![Zuellig Pharma Headquarters / Bloom Architecture - Offices](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/66a3/d4ac/df91/fa42/bbce/b8b3/newsletter/zuellig-pharma-headquarters-bloom-architecture_22.jpg?1722012867)
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Architects: Bloom Architecture
- Area: 1500 m²
- Year: 2023
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Professionals: RED FURNESSE
This article was originally published on November 9, 2015. To read the stories behind other celebrated architecture projects, visit our AD Classics section.
Angkor Wat is just one of dozens of extant Khmer temples in the Angkor area of present-day Cambodia, but it represents the apex of a building tradition that spanned five centuries, and the height of Khmer power and influence in the region. It is the largest temple complex at Angkor, and intricate bas-relief sculptures line the sandstone structures exemplify the apex of Khmer artistry. Although it has been in continuous use since its construction in the twelfth century, aspects of its history remain unknown. As archaeologist and anthropologist Charles Higham explains, “Curiously, there are no direct references to it in the epigraphic record, so we do not know its original name and controversy remains over its function and aspects of its symbolic status.”[1] Originally dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, the complex was later converted to Buddhist use (the word “wat” typically refers to Buddhist monasteries[2]), and continues to be a site of religious pilgrimage today.
"New Khmer Architecture and Japan" is the first show in Cambodian History to focus on the architectural drawings of its modern movement. Cambodia is a country with mature architectural culture, not only of the great Angkorian heritage and vernacular timber temples, but also of modern buildings from the 1950s and 60s known as New Khmer Architecture. Since the 1990s, in the context of the post-war redefinition of the national identity as well as the recent expansion of environmental consciousness, this Cambodian modern movement, with their sensibility to the traditional culture and tropical climate, is being re-evaluated; though the drawings and documents of the movement were believed to be destroyed and lost in the turmoil of the Civil War.