Project Summary-min

Pho | 1

Project SummaryGenocide is no stranger to the worlds history. The

Genocide of Cambodian people by the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1979 claimed the lives of approxi-mately 1.7 to 2.4 million people, about thirty percent of the entire Cambodian population at that time. This stag-gering number makes the genocide in Cambodia one of the most devastating genocides hint recent history. Reflecting back on the tragedy, many people were left confused, hurt and in disbelief that something so gruesome can happen. Some survivors want the world to know about these tragedies against humanity and spend the rest of their lives searching for the answers to why and how the genocide went without notice or response. Others choose to stay silent, afraid of even the thought of reliving the nightmares.

After years of research and discovery, the Docu-mentation Center of Cambodia (DCCAM) seeks to provide a permanent place for collective and personal healing as well as a place to teach future generations so that a tragedy of this magnitude and importance will never happen again.1 The Sleuk Rith Institute will be designed as a place for teaching, research and healing

and will consist of a research library, performance theater and genocide memorial as a vessel for healing. The institute then represents a permanent stand against genocide in Cambodia and around the world.

This project investigates how architecture can become the container for healing and bring a sort of resolution to such tragedies as the Cambodian genocide? This event is one that is hard to compre-hend. Its so difficult in fact; many Cambodians do not believe it happened. How can something so tragic go without notice until it was too late? But then again, what happened is in the past and the only thing left to do is deal with the aftermath of it all. This leads the focus onto the survivors and the broader scope of genocide where healing and memory become the most important things to strive for.

Year Zero and Four Year Plan April 17, 1975 came to be known as year zero.

On this day, Pol Pot wanted to start a new nation under the Four Year Plan in which Cambodians were to triple the countrys agricultural production. 2 To meet these impossible demands the Khmer Rouge forced

ARCHITECTURE AND GENOCIDE

A Vessel of Healing and Memory in the Aftermath of the Cambodian Genocide

Sopheak Pho

To those who died, we remember; to those who survived, we hear you; to future generations, let us never forget. For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.

Elie Wiesel, Night

1 Documentation Center of Cambodia - Home. Documentation Center of Cambodia - Home. Web. Spring 2012. .

2 Smith, Icy. Manhattan Beach: East West Discovery, 2010. Print.

2 | Pho

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

4 Years for Reign of Khmer Rouge25% Entire Population Killed80 Memorials Created189 Prisons Discovered380 Killing Fields14,000 Killed in S-21 Prison19,471 Mass grave sites found425,000 Chinese civilians killed2,400,000 Killed between 1975-1979

CAMBODIAN1960 1980 1990

1954: April 26 July 20Geneva Conference: French withdraw from Cambodia, Viet-nam and Laos.

1954 The Khmer Rogue, a com-munist guerrilla group is formed secretly.

1970 - Sihanouk is deposed in a coup while abroad by prime minister Lon Nol and followers. Sihanouk exiled to China.

1960 - Sihanouks father dies and Si-hanouk becomes head of state.

1969 - United States begin secret bombing campaign against North Vietnamese forces on Cambodian soil. Khmer Rouge uses bombing as propaganda to gain supporters.

1975 - Khmer Rouge forces led by Pol Pot de-feats Lon Nol army and take control of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. Cities were immedi-ately evacuted, and the country is cut ofrom outside world. Surrendered Lon Nol army killed, and brutal killings of Buddhist monks, ethnic minorities and educated class.

1979 - Vietnamese troops in-vaded and overthrew Pol Pot regime. Heng Samrin is President and Hun Sen becomes Foreign Minister. Genocide endsGENOCIDE

1940 195019301920 2000 2010

1925: May 19Pol Pot is born as Saloth Sar.

1950Cambodian communists join forces with Vietnam-ese against French colo-nialism.

1970

1926: Apr 13Nuon Chea is born as Lau Ben Kon

1924: Oct 24Leng Sary is born

1931: Jul 27Khieu Samphan is born

1994 - Thousands of Khmer Rouge guerrillas surrender in government amnesty.

1998 - Pol Pot dies in his jungle hideout.

2005 - Tribu-nal to try sur-viving Khmer Rouge leaders gets approval from U.N.

2010 - In Tribunals rst case, Kaing Gek Eav (Duc) sen-tenced to 35 years

2011 - Nuon Chea, Leng Sary, Khieu Samphan tried for crimes against human-ity

Cambodian Maoism- mobilization of the masses in large-scale political movements- through the actions of "dedicated revolutionaries" a new social reality could be formed

agrarian socialism: - rural society as superior to urban - in-dependent farmer as superior to the paid worker - farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values.- People own or in control of means of production and cooperative manage-ment of the economy.- Self sucient society that is entirely in-dependent in production, economy and social policies

49-78,000,000

23,000,000

12,000,0008,000,000

2,400,000800,000

1,200,0005,000,000

POPULATION OF CAM BODIA (millions)

POPULATION GROWTH OF CAMBODIA

19201200

12 Century ADAngkor Wat is built by King Suryavarman II in early 12th century as the state temple and capital city.

everyone from the city to the country side. For four years after the hostile takeover, the entire country was isolated from the rest of the world only left to work on rice fields, dig ditches, build riverbanks and plow fields. Everyone worked from dawn to midnight with little or no food. Because of the harsh work condi-tions and the lack of food many of the Cambodians died to starvation, fatigue, and brutal beatings. Due to the mass deaths and killings, the bodies were taken to mass graves in the country side later to be named the killing fields.

As part of Pol Pots master plan, nearly Cambo-dias entire infrastructure was destroyed including schools, banks, post offices, religious structures,

and other institutions to make way for prisons. One significant building to note is the secret Tuol Sleng High School which was turned into the S-21 prison camp, where people were detained before being taken to the killing field of Choeung Ek where over 20,000 people were executed. The scale of the killings were alarming and by genocide end killing fields were scattered all across Cambodias landscape and to this day new killing fields are still being discovered.

Circumstances of GenocideAs a result of the genocide, many families were

dismantled, pieces of the culture, the arts, music, and artifacts were destroyed, and survivors were scattered throughout the world. My family did not escape this sad

Cambodian Historical Timeline: The events that lead to genocide and consequences after

Pho | 3

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015


CAMBODIAN1960 1980 1990








1940 195019301920 2000 2010



1970











49-78,000,000

23,000,000

12,000,0008,000,000

2,400,000800,000

1,200,0005,000,000



19201200


fate and also ended up refugees during the aftermath of the genocide. Growing up in a Cambodian household, there has always been a huge cloud of unknowns about what really happened. I always sensed that it was something unbearable to even think about and was not something that was talked about at all in conversation. This sentiment is shared among many other survivors who went through this gruesome genocide. Even though this topic is never talked about, sorrow and confusion still resonates from those involved, including my parents, uncle and aunt whom shared the same experiences.

During my childhood, I was carefree and did not know that I myself was living through the aftermath of

the Cambodian genocide moving from refugee camp to refugee camp before finally making it here to the United States. My parents always did a good job of hiding the truth and sheltering their kids from the darkness of the events that took place before my siblings and I were born. Now at the age of twenty-five, I think I am ready to hear their story and other stories of survivors who share the same sentiment of not being able to talk about the events. Its no longer about hiding the truth but bringing it forward in a way that would be beneficial to the survivors, people affected and also those who do not know about it.

This makes story telling a crucial element to the project which makes it important to understand various

4 | Pho

forms of storytelling. The genocide affected a wide range of people all sharing similar stories as well as unique ones. Those affected range from survivors, deceased victims as well as those who are far removed from the genocide. As more and more survivors die every day, it has become increasingly important to further our understanding record the stories.

Sleuk rith are dried leaves that Cambodian religious leaders and scholars have used for centuries to document history, disseminate knowledge, and preserve culture during periods of harsh rule. They represent the beauty of knowledge and the power of human persever-ance during times of peril.

-DCCAM

The Sleuk Rith Institute, as planned by DCCAM, becomes an important outlet for story telling thus healing and memory through the act of storytelling. DCCAM plans to create the Sleuk Rith institute in Phnom Penh the capital city of Cambodia near the Royal University of Law and Economics and a former prison.

Site AnalysisThe site is located in Phnom Penh near the banks of

the Mekong River in southern central Cambodia. Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nations center of economics and industrial activities, as well as the center of security, politics, economics,

cultural heritage, and diplomacy of Cambodia. Specifically, the proposed site for the Sleuk

Rith Institute is a 500 feet by 500 feet plot of land that is bounded by the Royal University of Law and Economics to the north, institutional buildings to the south, a commercial front to the west and residential developments to the east. The site is a very flat site bounded by palm trees and is occupied currently by an elementary school which used to be used as a Khmer Rouge prison during the Democratic Kampuchea era. The site is also relatively flat and is fronted by a busy highway, Monivong Blvd to the west which makes the western part of the site a very important gateway to the institute.

The significance of the movement for a central entity to house the memory of the tragedy is that it goes beyond what have been done so far, usually consisting of smaller scale projects. Creating this center can help bring more of a universal place for everyone to come and heal, giving a face to the faceless and a voice to the voiceless. The institute strives to do this with three different programs that all get at different ways to remember and tell a story.

Project Program The program consists of a performance theater,

research library and genocide memorial. The three programs represent three different ways to heal with expression through the performance theater, education through the research library, and a third way which is harder to define which the act of remembering through

Above Left: User ProfilesAbove Middle: Site Plan showing Surrounding ForcesAbove Middle: Diagram of the Architecture of the Killing FieldsBelow: Program Diagram

Above: Site Plan showing Existing Important Buildings -the convergence back to the city

SLUEK RITH INSTITUTE | PROGRAM SUMMARYSite: Phnom Penh, CambodiaPopulation: 2,234,566Country Size: 68, 898 square milesProvince Size: 262 square milesLocation: 11.33 North and 104.55 E

Typology: Memorial/Research Library/Performance TheaterSquare Footage of Site: 333,500 square feetClient: Documentation Center of CambodiaCivic Service Provided: Memorial/Research/Performance Center

10 20 30 40

Square Footages (1,000 ft )50 60 70 80 905 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 10095

PERFROMANCE THEATER

RESEARCH LIBRARY

PRISON MUSEUM/PATH

EXTERIOR COURTYARDS

Kep

SvayRieng

Sihanoukville

Koh Kong

Battambang

Takeo

KampongCham

Phnom Penh

Siem Reap

Sursat

KampongChhnang

KampongThom

PreyVeng

0 ft 500 ft 1000 ft 1500 ft 0 500 1500

20 MIN

UTE RID

E TO CH

EOU

NG

EK FOR BU

RIAL

1 MILE

2 MILES

1

2

3

4

WAT PHNOM SACRED TEMPLE

TUOL SLENG MEMORIAL MUSEUM

KNOTTED REVOLVER MONUMENT

National

Highwa

y 1

Monivon g Blvd

Preah Norodom

Blvd

CHEUONG EKMEMORIAL

4

1

2

3

Users Feelings/Attitudes Needs Story

the couple

the widow

the descendent

the future

the visitor

50 & 57

87

25

elementary school age

varies

Veasna and Khuon were just teen-agers when they becames victims of genocide and experienced very similar events that shaped their lives today. After the genocide they became husband and wife who were refugees of the geno-cide and nally made it to the United States to start a new life with each other and their kids.

Theeda was 50 years of age when she was forced into hard labor in rural Cambodia. Much like many of her friends during that time, she lost her family including, husband, children and grandchildren to star-vation, exhaustion and brutal killing. She went through the rest of her life very empty inside and wanted nothing more than to forget the event ever happened. She is hopeful that she can over-come the event and move on with her life but even until now, she is nding it hard to heal.

A Place for story tellingDifferent mode of expressionPerform her poetry she wrote

as a way to copeDirect

Aff

ect

Indirect

Aff

ect

Inte

rest

ed

As a child he grew up many of the refugee camps scattered around neighboring Thailand were he was able to live a carefree childhoos without much knowledge of what really happened before he was born. It wasnt until after he made his way to the United States where he became aware that something dark happened to his parents generation. Now he is ready to go back to his roots and dig deeper into what happened.

As the second generation after the onslaught by the Khmer Rouge on the Cambodian people, they are far removed from the events, but are still very affected. Now being the rst generation where this part of history will be taught to them in school, it will be their future duty to learn and teach about the trag-edy so something like this will not happen. The kids will be the future and because of their parents and grand parents generations pers-erverance they are able to live and play a part in unfolding the story.

A vessel to carry out their duty as survivors to tell the

story of what happended and how they survived.

A place to learn about his heritage and history of his

homeland.

A place that can teach them about the history of where

they live.

A place to learn about another culture and history of

a foreign country not much know about.

SadnessDisbelief

Confused

Duty to tell storyAnger

CuriousAnxious

Sadness

CuriousityInnocence

CuriousSimpathetic

As outsiders of the event, they are very interested in learning about the genocide, especially wanting to learn about what led to the events They also realize that there are parallels between this geno-cide and others, including the genocide a in Germany of the Jews. As outisders they bring an unbiased outside perspective on such events as this and can look at it with different eyes.

0

5001000

1500

Comm

orcial PressureFrom

West

Residential PresureFrom

East

Instutional Pressure From North

Instutional/ResidentialPressure From North

10-15 ft

3 ft

10-1 ft

3 ft

10-15 ft

10-15 ft

100-400 Victims/Grave Unit

Pho | 5

Above: Angkor Wat Path Diagrams: Siem Riep, CambodiaBelow: Lakewood Cemetary Mausoleum: Minneapolis, MN

Above: Hiroshima A-Bomb Memorial Museum: Hiroshima, JapanMiddle: Holocaust Memorial Museum: Berlin, Germany

A Sanctuary built as the Sacred holding grounds for Vishnu. Every day the civilians of the Angkor Wat Temple City would take turns serving the Great God and King. The King of that period was seen as the God who overlooks the country and ensures prosperity. Every morning priests would awaken the God, bath him, clothe him and feed him. Then in the afternoon the God would be feed once more and then again fed for supper and changed to get ready for the night. Ensuring the happiness of the God/King goes hand in hand with ensuring the propsperity of the nation.

Not Gathering Grounds: Home for the Gods

1st Terrace (14 feet higher than 2nd Terrace)

2nd Terrace (22 feet higher than 1st Terrace)

3rd Terrace (45 feet higher than 2nd Terrace)

ASC

ENSI

ON

TO

SAC

RED

| LE

VELS

OF

DIF

FICU

LTY

ASC

ENSI

ON

TO

SAC

RED

| #

PEO

PLE

ALL

OW

ED

A

LIBRARY

LIBRARY

LIBRARY

LIBRARY

3rd Gallery

1st Gallery

2nd Gallery

Central Sanctuary (represetning central peak of Mount Meru)

LIBRARY

Cruciform Platform

THE SACRED | LEVELS OF PRIVACY IN SACRED TEMPLEGALLERIES | ARCHITECTURE AS STORY TELLING

VISITOR ENTERS WALK ALONG

GALLERIES AND READS LOOK ATSTORIES ON THE WALLS

ASCENDS TOTHE SECOND TERRACE INTO2ND GALLERY

WALK ALONG GALLERY 2 ANDLOOK AT STORIES

ASCENDS THEUNBELIEBABLY STEEP STEPS TO THE THIRD TERRACE

Vista toA-Bomb Dome

Vista toEast Park View

Vista toCarnial North

The Holocaust Void cuts through the zigzagging plan of the new building and creates a space that embodies absence. It is a straight line whose impen-etrability becomes the central focus around which exhibitions are organized. In order to move from one side of the museum to the other, visitors must cross one of the 60 bridges that open onto this void.

introspection and reflection is. The entire square footage of the programed spaces equals about 130,000 square feet. The performance theater is about 50,000 square feet whereas the research library is 45,000 square feet and memorial museum is 35,000 square. Not included in the programmed square footages are 100,000 square feet of exterior courtyards that will be designed by local landscape architects and could consist of monuments and memorials to reflect the Cambodian genocide.

Sleuk Rith Institute Design Strategies and ProcessPrecedents and Inspirations

Precedents played an important role in the design decisions of the project and just started a lot of the development. Some precedents of note are ones that looked at the path as the main element that organized the plan. At Angkor Wat, the path was about story-telling and the journey to the scared space on the top of the temple complex. The Hiroshima A-bomb Memorial looked at the path as framing a view to the most important element in the site which was the A-bomb building that survived the atomic bomb. The

Jewish Holocaust Museum in Berlin, Germany looked at the path as the connector to the most important spaces in the building and looked at the idea of the void as respecting the silence. After looking at the precedent models were used to explore the path in the Sleuk Rith Institute. Lakewood Cemetery Mausoleum also become important later on in the process as a way to divide the spaces within the museum and delineate between what is path and what the path separates and connects.

Exploring the Path through ModelsAn exploration of quick models looked at the

different ways path is dealt with within a plan. Through modeling a planning scheme that came out of the itera-tions feature a fundamental path that cuts through the entire site that is underground where light is still able to pass through the spaces below. The act of digging into the ground and bring light into the earth created a strong motif of the excavation of the earth in order to shed more light and knowledge on the events and consequences of the genocide between 1975 and 1979. Much of the plan and the rest of the investiga-

6 | Pho

tion was derived from the 11th diagrammatic model which help propel the project to its current state.

Exploring the Above and Below ConditionsSome diagrammatic renderings helped explore

the above versus below conditions of the path. These renderings were very telling in the way people experi-enced the spaces above and below the path. It also paved way to the way the plan came to be organized. The diagrammatic renderings were helpful in under-standing the how light can pass through and be brought down to the path below in the underground exhibits. From this the fundamental arrangement of the rooms and the location of the museum in respect to

the performance theater and research library became realized.

The Path as the Organizer in Sleuk Rith InstituteAfter the explorations with the precedents, models

and diagrammatic renders the final plan of the Sleuk Rith Institute features a path that is the fundamental element that the rest of the plan is organized from. The path organizes the plan in three different ways. The first is that it connects the Performance Theater to the west with the Research Library and Prison Museum to the east. Secondly the path splits the active, communal spaces to the north with the introspective, individual spaces to the south. Thirdly the path splits the spaces

Above: Sketch of Underground lighting Below: Birds Eye view of Sleuk Rith Institute

Above: Sketch of Undergroudn Lighting: Light Conditions into Ground

Pho | 7

Above: Sketch of Undergroudn Lighting: Light Conditions into Ground Above: Diagrams showing Organization of the PathBelow: Diagram Section of the Programs

that are open to the sky to the north versus the spaces that are of the earth to the south. With these orga-nizational strategies, visitors are given the option to experience the journey of healing in different ways and thus are able to choose how they deal with the tragedy. This provides more of a universal way to heal and can fulfill the needs of both the individuals who actively strive to tell the world about what happened versus those who are more interested in respecting the silence and chose another form of introspective expression.

Experience of the UsersVisitor would enter the institute to the west on

THEATER AND LIBRARY

EARTH VS. SKY

INDIVIDUAL VS. COMMUNAL

STRUCTURAL ORDER: PATHWAY CONDITION

8 | Pho

THEATER AND LIBRARY

EARTH VS. SKY



Above: Section Perspective Cutting through Path from West to EastBelow: Photo Strip of Important Events

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015


CAMBODIAN1960 1980 1990








1940 195019301920 2000 2010



1970











49-78,000,000

23,000,000

12,000,0008,000,000

2,400,000800,000

1,200,0005,000,000



19201200


Pho | 9

THEATER AND LIBRARY

EARTH VS. SKY



-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015


CAMBODIAN1960 1980 1990








1940 195019301920 2000 2010



1970











49-78,000,000

23,000,000

12,000,0008,000,000

2,400,000800,000

1,200,0005,000,000



19201200


10 | Pho

Above: Diagramatic Sections of the Path

Monivong Blvd and walk on the upper level of the path where they will find glass walls of encrypted writing of the stories of what lead to the genocide and the events that foreshadows what will happen next. They then enter into the Prison Museum where they will get a glimpse of the past and how buildings such as the one they are standing in were used during the Khmer Rouge era. After that the visitors are guided below the path in which they arrive from and will have the choice to explore rooms either to the north or the south; north being rooms that are filled with artifacts uncovered and sounds of genocide, whereas the south will be more about how light comes into the rooms and are empty and silent. The visitors will walk past three sets of these rooms each varying slightly in the experience and end up in the lobby of the Performance Theater in which they have the choice of going to the enclosed theater or make their way out to the amphitheater outside in the courtyard. The visitors can then end their journey by heading to the library or back up to the site above where they can explore the exterior plazas/courtyards to close out their journey.

In conclusion, they design for the Sleuk Rith Institute is one that allows for multiple ways to heal and keep memory of a tragedy such as the Cambodian Genocide. It respects the people who actively voice the need to tell the future generations of the tragedies against humanity but also provides the voiceless the opportunity to respect the silence and find peace by respecting the empty silence. All in all architectures responsibility in this case is not to prescribe the experience of the users, instead architecture must provide a way users can shape their own experience and go about the journey to peace and memory in their own pace.

Pho | 11

Above: Movement Diagrams Showing Different Experiences Above: Image caption information.

Selected Bibliography

Ching, Frank, Mark Jarzombek, and Vikramaditya Prakash. A Global History of Architecture. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons, 2007. Print.

Coe, Michael D. Angkor and the Khmer Civilization. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Print.

Documentation Center of Cambodia - Home. Documentation Center of Cambodia - Home. Web. Spring 2012. .

Dumarcay, Jacques, Pascal Royere, and Michael Smithies. Cambodian Architecture Eighth to Thirteenth Centuries. Boston: Brill, 2001. Print.

Etcheson, Craig. After the Killing Fields: Lessons from the Cambodian Genocide. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005. Print.

Etcheson, Craig. After the Killing Fields: Lessons from the Cambodian Genocide. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005. Print.

Jacques, Claude. Ankor Cities and Temples. Thailand: River, 1997. Print.

Kavanaugh, Robert. Facing Death,. Los Angeles: Nash Pub., 1973. Print.

Ly, Kim Long. An Outline of Cambodian Architecture. Varanasi: Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan, 1967. Print.

Scarre, Christopher. The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World: The Great Monuments and How They Were Built. London: Thames & Hudson, 1999. Print.

Sharp, Bruce. Counting Hell. : The Death Toll of the Khmer Rouge Regime in Cambodia. Web. Spring 2012. .

Smith, Icy. Manhattan Beach: East West Discovery, 2010. Print.

Documents

Project Summary-min