Lecture in the framework of the programme Folding Concrete, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
12 November 2019
Pen Sereypagna and Vuth Lyno invited me to contribute to their programme Folding Concrete with a lecture about on the life and work of Cambodian architect Lu Ban Hap. Lu became head of the new Service Municipal de l’Urbanisme et d’Habitat (city authority for urbanism and housing) in 1960, and from then on hewas responsible for planning and construction of the city.
Using personal material from Lu Ban Hap and historic postcards and photos, as well as construction and development plans, I highlighted the close connection between Lu Ban Hap’s biography with the political circumstances as well as the interplay of European modernism and Cambodian motifs in his buildings. I also drew attention to the fact that although Lu Ban Hap was hugely influential for the New Khmer Architecture movement, today little is known about his work, which is in danger of being forgotten.
Image: Christian Hiller