Vann Molyvann and the New Khmer Architecture of Phnom Penh

Cambodia became independent in 1953. In the fifteen years that followed, its capital acquired a set of public buildings of a distinctive character: modern in structure, tropical in their handling of sun and rain, and Khmer in their outlines. The movement is known as New Khmer Architecture, and its leading figure was Vann Molyvann.

The architect

Vann Molyvann was born in 1926 in the province of Kampot. He won a scholarship to Paris in 1946 and trained as an architect at the École des Beaux-Arts from 1947. He returned in 1956. Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who was then directing the country’s development, appointed him state architect and head of public works.

Over the following years he designed many public buildings: theatres, a stadium, educational buildings and monuments. In 1967 he also became minister of education. After the coup of 1970 he left for Switzerland.

He returned in 1991, held ministerial office and later headed APSARA, the authority responsible for Angkor, until he was dismissed in 2001 after disagreements over development there. He died in Siem Reap in September 2017, aged 90.

The ideas

His buildings start from the climate. Phnom Penh is hot all year and floods in the monsoon. He raised his buildings on columns, as Khmer houses are raised on stilts. He gave them double walls and roofs and openings that let air through without machinery, and used water features such as moats for cooling and drainage.

The structures are modern, in reinforced concrete. The references to Khmer tradition are in the outlines, such as tiered roofs and spires, rather than copied ornament.

What to see

The Independence Monument (1958). A lotus-shaped tower in the manner of a Khmer temple, commissioned by Sihanouk to mark independence, at the crossing of two boulevards. It remains the city’s best-known national monument.

Chaktomuk Conference Hall (1961). On the riverfront near the Royal Palace. The roof is shaped like a fan and the building is topped with a golden spire, drawn from traditional Khmer forms.

The National Sports Complex (1964). Usually called the Olympic Stadium, and one of his best-known works. The main stadium, designed for a very large crowd (reported as up to 60,000 at the outset), was shaped largely from excavated earth. The complex also has an indoor arena and swimming pools. The stadium still stages football matches, and local people use the grounds for exercise.

The Institute of Foreign Languages. Built to house the institute, now part of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, on Russian Federation Boulevard. It shows the same attention to ventilation, shade and a raised floor in a hot climate.

What has been lost

The National Theatre on the river, opened in 1968, was gutted by fire in 1994 and demolished in 2008. The White Building, a long block of apartments of about 1963 on the riverfront, by other architects but a landmark of the same movement, was demolished in 2017. Other buildings have been altered or lost. The pressure on land in Phnom Penh is intense, and none of these buildings is beyond risk.

Interest has grown as the buildings have gone. A documentary film, The Man Who Built Cambodia, was released in 2016.

For travellers

The Independence Monument and the Chaktomuk hall are seen from the street in the course of any visit to the centre. The stadium grounds are used daily by local people; check access before going. The Institute of Foreign Languages is a working campus, and visits are easiest with one of the architectural tours run in the city by local guides.

The same city has a new landmark at its edge, the airport terminal by Foster + Partners, which is a recent work in a very different idiom. Our three-day guide to Phnom Penh places the modern buildings in a wider visit.