Designs for a genocide museum in Cambodia have been unveiled.

British architect of Iraqi origin Zaha Hadid has unveiled the design for the Sleuk Rith Institute, which includes 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 begin construction in 2015, the Sleuk Rith Institute is a complex comprising a museum, research center, memorial park, and a large documentation center. The complex consists of five interconnected wooden towers, ranging from three to eight stories high, featuring geometric shapes and interconnected fences similar to those of the famous Angkor temple complex, surrounded by lakes.

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

Youk Chhang, Director of the Cambodian Documentation Center and founder of the Sleuk Rith Institute, said the institute was built to educate people about the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, but also to look to the future. “The memorials evoke reflection and remembrance, but they are also vibrant public spaces that connect all generations in the community,” Youk Chhang said.

British architect of Iraqi origin Zaha Hadid

This site is located on the land of a former school and, during the Khmer Rouge genocide, it was used as a re-education camp. Led by "Brother" Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge committed genocide against 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 Nobel Prize of the architectural world.

According to TT&VH