We all have those few projects in school where we felt creatively free and satisfied. This was one of them for me.

The brief was short, a reimagination of Boeung Keng Kang high school and st.370 as public spaces.

For this project, we were afforded some freedom to let go of conventional standards and the practical side of technical aspects and focus almost exclusively on new ideas and pushing the envelope of architecture and design. The result was a combination of ideas that may be too out there for the real world but felt just right on paper, for us at least.

After a division of tasks between the team, I chose to work on designing a public park for st.370.

At the time, I was inspired by my then recent involvement with Young Eco Ambassadors, a group of young environmentalists, where my love for the natural world grew. I wanted to transmit the same sensations and feelings toward people occupying the theoretical design. Hence the idea to create a forest-like public space, an escape from the urban world, was conceived.

Instead of building two walls, the surface is pushed down so the relationship between the two sides of the street remains the same while introducing a new perspective into the humans and nature connection down below and up above.

Trees were carefully placed in an irrational yet natural manner according to chance. Ink was splattered onto a printed master plan in which each dot became a tree in the drawing. This was inspired by Hans Arp’s “Papiers Déchirés” in the early 1900s. 

Professors :
Dr. Tang Sochet Vitou,
Prof. Lim Eng Nguon
Team :
Khun Daya, Ou Oudompanhavuth, Thai Dina, Ty Vathanakvibol, Vuthy Reach.

More detailed design elements below :