As a sponsor of the Vann Molyvann Project: Summer School 2015 – a three-month architecture and research project that aims to study and preserve the work of world-famous Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann – the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh is pleased to invite members of the media to attend a press conference on Saturday, June 13, at 4:00 p.m., at SA SA BASSAC #182E Sothearos Blvd.  The press conference will include the U.S. Embassy, Sa Sa Bassac, the Center for Khmer Studies, and the Vann Molyvann Project, as well as a representative of the Vann Molyvann family.

The U.S. Embassy is providing a grant to the Vann Molyvann project to support an exchange by three U.S. architecture students from the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York to work alongside Cambodian counterparts.  A series of public events will take place throughout June, July, and August.

The Vann Molyvann Project was founded in 2009 by Canadian architect Bill Greaves to survey, draw, document, archive, publish, and raise awareness of these extraordinary buildings that are today threatened by decay and development.   The Vann Molyvann Project: Summer School 2015 will be led by architect and urban researcher Pen Sereypagna.

Born in 1933 and now lives in Siem Reap, Vann Molyvann, is Cambodia’s foremost architect of the 1950s and 1960s. His work forms one of the most important collections of post-colonial buildings in the world and is of utmost importance to Cambodia’s modern architectural heritage known as New Khmer Architecture.