AsiaLIFE

The director of the Centre Culturel Francais (CCF) Alain Arnaudet describes it as “a dream”. We are viewing models of what could be the park of the future for Cambodia’s capital. The CCF, with the support of renowned Khmer architect Vann Molyvann, is exhibiting concept models put together by 11 groups of local university students as part of a competition called “The Imaginary Park of the Arts”.

The architecture students were asked to create a place where art and leisure could co-exist, in a city where open space is meagre. Most of the world’s major cities are grappling with how to quarantine public space in the face of development. In Phnom Penh the need for investment makes the developer’s dollars even harder to resist. “Phnom Penh is getting bigger and bigger and bigger but nobody thinks about the daily life of the people. In Asia everywhere there is pressure from investors and sometimes the people are so poor the government doesn’t have enough strength to fight,” Alain Arnaudet. The competition and resulting exhibition aims to point out the intangible value of community and artistic spaces. The students were asked to be creative, even radical in their approach.

“The models are much more detailed than they need to be,” says Alain. “That is good for the project because it is a dream, to inspire.” The designs are diverse; some modern, others more traditional, but the tiny Ferris wheels, flowering gardens and ornate bridges make it easy to imagine what such a public space would bring to Phnom Penh.

Student Pan Virak from Norton University says his group based its design on a traditional Khmer village. “The concept related to Khmer culture and the social style of village life.” It includes performance spaces and leisure areas. He says his group used Khmer art and architecture for inspiration. Other models use elements of Chinese and Japanese design, while some are strikingly angular and modern. The students were given an imaginary land area of thirty thousand square metres. Their designs were required to include a theatre, a cinema, an exhibition hall, a restaurant, creative workshops, and outdoor performance and play areas. Student Pan Virak says that may seem like a lot of space in a city like Phnom Penh but he believes it would attract tourists and perhaps more importantly locals. “I think Cambodians would come a lot to visit our buildings and our gardens.”

The winner of the Imaginary Park of the Arts competition was decided by a jury of five experts. Winners Hour Kimhout, Khat Chhorvy and Touch Mey impressed the judges with the fact that they changed the topography to create hills and valleys within the landscape. “What you can see inside you can’t see outside,” Hour Kimhout says. “It’s only when you go in that you can see the secret spaces inside the park.” Alain believes the winning concept was the most creative. “Phnom Penh is very flat, but in a park you can create whatever you want,” he says. “And when you have hills the place doesn’t look so crowded.” After the announcement of the winner architectural visionary Vann Molyvann said he wanted to challenge the students to consider the impact that rampant development is having on the city.

He points to the filling in of Boeng Kak Lake as an example of ill-considered planning. “I want to make the young people think about that,” he said “They are our future architects.”