Creating a city of peace, reconciliation, and regeneration in a place known until now for violence and trauma.
Client
Documentation Center of Cambodia: Youk Chang. Anlong Veng Peace Center: Dr. Ly Sok-Kheang
Programme
Master Plan and Urban and Landscape Design
Design Architect
DaeWha Kang Design
Year
2018
Introduction
DaeWha Kang Design has worked with the Documentation Center of Cambodia to develop a master plan concept for Anlong Veng, Cambodia. Anlong Veng is the final stronghold of the Khmer Rouge, and our proposal focuses on healing the landscape while healing society. This project aims to create a city of peace, reconciliation, and regeneration in a place known until now for violence and trauma.
The design challenge
How to preserve important historical sites while introducing wise and sustainable urban development in this strategic region of Cambodia at the northern border with Thailand?
The design solution
At the foot of the Dangrek Mountains on the remote northern border with Thailand, Anlong Veng has deep connections to Cambodia’s dark past. Following their brief but brutal rule characterised by the “killing fields” and the deaths of up to two million Cambodians, the Khmer Rouge were ousted from power by invading Vietnamese forces. It was to the mountains and jungles of Anlong Veng that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime fled, and from this place continued a guerrilla war for twenty more years. Finally in the late 1990’s, the last of the Khmer Rouge agreed to put down their arms and return to ordinary society.
But the last twenty years of peace have not erased the history of this place, or the physical sites of factional violence, forced labour, brutal killings, and even the detention house, cremation site, and grave of Pol Pot himself. Eighty-five percent of the residents of Anlong Veng today are ex-Khmer Rouge, most of whom make their living from slash and burn agriculture that has resulted in some of the worst deforestation in the country. The Documentation Center of Cambodia has begun a process of reconciliation, engagement, and education by transforming a cliff-top house used by Pol Pot and other senior Khmer Rouge to plan their violence, into the Anlong Veng Peace Center.
DaeWha Kang Design’s approach is to take a holistic strategic view across the entirety of the 50km-long Anlong Veng district, using the philosophy “heal the landscape, heal the society.” We combine a sensitive approach of large-scale infrastructure and development work with a strategy of selective reforestation and the development of new agricultural methods and new industries. A system of “golden threads” creates serpentine landscape interventions designed to structure and rehabilitate the landscape. Ribbons of linear reforestation are combined with earthworks and waterways to mitigate soil degradation and provide control points for parks, green corridors, recreational sites, and public facilities. The serpentine flow of the narrow ribbons is designed to minimise the loss of agricultural land. In this way we maintain the current livelihood of Anlong Veng’s farmers while securing the future productivity of the land.
In Buddhist ceremonies and many other ceremonies around the world, a thread bracelet, wrapped around one’s wrist, is used to symbolize protection from harm and evil. The system of golden threads in Anlong Veng evokes that symbolism, representing a commitment to the landscape, the people, and a new future. The Documentation Center of Cambodia in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Inter-Ministry Committee on the Development and Preservation of Anlong Veng Historical Sites have identified fourteen historical sites along the way from Anlong Veng village to the top of Dangrek Mountain, and our proposal links them together into a winding walk through city and agricultural hinterland.
Each person who arrives at Anlong Veng Lake receives a map and a seedling tree as they set out on their three-day journey. Along the way, each person plants their tree in their designated location, and becomes a participant in the healing of the landscape of Anlong Veng. The process of learning about history and the process of healing the landscape are brought together into a single, powerful experience. The journey concludes on the morning of the third day, watching the sun rise from the Anlong Veng Peace Center on the cliffs atop Dangrek Mountain.
The Khmer Rouge history is what makes Anlong Veng unique, and our approach is to develop the area not by erasing the memories of violence and trauma, but by transforming them from sites of suffering to sites of regeneration. A place of violence to women, where a former factional leader’s wife and children were raped and murdered can be transformed into a women’s centre for training and counselling. A warehouse where land mines were stored and built can be transformed into a site where people manufacture crutches, wheelchairs, and bicycles. Twenty-five percent of Anlong Veng’s population have physical disabilities from land mines and the long guerrilla war. Through this process of transformation, a place that injured people and took away their mobility can be transformed to a place that gives people jobs through enhancing mobility and rehabilitating society. DaeWha Kang Design envisions moments of beautiful architectural intervention at the location of those important historical sites. Cliffside buildings can hang from the mountaintop, preserving the view from the top while creating dramatic experiences for those who venture down to the buildings below. Here in Anlong Veng, we imagine building an urban and agricultural landscape where beautiful and dramatic buildings meet with large-scale regenerative engineering to create a prosperous future for the local residents and an unforgettable experience for all who visit.
You can find more information from the official press release by clicking on the image below or clicking this link.
Client
Documentation Center of Cambodia: Youk Chang. Anlong Veng Peace Center: Dr. Ly Sok-Kheang
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