Hiroshima House
Location: Wat Ounalom, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
In 2006 the citizens of Hiroshima donated this temple to the people of Cambodia as a dignified show of support and empathy for fellow victims of conflict. The tradition of a ‘Hiroshima House’ was started by American peace activist Dr. Floyd Schmoe when he rebuilt several houses in Hiroshima after his country’s 1945 bombardment of the Japanese city. Japanese Architect
Osamu Ishiyama chose an austere design using common Cambodian materials and construction methods that includes a cast concrete framework filled with hand made local red clay bricks and a floor of terracotta tiles. The upward journey through a light filled atrium includes traversing a central hanging stairway to the roof top where sunlight and breezes are captured from the nearby Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers. The atrium is supported by a forest of mysteriously angled concrete columns based on the ruins of Hiroshima and the layered striped outer walls represent resilience, rebuilding and support. Hiroshima House is a spiritual Buddhist humanitarian retreat housing a library of illustrated Japanese children’s books, a primary school and free accommodation for university students from the country side.
