Heritage site
White Building (Phnom Penh)
The White Building was a low-cost apartment complex in Phnom Penh, opened in 1963 and demolished in 2017.[1][2] It was first called the Municipal Apartments.[1] The Cambodian architect Lu Ban Hap designed it with Vladimir Bodiansky, as part of Norodom Sihanouk's plans for a new Khmer city.[1][3] Atlas Obscura describes it as a design of Vann Molyvann, and Next City writes that his signature can be seen in the White and Grey Buildings.[4][5] Moritz Henning, writing in The Phnom Penh Post, calls Lu Ban Hap the designer and writes that the building is regularly misattributed to Molyvann.[6] It belonged to New Khmer Architecture, the modern movement that joined Western and Khmer ideas of building after independence, and was among the best-known buildings in the city.[2][3]
- For the 2021 film, see White Building.
Architecture
The design brought together Western modern ideas and Khmer ways of living.[2] Like a traditional Khmer house on stilts, the building rose above an open ground floor, which served for community activities and parking and protected the homes from floods.[2] Each apartment followed the plan of a Khmer timber house, split into two parts: the living and sleeping rooms in front, and the kitchen and toilet at the back.[2] A door between the two parts kept cooking smells out of the living space, and an open area at the back let light and air pass through.[2]
The complex was about 300 meters (980 feet) long and was made up of six blocks joined by open-air staircases.[2][7] In Pen Sereypagna's description, each block was "about the size of a small village in rural areas in Cambodia".[2] The staircases gave easy access to a park that surrounded the building at the time.[7]
History
The building stood on Sothearos Boulevard in the Tonle Bassac neighborhood, a few blocks from the National Assembly and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[1] With its open sky bridge, it drew artists, dancers and photographers.[1] Over the years the building fell into disrepair and became known as a slum, home to students, nuns, children and business owners alike.[1][8]
In 2017, 493 families lived in its six blocks.[1] Most owners agreed to sell their apartments to the government for $1,400 per square meter, a disputed level of compensation set by Chea Sophara, the Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.[8] Days before the demolition, almost all of the families had moved out.[8] Seven families who owned apartments refused to leave or to accept a price they considered below market value, and four other families living along the complex's right of way also stayed.[1] The city had declared the building too run-down to renovate.[3] Demolition began on July 17, 2017.[1][2] Like the Preah Suramarit National Theater, torn down in 2008, the White Building made way for new development.[2]
In 2017 the government planned a 21-story complex for the site, under a build-operate-transfer concession with the Japanese company Arakawa, at a cost of $80 million.[1] As of 2023, the company NagaCorp was using the site to build Naga 3, a 75-story casino, restaurant and hotel complex.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Global Voices, Radio Free Asia, A Final Glimpse of Cambodia's Iconic Phnom Penh White Building Before Its Demolition (July 25, 2017)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 docomomo journal, Pen Sereypagna, New Khmer Architecture: Modern Movement in Cambodia between 1953 and 1970 (issue 57, 2017)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Le Petit Journal Cambodge, L'architecte cambodgien Lu Ban Hap s'est éteint (in French, June 27, 2023)
- ↑ Atlas Obscura, Vittoria Traverso, The Architect Who Married Modernism and Ancient Khmer Style (October 13, 2017)
- ↑ Next City, Daniel Otis, Phnom Penh's Most Famous Urban Planner Sees a City on the Verge of Collapse (December 31, 2013)
- ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, Moritz Henning, Building a legacy (July 11, 2015)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Phnom Penh Post, Celebrating the past (April 3, 2008)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Radio Free Asia, Phnom Penh's Iconic White Building Set For Demolition (July 18, 2017)