i don't think i realized it when i booked my flight, but i decided to go to cambodia because of this building. known as "the white building," or sometimes simply, "le building," this is one of phnom penh's most iconic structures. designed by vann molyvann, it's among the few remaining examples of "new khmer architecture," an architectural movement supported by the recently deceased norodom sihanouk in the 50s and 60s. the movement flourished until sihanouk was overthrown in 1970, and many of the structures were destroyed during the khmer rouge. there are a couple of other great buildings around town, however, including the library and the institute of foreign languages at the royal university of phnom penh (i only caught a glimpse of these on my way out of town, but if i ever make it back to pp for a longer period of time, i may try to get some work there... and i'll definitely go by to get some shots of my own. in the meantime, there are some beautiful pics
here.)
le building combines khmer modernism and traditional khmer design (commons spaces, outdoor/shaded couloirs, aeration, inner courtyards, etc). it is home to around 3,000 people (they live in every possible inhabitable space offered in and around the mildew-covered building): families, businessmen, drug dealers, prostitutes... and it is a privileged site in more than one of rithy panh's films. i first discovered it watching his 2007 documentary i've been working on, paper cannot wrap ember. i was struck by how isolated and liminal the space felt in rp's film, how removed the prostitutes he filmed were from the rest of society, and i imagined that this building was somewhere on the outskirts of town, the lone building in a sea of mekong mud and tin shacks. turns out, it was a 5-min walk from my hotel, just down the street from the independence monument. i snapped a few shots on my last afternoon in town, the sun fading fast. it felt like a pilgrimage of sorts.
strategic advertising, i guess
