AsiaLIFE

Over the past few years, construction in Cambodia has known an unprecedented growth. As the global economy goes into meltdown, the Cambodian volcano seems to have cooled off. Bad news for architects and designers? Not necessarily. We spoke to a number of professionals about their activities in Cambodia and what they think the future holds. Words by Johan Smits.

"It’s a good time for restructuring and rethinking," says Bernard Wouters, architect and senior design manager at Archetype, one of Cambodia’s largest architectural design firms. "I hope that people now have more time to think things through, for example by taking ecology more into account and adopting a more gradual approach. Because of the economic slowdown it’s not just playing catch up any more like it has been so far." Bernard came to Cambodia in 1998 as a U.N. volunteer and also worked here on his PhD about Sensitive Heritage Planning. "Before I was active as an architect for some years in Europe but I really started my career here," says the 39 year-old Dutchman.

Working in Cambodia, with its rich culture of handicrafts and cheap labour, has its advantages. "It allows us to do lots of special, custom-design features," he says. "Here I’m not afraid of taking on labour-intensive projects which would be much more costly in Europe."

To Pascal Bannier, architect and builder at the company Architecture in Asia, it’s also about easy access to people. "We have more time to spend with staff," he explains. "You are closer to everything, the access to important people is easier," he says. But there is a flipside. "Dealing with money here is different, the administration is not the same," he says. "It’s not like expats who are sent here by a company – we have to handle all this by ourselves."

Pascal’s first visit to Cambodia was in 1992 when he was still studying at the University of Montpellier in his native France. His teacher was helping to restart the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) in Phnom Penh and later Pascal assisted him with the renovation of the ITC, the Institute of Technology of Cambodia. Like Bernard, he believes that the current economic slowdown has a good sense. "It offers a quiet time for us to study things."

He is also quite confident about the future. "Cambodia is going up which is good," he says. "It has a positive effect on the real price of things here. If you charge a fee for a project to a person in Europe, he accepts it. If you charge that fee for the same project to the same person here, he thinks it’s too expensive. They expect things to be cheap because they’re in a developing country, but that’s false."

Cost or Quality?

Rainer Striffler established his company Formconsult in 2006. The German architect now employs three young Cambodian architects. According to him, getting established here can be difficult. "The main designer in this country is still the profit-orientated construction company, and for clients price is still more important than quality," Rainer says. "Faults and defects on site are common and will be accepted by the client without complaints – a difficult basis for quality conscious architects and designers."

Khuy Py, head architect with Five-Arc, takes the contrasting viewpoint. According to him, sometimes foreign architects want everything to be to a perfection that can be expensive. "They often use technology and materials that cannot be found here and have to be imported which adds a lot to the price," he says. Py graduated as an architect at RUFA in 1999 and established Five-Arc in 2003. He thinks that local architects have an easier understanding of what Cambodian clients expect.

He is currently working on his biggest project ‘Mount Dream Village’, a 70-hectare weekend resort for tourists in Mondulkiri. "It’s a work in progress, designed around natural resources such as natural air flow instead of air-conditioning, the use of solar energy and wind power, and the creation of energy through a water dam," Py explains. Rainer feels the perception of architecture and design in Cambodia is slowly changing. "There are a lot of Khmers who lived abroad and have been exposed to western standards and designs," he says.

Designing the Future

It’s a view echoed by Swedish designers Sara and Frida Hulten who recently established The Room Design Studio. They offer home decoration, graphic and interior design, and architectural services. "One challenge is tackling the Cambodian way of looking at the property of their neighbour and then copying it," says Sara. "But this is changing now. Before, for some reason, nobody wanted to stand out too much. That is not the case any longer."

According to her sister Frida, having a modern European-style home is becoming more important for Khmers. "For example, traditionally the kitchen was always separated from the main room," she says. "It was the space of the wife and had to be separate. Not any longer – it becomes one space." This changing perception of architecture and design is still a long way off from how most professionals would like to see it.

"Here an architect is often seen as someone who makes a couple of drawings in one day, and there it ends," says Rainer. "It will take more time until society discovers the value of architecture and design with its huge influence on our daily life and even commercial success."

Creating a New Landscape

This perceived lack of understanding and appreciation is also experienced by Sarunya Lormaneenopparat, landscape architect and director of Sa.La.Design, which she established in 2007. "They often think that I’m a gardener," she says. "But large projects need someone who can make a real plan, a landscape architect with a real concept of a garden." Sarunya has worked on private projects such as the Frangipani Hotel in Phnom Penh as well as large mega-projects like Camko City.

"In Thailand people understand concepts easier," she says about her native country. "Here it’s harder to understand what I do. It’s not only about beauty but also about function and ecology." Pascal makes a similar observation about Cambodian architectural students. Growing up in a different environment has shaped a mindset at variance to that commonly found in the West, according to him. "It fundamentally affects your way of thinking," he says. Not that Cambodian students are without skills. "On the other hand they’re very good technicians, very good with computer design and 3D, it helps them a lot in concepts and there are some guys now with good ideas out there."

Opening Minds

For Stephane Dawant, director of architecture at the interior design company I Ching, the main challenge is to open the minds of people. He hopes to achieve this through design. "It’s important to me to train people to be creative," he says. "Ideally I would like to open a school here," the Belgian says. Stephane now has three Cambodian designers who usually work on their own.

Bronwyn Blue used to work with I Ching and opened her own company Beyond Interiors in October last year. The outgoing Australian doesn’t think that the appreciation of design is a cultural thing. "It’s emotional," she says. "It’s walking into this showroom and feeling good about what you see." Bronwyn thinks that the understanding and appreciation of design is fundamental to the growth of the design sector in Cambodia. "There’s one thing to say, ‘here’s the finished product’, and it’s another thing to value the thought process behind it."

Like Stephane, she thinks that education needs to be improved. "There’s more focus on the practical output of specific materials here, but there’s not a lot of fusing, cross-platform training, for example taking a particular material out of its usual function and think, ‘now how can this be used in a different way, for a different purpose?’" She would encourage anyone who has good ideas – exhibitions, demonstrations, projects etc. – to get in touch with her.

Changing Perceptions

Education needs improvement not only in design but also in the field of architecture, according to Bernard Wouters. "Before the war there were a good handful of people but they all studied abroad," he says. "A good project needs a good patron," he points out. "Vann Molyvann had a good patron with the King – there was coherence and vision. Today every client fends for himself, protecting his own interests, highlighting his own project without regard for anyone else."

However, Bernard says he sees a group of young architects who are willing to learn about the great masters from before the war. "But again, they need a good patron," he repeats. To Rainer, these pre-war masters should also have taken on the responsibility of passing on their knowledge to the new generation through teaching. "Moreover, today’s students have a profound lack of educational resources, such as access to affordable good books and professional magazines," he says.

One person who is doing his part in trying to change things is Songtry Tai from EKDESIGN, which offers architectural design and interior decoration services. The moment you walk into their funky office on Street 130, it’s easy to see how Cambodian design could be going through a revival. The reception area has more the feel of a contemporary art gallery than an office. The meeting room doubles up as an informal library where students can come and consult stacks of architecture books and fashionable design magazines, free of charge. Like Py from Five-Arc, Songtry was educated at RUFA. Nearly 90 percent of his clients are Cambodian, but he also has had some foreign-funded projects, most noticeably the private residence of the U.S. ambassador.

"The state of architecture in Cambodia is very much influenced by the political and economic situation," he says. "Clients want to spend less money and think only about the business, about profit. Fortunately some clients don’t worry about money and want a good quality building." According to him, businesspeople are starting to realise that a well-designed building attracts more customers. "Private people too are increasingly becoming aware of this," he says. "When they don’t use an architect, they often have to change things afterwards, break out walls, tear things down… Now they start to realise they can actually save money with an architect."

More Talk and Less Action

But it’s not only using an architect that increases your chance of success. There has to be a good dialogue between the architect, the interior designer and the decorator. In Cambodia this is still the exception rather than the rule. "As an architect, the best thing to do is to start from scratch and work with a designer from the start," says Sara Hulten, an architect by profession. Her sister Frida agrees. "You can save money and time if there’s a dialogue in the network from the beginning, and you end up with a more satisfying and harmonious result."

As a landscape architect, Sarunya experiences much the same. She’s married to a Cambodian architect and teaches part-time at the Department of Architecture at Norton University. "Foreign architects usually understand this and work together from the beginning," she says. "But Khmer clients often build and only afterwards call us in." This absence of planning and vision can also be found on a greater scale. "There’s a lack of infrastructure," Rainer says. "You can’t build Camko City and regularly shut down the electricity of parts of Phnom Penh, or build a Golden Tower without a solution for traffic." Sarunya agrees.

"When the economy booms, development sometimes happens too fast and the government cannot keep up," she says. She thinks there’s too much construction with little regard for open spaces and green zones. "But then, there are not many real landscape architects around here, perhaps three or so." Bernard believes that the lack of government action is inevitable, given the nature of power within the country. "There are too many factions with too many visions," he says. "They have difficulties to get what they want, there’s no outlined vision."

Rainer would like to see more public discussion. "In Europe the chambers of architects and engineers support the work of the government with their knowledge and experience of the urban development of the capitals," he says. "This cooperation should start in Cambodia too."

With the capital becoming increasingly crowded and traffic jams a routine part of daily life, Stephane Dawant believes that its inhabitants crave for a better quality of life. He sees this as an opportunity. "Now that the crazy building boom is over, there’s a chance for quality to emerge," he says. "And the Cambodian mind is ready for that."