Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 17 August 2022 – A team of five architecture students from two different universities in Phnom Penh have won FAO Cambodia’s Rooftop Cafeteria Design Competition, with the results of the competition being announced on International Youth Day (IYD). Commemorated every year on 12 August, the IYD celebrates the innovative potential of young people, with year’s theme – “Intergenerational Solidarity” highlighting the need of people of all ages to join forces to build a better world for all.

In June 2022 FAO, Cambodia invited architecture students from across Cambodia to compete in a design contest for the opportunity to design FAO Cambodia’s new rooftop cafeteria, which includes a small commercial kitchen and kitchen garden as well functional indoor and outdoor eating and meeting spaces. The students’ designs had to celebrate Cambodia, be green in design and construction, affordable and include multi-functional spaces. Fifteen students took one month to complete their designs and five teams were selected as finalists and were asked to present their designs to a jury. The prize for the winning team was an opportunity to work with engineers and FAO to have their design constructed on the roof of FAO, Cambodia’s new Representation.

 “We were looking for design concepts that will help enrich the workplace for all FAO employees and visitors, as well as promote Khmer food culture. The rooftop cafeteria will be a place where our lunches will be grown, cooked and eaten, solar energy generated and where we can hold events that promote the work of FAO and the terrific food culture of Cambodia,” explained Ms Rebekah Bell, FAO Representative in Cambodia.

With support from the Royal Government of Cambodia, FAO is currently completing the construction of a new Representation inside the compound of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), which is expected to be finished at the end of September. To complete the Representation, FAO provided an opportunity for Cambodian architecture students to design the rooftop cafeteria and to be involved in the construction of their proposed design.

The quality of cafeteria designs presented to the jury by the five finalists was very high and all five teams were commended for the quality of their design work. The winning team, comprised of five students from American University of Phnom Penh and the Norton University, presented a design titled Under the Roof, Within the Garden. The winning team members were Ms Pen Lisa, Ms Ty Seakmy, Ms Kruy Chou, Mr Yos Davith and Mr Mak Molirithiruth.

Molirithiruth, on behalf of his team, noted that his team’s design concept sought to achieve a space “where FAO colleagues could become a family, Khmer food culture could be promoted, landscape is the gallery, and offered users flexible spaces with adaptable functions, all while caring for the environment and providing jobs to local community members.”

Design values

The spatial arrangement of the winning design sought to reflect a famer’s perspective and is inspired by the rice cultivation process. The rooftop space will include three functional areas: before planting (preparing land) is the first area, where a kitchen garden will produce some of the food for FAO’s employees and visitors meals; the second area, sowing and/or sprouting, is the kitchen where food will be prepared and cooked; and, lastly the third area, harvesting / reaping the reward, will be the cafeteria where employees and visitors will be able to enjoy their delicious meals and/or hold productive meetings. All three zones will be covered by an innovative low-cost roof that reflects Cambodian design culture and materials, which will also house solar panels to offset the Representation’s energy use. While the outer perimeter will be a green corridor, that offers opportunities for open air seating, more food production and views of the cityscape.  

Ms Bell continued that, “the FAO team in Cambodia is very much looking forward to working with this dynamic group of young people on their innovative and modern design and during the construction of the FAO’s new rooftop cafeteria. We are also excited to have celebrated the IYD 2022 by offering a team of innovative young architecture students their first design commission, which we very much hope will help launch their careers.”

On the occasion of IYD 2022, the winning team noted that; “Young people should be seen as the leaders for today and the future and that young people are the backbone of the nation as well as the voice. Young people should use opportunities such as this to play their part and to help their local communities, whether through architecture or other ideas.”