Designed by Architectural Engineering Consultants, Oudong Residence is an 8-storey building that comprises 28 condominium residences on the city area of Oudong, located approximately 35 km North of Phnom Penh. In Cambodia, Oudong is known as a tourist attraction site due to its historical background and mystical sacred aspect of the site. The building and the setting are connected to one other, the requirements of the site are balanced via symmetrical stacking of the building’s components. These elements are extruded along the perimeter of the building and represent themselves in an almost identical way the profile of unique landscapes of Oudong mountain. The design keeps the complexity of an urban building located in a tropical context while providing wide and open views, the architecture of the residences celebrate outdoor living.
The interaction between the urban context, the architecture and nature formulates the interior spaces with harmony and transparency. With landscaped terraces that offer unobstructed views to the Cambodian countryside, each residence is conceived as a private space that evokes a sense of informal luxury. Oudong residence draws a unified composition of textures inspired by nature itself, whether blended into a natural setting such as blue dust, green pastello, dark bronze, wood, natural stone and glass, carrying impressions of a warm sense of place. The best way to experience AEC's work is to discover the unconventional thinking.
The sinuous lines of the building will be an instant landmark, providing a modern approach as to how architecture and nature can co-exist in an urban tropical landscape. Lifting a building over stilts frees the ground floor for the circulation of people and garden areas generating 1600 square meters of open space. This fundamentally modern solution has been chosen to promote free spaces with a stronger connection between the public sphere and the building's private spaces.
The free design of the layout is achieved by creating an open plan, freeing the floor plan from structural conditioning so that the partitions and internal spaces of the building become more flexible and integrated. Generous openings through the facade providing more indoor lighting and panoramic views of the exterior. Because the climate is one of the wettest and humid, we are designing a building that turn these conditions into positive human comfort strategies. Around the perimeter of the site, are tropical gardens and walkways where inhabitants can enjoy the views across the beautiful landscape.
The project for Oudong Residence encourages the practice of sharing, which promotes interactions and co-living via the presence of common areas like the gardens and lounge spaces.
Restricted by the height limit due to the local regulations, a series of horizontal layers stacked with slight offsets which produces a dynamic effect, that combined with local sources materials, marks the project as being of Cambodia today. It would be the first construction in this area, therefore highly visible. The building attempts to combine existing and new diverse elements through movement that bring new shadow lines reflections. The top master layer, is articulated by metal frames that create a horizontal band running the perimeter of the facade and excavate the mass of the building with large tropical planting terraces. The sinuous facade features cantilevered balconies that float above Cambodia’s horizon, which are a perfect design for glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC). A digital model production works to provide a well coordinated process through efficiency molded panel systems, allowing the complex forms to align with ease.
This project is part of the Oudong Masterplan proposal in which AEC participates in all stages of the design, the final result will be used for site development in Cambodia. A more people centric design process would place for greater priority on accessibility and inclusiveness. Designing healthier places is vital to ensure the future of cities.
