Adaptive Reuse, Cambodia

French-Cambodian architect Antoine Meinnel's Phnom Penh firm Bloom Architecture is behind several projects that reflect its approach to heritage conservation

Antoine Meinnel never planned to open his own architecture firm in Cambodia, but a trip in 2015, when his parents asked him to fly over from France to visit a heritage property they'd bought in the seaside town of Kampot, set in motion a series of events that eventually resulted in Bloom Architecture. ‘When I saw the beauty of this old, neglected colonial shophouse, I decided to quit my job and focus on helping them find a solution to preserve the envelope while modernising and adapting the inside. I only intended to be here for a few months, but during the renovations I started Bloom and ended up staying,' he says.

In just a few years, the firm's work has gained increasing recognition, from concept plans for downtown parks to sleek office interiors and luxury resorts. However, it's the heritage projects, which Meinnel prefers to label ‘adaptive reuse', that stand out. The first of these was the ‘neglected colonial shophouse' that so captivated the designer. Now Atelier Kampot, a restaurant and pepper boutique, the space has been beautifully transformed from the dilapidated shell his parents originally purchased, in what he describes as an attempt to ‘create continuity between old and new, and offer a timeless experience without simply copying the past'.

‘We don't do heritage work in the purest sense of the term,' explains Meinnel. ‘I'd say that heritage relates more to monuments, sites or buildings with value in terms of history, art or science. The structures we've worked on so far are interesting to the collective consciousness but weren't intended to be monuments. Our belief is that these buildings should be preserved by adapting them to contemporary needs and offering new uses for them. Unlike an artefact kept in a museum for tourists to look at, new spaces arise that respect the spirit of the past.'

Looking to the future, Meinnel says the most profound challenge facing budding local architects is cultural. ‘Many young Cambodians haven't learnt the skills to express their intuition,' he says. ‘They've become afraid of debating on a conceptual level what's told to them by their clients or teachers.That's why the work of the architect here is often reduced to aesthetic matters, forgetting architects' major role in providing an understanding of the use of a building and how it can be integrated into its environment.'

After graduating from the École nationale supérieure d'architecture in Versailles, Meinnel spent time at the offices of oma and Herzog & de Meuron. ‘They were my references when I was an architecture student. I learned a lot at both firms, not only design-wise, but also how important it is for an architect to have opinions and orient the client towards what we believe is the best way to build for a specific context,' he says. ‘Both offices craft a specific solution to each project's constraints, which is why all their buildings are different from one another, but with a familiar signature. This is the mindset I wanted to bring to Bloom.'

Image by Antoine Raab This page Cambodia-based Bloom Architecture’s approach to heritage renovations is to adapt existing structures so that they become contemporary, relevant spaces rather than ornamental monuments. One example is Factory in Phnom Penh, a 1960s garment factory that has been transformed into a modern cultural space

Images by Nataly Lee This page Housed in a former colonial shophouse, restaurant and pepper boutique Atelier Kampot was architect Antoine Meinnel’s first project in Cambodia and prompted him to establish his own firm