In June 2022 FAO, Cambodia invited architecture students from across the kingdom to compete in a design contest for the opportunity to design FAO Cambodia’s new rooftop cafeteria, which includes a small commercial kitchen and kitchen garden as well functional indoor and outdoor eating and meeting spaces. The students’ designs had to celebrate Cambodia, be green in design and construction, affordable and include multi-functional spaces. The prize for the winning team was an opportunity to work with UNOPS and engineers and FAO to have their design constructed on the roof of FAO, Cambodia’s
new Representation.

The brief of the competition emphasizes strongly on designing a space that is Cambodia Proud while bringing the FAO family together to enrich their quality of life as well as showcasing FAO Cambodia’s objectives to the public visitors. The team successfully abstracted the Cambodian way of living and reinterpreted into a contemporary architecture that serves the purpose of a flexible gathering space from dining to meeting, to open exhibition hall, and to open workshop space within the area of only 228SQM. Finally, the victory is celebrated with the design being constructed and brought to reality from
their conceptual proposal.

The overall design revolves around the concept of local Cambodian farmers’ experience as they go through every step of rice cultivation work; from before planting period(ភ្ជួររា៉ស់សាបព្រួស), to sprouting period(ស្ទូង), to finally reaping reward time(ច្រូតកាត់ បោកស្រូវ កិនស្រូវ). 

In architectural language, the three steps are translated in a linear order from west to east side of the site. The first step is interpreted into a location where users will experience the kitchen garden, allowing the users to feel the time and environment of food ingredients that are still in the growing phase. Next is followed by a kitchen located in the middle of the floor plan, indicating the food making process. Lastly, the experience ends with users enjoying their delicious meals or having a productive meeting which interprets very well the reward that they are deserving of from the hard work since the beginning. On the other hand, the flow of the spatial arrangement and a corridor of open seating garden of landscape, allowing users to also enjoy the views of the surrounding as well, plus, the designed kitchen garden has become an opportunity for outdoor landscape gallery in the form of planter box where FAO’s guest and visitors will be given a chance to closely observe the different stage of planting throughout their whole journey. 

Inspired by how families gather beneath their homes to dine, unwind, and converse, the space’s primary goal is to serve as a gathering place for the FAO family to congregate and spend quality time together. The design abstracted the Cambodian way of life and translated it into a contemporary design, giving the space an atmosphere of being “Under the house”. One method of accomplishing this was to transform and recreate the appearance of a Cambodian house window into a ceiling design using reclaimed woods panels. In order to blend in with the existing building design and prevent strange fusion when put together, the architectural language was kept minimal.

To enhance the experience of the Cambodian farmers, the gridded roof structure is inspired by the phrase “a Krama to do everything!” and the great use of Krama (ក្រម៉ា) in all occasions, especially how much it contributes to protecting the farmers from the sun heat while they work. From the gridded shelter roof to the gridded landscape with planter boxes, the whole design flows together as though the Krama is being weaved throughout the space. 

Digital Publications: 

Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nation, 2022 https://www.fao.org/cambodia/news/add-news/detail-events/en/c/1602442/ 

The Phnom Penh Post, 2022 

https://m.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle/fao-announces-winners-green-architecture-contest