseeing the construction of orphanages and hospitals. He was asked to return to Cambodia permanently, but refused. “I told them I’m too old and my wife and children don’t want to leave, they have their friends here,” he explained. But I felt there was more that he was leaving unsaid. “I could have done so much more for my country,” he told me when dropping me off at the airport to return to Berlin. “But my career was at an end when I was 45.” “I only had 15 years. That was not enough.” http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/building-legacy