Chaktomuk Conference Hall

Info and History

The building was designed by architect
Vann Molyvann and opened as the
“Salle de Conférence Chaktomuk” in 1961.
The date of opening was November 12, 1961.
Since then, the Chaktomuk Conference Hall
has served many purposes.
Originally, it served as a space for art
activities and theater performances. In 1979, it
was used by the Vietnamese for the first Khmer
Rouge tribunal after the Pol Pot Regime.
In 1991, the Hall was redeveloped into a
restaurant.
However,it was returned to its original
function as a theater in 1994 when the National
Theater, located on Preah Sisowath Quay in
Sangkat Tonle Bassac, was demolished by a fire.
The latest renovation of the Hall was in 2000.
The hall functions as a place for important
national and international business and
political conferences. Still, the Ministry of
Culture and Fine Arts keeps Chaktomuk
Conference Hall to play its original role
as a theater venue for special and official
programs or ceremonies organized by the
ministry.

Design
The hall has the
unique shape of
a fan with a
traditional
Khmer tower
on top as a decoration. As can be seen from all
directions, the structure of the hall is built on
columns, a typical feature of the architecture of
Vann Molyvann. The roof on top of the middle
of the building is called Bossbok which is
typically found on Buddhist temples in
Cambodia, because the hall was erected for the
World Buddhist Conference. The name of the
Chaktomuk Conference Hall comes
from its location near the Chaktomuk (“four
directions”), the location where Tonle Sap,
Tonle Bassac and the Mekong converge
into the lower Mekong. The hall is a good
source for reflections on the New Khmer
Architecture of the 1960s and Buddhism.
Today, Chaktomuk Hall is one of the must see
tourist attractions in Phnom Penh.
It draws on identifiable elements of Khmer
architecture, such as the pointed roof and the
free space under the building. But also
reinterprets them in a completely new way. This
is achieved by an ingenious triangulated
concrete structure suspended from beams which
radiate from a central point in a fan shape. This
device raises the structure off the ground and
gives the impression of it being suspended in
space, whereas it is an imposing auditorium for
850 people. The result is a design which relates
to tradition but at the same time expresses the
innovative character of the period in its unique
structure. It could be said that the structure
makes the architecture.