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 described it as a design of Vann Molyvann, and Next City wrote that his signature could 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]

A weathered concrete apartment block with balconies and shop signs at street level, and motorbikes passing.
The White Building, Phnom Penh, 2014.
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 8
  1. ↑ 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. ↑ 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. ↑ 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)
  4. ↑ Atlas Obscura, Vittoria Traverso, The Architect Who Married Modernism and Ancient Khmer Style (October 13, 2017)
  5. ↑ Next City, Daniel Otis, Phnom Penh's Most Famous Urban Planner Sees a City on the Verge of Collapse (December 31, 2013)
  6. ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, Moritz Henning, Building a legacy (July 11, 2015)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Phnom Penh Post, Celebrating the past (April 3, 2008)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Radio Free Asia, Phnom Penh's Iconic White Building Set For Demolition (July 18, 2017)
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This page was last edited on 22 October 2026, at 01:20.