Vann Molyvann and the New Khmer Architecture

A slow tour of the bold modernist buildings of the 1950s and 1960s, when a young independent Cambodia tried to invent its own future.

Area

History & memory

Start from

Independence Monument

Distance

about 8 km by tuk-tuk with short walks

Time needed

half a day

Best season

All year; morning or late afternoon

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

Tuk-tuk hired for a few hours

Tickets & rules

None for exteriors; some buildings are in use and not open inside

Why go

Most visitors come to Phnom Penh for its palace and its markets, and drive past one of its greatest treasures without noticing: a set of modernist buildings from the years just after independence, as daring as anything built at the time in Europe or Latin America, but shaped for the Cambodian climate and rooted in Khmer forms.

This is a gentle route for anyone who loves architecture, or simply for a cooler, cloudy day. You ride between the buildings in a tuk-tuk and walk around each one: a stadium with a great sweeping roof, a conference hall shaped like an opened fan, a university library raised on stilts above a pool.

Once you have learned to see them, the floating roofs, angled concrete screens and breeze-block walls appear everywhere in the city.

The story

Vann Molyvann studied in Paris after the war and came home in the mid-1950s, at the moment of independence. Under the patronage of King, later Prince, Norodom Sihanouk he became chief architect of the state, and in little more than a decade he and a group of Cambodian and foreign colleagues built an astonishing number of public buildings. Their style is now called New Khmer Architecture.

The idea was to combine modern materials and ideas with a deep understanding of the tropics and of Angkor. Buildings were raised to catch the breeze, shaded by deep overhangs and double roofs, cooled by water features and ventilated through perforated screens. Water channels around buildings recall the moats of Angkor.

The National Sports Complex, often called the Olympic Stadium, was completed in 1964 for the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games. Its slopes were formed from earth dug out to create the surrounding water basins, and the stadium was designed to drain monsoon rains naturally. The Chaktomuk Conference Hall on the riverside, from 1961, is shaped like a half-opened palm-leaf fan. The Institute of Foreign Languages at the Royal University of Phnom Penh has a library raised above a reflecting pool, with a roof like an upturned boat.

Many buildings of the period have been lost. The White Building, a long modernist housing block near the Bassac, was demolished in 2017, and others have been altered. Molyvann died in 2017, and his house, a striking concrete villa in BKK1, has become a landmark of the movement.

Getting there

Hire a tuk-tuk for three or four hours and show the driver your list: Independence Monument, the Olympic Stadium, the Institute of Foreign Languages at the Royal University on Russian Boulevard, the Chaktomuk Conference Hall on the riverside. Agree the price in advance.

Local groups sometimes run architecture tours on certain days; they are an excellent way to get inside buildings you could not otherwise see.

A suggested plan

1. MorningStart at the Independence Monument, then ride to the Olympic Stadium.
2. At the stadiumWalk up the stands and around the water basins; in the evening locals come to exercise here.
3. NextRide out to the Institute of Foreign Languages on the university campus; walk around the library and pool.
4. ThenReturn along the riverside to the Chaktomuk Conference Hall near the Royal Palace.
5. FinishCoffee in a café in a restored 1960s shophouse.

Where to stay

BKK1 is the natural base: many of the period houses are here, and it is close to the monument and the stadium.

Good to know

• Bring a wide-angle lens or phone setting for the stadium roof.
• The stadium is liveliest from late afternoon, with aerobics, football and jogging.
• University buildings are in daily use; be discreet.
• Photos of the buildings are best in soft morning or evening light.