Cambodia is growing rapidly. The annual GDP growth rate at the end of 2024 was expected to reach 6.4 percent. The leader is the capital Phnom Penh. It is there that real estate and land prices have shot up. Due to its location on wetlands, the authorities are emphasizing the acquisition of new areas by filling in water bodies. This has consequences for local communities and ecosystems. In 2018, Polish architects Grzegorz Tęgowski and Katarzyna Janas, together with a team from The Room Design Studio, had the opportunity to create a development project for the area around Boeung Tompun Lake, an alternative for the affected potential communities, which number more than three thousand people.
Katherine JANAS - Architect at the HAG Human Architecture Group studio. Graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Gdansk University of Technology. She entered her professional life inspired by student scholarships in Spain and France and her master's thesis defended in South Africa. Lover of snowboarding and surfing.
Grzegorz TĘGOWSKI - Graduate of philosophy at the Faculty of Social Sciences at UAM and architecture at Gdansk University of Technology. Since 2019 he has been running ZZAA studio in Gdynia, where he seeks sustainable architectural solutions. He is a member of the Pomeranian Regional Chamber of Architects. He gained professional experience by developing hotels, resorts and residential projects in Poland, Tanzania and Cambodia.
Katarzyna Szostak: How did you end up in Cambodia?
Grzegorz Tęgowski: After college, after working for two years or so, my wife and I decided to emigrate. We were not necessarily interested in the West; we were looking for a place with a good climate and were not financially motivated. We settled on Cambodia because when we were in Southeast Asia the year before, in 2016, we saw a huge number of cranes and an incredibly dynamic development of the country. During that purely tourist trip, by chance I met a Polish entrepreneur running a resort on one of Cambodia's islands - Koh Rong. He told me about a Polish architect who had made a dizzying career in Cambodia. A year later, when the thought of moving there came up, I sought him out and wrote to him. That's how I got a job with Paul at The Room Design Studio in Phnom Penh. We decided to pull someone to help with this particular project and it fell on Kasia, because I knew she was interested in participatory projects in developing countries. In addition to us, local architects from The Room Design Studio - Sothy and Mien - worked on the project.
Katarzyna Janas: I remember Gregory talking about the interview before the trip, he was full of enthusiasm. I was planning to go to Cambodia to visit, but I got an offer to lead the project, which was impossible to refuse.
A resident by his wooden boat
Photo: Grzegorz Tęgowski
Katarzyna Szostak: What problem was the project supposed to solve?
Grzegorz Tęgowski: Phnom Penh is located in a wetland area, between two rivers: Mekong and Tônlé Sab. At least since the 19th century, when there was a French protectorate there, the city developed dynamically, its population increased; there were also wetlands and lakes in its center. In the twentieth century, the French realized the Central Market, it was built on the land after filling in the marshes and small lakes. This process continued even later, in the early 21st century. One of the most famous projects was the filling in of Boeung Kak Lake, the largest lake within the city at the time, in order to develop the area. Our task was to propose to the authorities an alternative vision for developing the area around Boeung Tompun. The commissioned NGO was People in Need Cambodia. We also collaborated with two other NGOs: Sahmakum Teang Tnaut and Urban Poor Women Development.
residents at the processing of morning glory
Photo: Katarzyna Janas
Katarzyna Janas: A common phenomenon in Cambodia is migration from the countryside to the cities. People are looking for a better place to live, a place where it is easier to make a living. These people often settle near lakes, where there are ideal conditions for growing aquatic plants (like morning glory) popular in Khmer cuisine. It's worth noting that these lakes are an important part of the city's drainage system and serve an important function in flood management. Our task was to present a project laying the groundwork for improving the living conditions of the three communities living at Boeng Tompun. We were looking for a solution that would preserve the lake in its natural character and function, allow the residents to stay put, and at the same time be profitable and attractive to the Phnom Penh government and fit into the city's development plans.
design strategy in the context of the city
Katarzyna Szostak: How was the local community involved in the creation of the project?
Katarzyna Janas: We held three meetings with the communities. At the first one we gathered a great deal of information about what conditions these people live in, what problems they face, what their homes look like, what they do, what skills they have. We asked what they would like to get in the future, what public functions could appear in their neighborhood. Finally, we asked them to build mock-ups of their dream homes.
Grzegorz Tęgowski: Of course, during this time we explored the topic on our own, going to the site, visiting. Thanks to the fact that the village leaders paged us, we were able to see the existing houses. It was an extremely interesting experience. These buildings were of different standards. Some were made of brick and had access to water and electricity, and there were wooden structures on stilts, covered with hollow sheet metal. The fact that many people could not even afford a piece of unpunched sheet metal impressed me greatly. I can't imagine what happens inside such houses during the rainy season.
building mockups
photo: Grzegorz Tęgowski
Katarzyna Janas: We wanted the residents not just to be passive observers, but to get involved in the process. The basis of the project was to create a strategy that would allow communities to gradually improve their material situation. We therefore proposed businesses that residents could engage in. Since most people were involved in growing morning glory, our entire business proposal centered around this plant. We put forward the idea of wooden boat tours on the lake and tourist sites related to it, including an information center. In addition, in one of the communities we suggested building a brick factory, as we learned that some of its members were qualified to do so. We planned to have bricks for building houses manufactured there. At the second meeting, residents voted on three master plan options and our business proposals. The ideas for new jobs were very well received.
Grzegorz Tęgowski: We also proposed a ferry crossing.
Katarzyna Janas: The project also showed other functions that could be realized by the city. We proposed tourism-related initiatives that would affect the development of the entire area. We wanted to present the wide range of possibilities offered by the preservation of the lake. It has even become the new green heart of the city. There are very few open spaces in Phnom Penh. At the last meeting, when we had a virtually finished project, we presented the final urban design for all communities and a concrete business plan.
mockups of dream homes
Photo: Anna Górecka
Katarzyna Szostak: How were the houses themselves supposed to look like?
Grzegorz Tęgowski: Our idea was quite simple, it was not revolutionary. We were inspired a bit by the work of Elemental and Alejandro Aravena, particularly in the way we thought about buildings as an unfinished form. For economic reasons, also functionality and aesthetics, we were attracted to the concept of making the houses diverse, tailored to the individual needs of the residents. We wanted to build the most expensive, most difficult elements, i.e. foundations, columns, reinforced concrete structure and ceilings, and roof. Walls, infill, interior furnishings were already to be on the residents' side. Also for economic reasons, we decided on terraced housing.
Katarzyna Janas: The information we gathered was actually unequivocal. Everyone wanted to have their own detached house and stay where they currently live. Due to the limited amount of land, we decided on terraced housing, which allows the houses to be more compact. Just as Gregory mentioned, we designed the buildings in two stages. The first, basic one consisted of the structure, stairs, roofing, kitchen and toilet. The second part residents could complete themselves, depending on their needs and abilities.
market on the water - Cheung Ek project, group 3
Katarzyna Szostak: What role did the climate and specific conditions in Cambodia play in the design?
Grzegorz Tęgowski: Two issues were the most important. The first was overheating. Corrugated sheet metal is in common use. In April, May, conditions were unbearable in such tin cans. Sometimes we returned from there completely exhausted. The architecture we proposed was vernacular in a way. It referred to rural construction, local traditions. We assumed the creation of a ceiling independent of the ventilated roof, so that the air layer would additionally insulate from above. The houses were to be constructed on pillars, as in traditional Cambodian rural housing. Social life often takes place right underneath the houses, with virtually only sleeping inside during the hottest period. The second issue is the change in water levels during the rainy season. Especially for communities located close to the lake this is of great importance, whole villages turn into villages on water. Here we also had to deal with this.
consultation
© Sahmakum Teang Tnaut
Katarzyna Szostak: What materials did you envision for the project?
Grzegorz Tęgowski: We wanted to propose something stable. We were thinking of a low-cost material, i.e. reinforced concrete structure.
Katarzyna Janas: Yes, but this reinforced concrete was kept to a minimum. Precisely because of water conditions and the problem of flooding, its use was a necessity. We proposed houses with a post and reinforced concrete structure, while the basic filling of the walls was to be made of bricks from the designed brickyard. In addition, we envisioned the use of local materials, such as wood in the roof substructure, bamboo elements for the balustrade, dried grass as ceiling covering on top and ventilation blocks in the wet rooms, which is a common solution in Cambodia.
The front elevation of an example row house development
Katarzyna Szostak: The word "community" comes up very often in our conversation. What third places, integrating residents did you envision in the project?
Grzegorz Tęgowski: We have planned spaces mainly related to conducting business. For economic reasons, we limited the number of public spaces exclusively for recreational purposes. Rather, these spaces were to have combined functions. One such example is the information center - a covered space, accessible to the public, but also with profit-making functions.
Katharine Janas: As I said, we decided to unite residents of all groups around a common business plan to further strengthen their role in society. We proposed to create places to enable tourism development based on morning glory. In one community, tours were to start at an information center. They would end in the south of the lake, in the other community, where, in addition, tourists would have a water market and a restaurant. In addition, we proposed a so-called Community Center in each group, where people could meet, engage in various activities. Residents often mentioned the need for a health care center or a place for training workshops for women or children. We also proposed a square for dancing, as this is a very popular activity in Cambodia.
Prek Takong project
Katarzyna Szostak: Why was the project not implemented in the end?
Grzegorz Tęgowski: The project was not implemented in its full form, as we proposed. However, the picture of the matter is not completely black. Thanks to pressure from NGOs and perhaps the communities themselves, the bleakest scenario did not come true, as in Boeung Kak, where residents were displaced. The communities affected by our project still live around Boeung Tompun Lake. This is the upside of the situation. The downside is that their livelihood has not been improved in a systemic way. There has also been partial filling of the lake, or more precisely, about ¾ of its surface. Originally 2,600 hectares, the backfilling process is expected to end at 520 hectares and is actually nearing completion, it can be seen on satellite images. In the end, therefore, the project did not go ahead because of the planning policy for this area of the city that the government adopted. High-rise development is to be built there.
Katarzyna Janas: From the beginning, I felt that the project was very conceptual, visionary and probably even a bit utopian. It was meant to show the community from the best possible side. It was the basis for discussions about the future of Boeng Tompun. I think on a small scale it made a difference for the better. The research we've done, the information we've gathered and the suggestions we've made can be used elsewhere or at least partially still here. I feel that our work has not been in vain, even though the project has not been completed.
Katarzyna Szostak: Thank you for the interview.
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