Hover above the Garden, Embedded in the Nature

A Campus Park in the heart of Phnom Penh

Year 5 | Academic Project
Type: Campus Park, Performing Art Center, & Education
Location: Tonle Bassac, Phnom Penh Cambodia
Professor: Dr. Carlo Santoro
Individual Work

Design Narrative

When more urbanizations happen in the city, it increases air temperature. This is because Phnom Penh’s land use is changing, making it crucial for projects to dedicate some green space. The fundamentals of design prioritize on preserving as many existing trees as possible, maintaining what the area already offers, and integrating the architecture into its surroundings and context. The programs of the project is based on the five pillars of a thriving community: art, culture, education, sport, and leisure. The phrase “Embedded in the nature, Hover above the garden” refers to the concept of elevating architectural forms above the ground and by arranging volumes of the architecture on air and embedding much of the functions into the grass slopes, to create more green space on the ground level for parks, greenery, people engaging with nature, children playing on the grass, and creating the green spaces that Phnom Penh residents so desperately need. By lifting the forms and volumes of the architecture, it creates flows of natural ventilation, protects and provides shade to the users from the hot sun. These buildings sit in a new park that is open to both the university population and the general public. Embedded by the river in the Koh Pich area, the project was designed in response to provide a fresh set of lungs for the Phnom Penh population, acting as sponges of carbon dioxide and sources of breathable air, in a form of easily accessible pockets of nature in urban spaces – including parks, gardens, and green spaces to boost people’s health and wellbeing. Appearing as if sculpted by wind, water and nature, the structure blends in with the landscape and surrounding context as a harmonious integration of relations between local identity, art, and culture. The proposed center, which is located on the city’s central axis and is surrounded by its Tonle Sap River and Mekong River, would serve as a new place of attraction for children, adults, and seniors in the city of Phnom Penh.