Modernist structures still on view

The poised classrooms of the Foreign Languages Faculty, designed by Vann Molyvann

My visit to the Cambodian-Japanese Center also enabled me to have another look at the Institute of Foreign Languages Faculty and its Vann Molyvann designed classrooms and circular library, which is an intriguing little building surrounded by a moat. The architect said it was modeled after a traditional woven palm-leaf hat. The classrooms were designed to minimize direct sunlight, maximize airflow and control the risk of flooding and are cantilevered on angled legs that look like animals waiting to pounce (or something from War of the Worlds) and the raised walkway to the building has modern naga sculptures, like its predecessors at many Angkor temples. Constructed in the 1960s, they miraculously survived the Khmer Rouge period of occupation, when other structures like the National Bank and Catholic Church were demolished. I also visited the next-door Royal University of Phnom Penh and was intrigued by the outdoor swimming pool and diving board, that has been left to the elements. I certainly wouldn't want to swim in the lime-green water that resides in the bottom of the pool today.

The circular library at the Institute, modelled on woven palm-leaf hats

The modern concrete nagas at the doorway to the Institute

The disused open-air swimming pool at the Royal University of Phnom Penh

The three-level diving tower at the open-air swimming pool at RUPP