PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Design Intent: Provide a space where visitors could be welcomed and experience the work of AHC without jeopardizing patient privacy. The solution is a layered, transparent structure that mediates visitors’ experience of the hospital, drawing on elements of Cambodia’s rich heritage while expressing a modern ethic of cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability.

• Location:  Siem Reap, Cambodia
• Completed 2008
• Size: 3,800 SF
• Institutional
• Description: The architectural form, a simple square structure on an elevated plane, refers to techniques used in traditional raised Khmer homes. Each of nine bays in a square floor plan defines a different programmatic function, including a small theater, private meeting room, gift shop, and gallery and exhibition space. Functionally and symbolically, water lies at the heart of the new building, where an inverted roof channels rainwater to a central reservoir, which is open to the sky through a square aperture. In addition to water collection, the project integrates many environmentally responsible strategies and employed local laborers and artisans in the process.