Design of Cambodian genocide museum announced

British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid has unveiled designs for the Sleuk Rith Institute, which will include a genocide museum exposing the crimes of the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979), which massacred more than 2 million Cambodians.

Sleuk Rith Institute Design

Scheduled to start construction in 2015, the Sleuk Rith Institute is a complex consisting of a museum, a research center, a memorial park, and a large documentation center. The complex consists of five wooden towers ranging from three to eight stories high, interwoven with each other, with geometric shapes and interconnecting fences similar to the famous Angkor temple complex, surrounded by lakes.

Architect Hadid hopes that this new complex will have a truly transformative impact, bringing new life and a bright future to a site that holds the tragedies of the past.

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia and founder of the Sleuk Rith Institute, said the institute was designed to educate people about the Khmer Rouge’s atrocities, but also to look to the future. “The memorials invite reflection and remembrance, but they are also vibrant public places that connect with all generations of the community,” said Youk Chhang.

Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid

The site is located on the site of a former school and was used as a re-education camp during the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge. Led by “big brother” Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge killed nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population during their rule. In 2004, Hadid became the first female architect to win the Pritzker Prize, considered the world’s Nobel Prize.

According to TT&VH