Journey through Cambodia

Between 1950 and 1970,  Cambodia’s­ leading architect, Vann Molyvann, designed a variety of government buildings, educational institutions, and industrial and residential complexes across the country  for the Sihanouk regime— including the National Sports  Complex and the Institute  of For­eign Languages, pic­tured  here. Vann Molyvann him­self repeat­edly cited the historic  tem­ple complex of Angkor Wat as a source of great inspira­tion for his work (see Michael Falser’s article in this issue). The his­torical model and the modernist sports complex indeed reveal structural similarities,  which Giovanna Silva compellingly juxtaposes in her book 17  April 1975: A Cambodian Journey, accompanied by a text by Peter Fröberg Idling.

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