How can architecture help a nation cope with traumatic history ? A Cambodian institute designed by Zaha Hadid attempts to find a new answer to the question . Due for construction in 2015 , the Sleuk Rith Institute , designed by Pritzker-winning Hadid , will be a landmark genocide memorial for Cambodia , breaking away from stereotypes of commemorative architecture . It has been nearly 35 years since the fall of the Khmer Rouge , a regime that slaughtered two million Cambodians , but the scars are yet to fade . `` We believe that this project is one step in moving beyond memorial , to reconciliation and healing , it will be truly transformative , `` Hadid tells CNN Style . Uplifting architecture . From renderings of Hadid 's design , we can see five majestic towers rising out of the surrounding forest like beautiful mutant trees . Raised on stilts for protection from floods , the floating buildings evoke a serenity associated with religious sanctuaries . The design is a far cry from the dark designs of other famed genocide memorials such as Daniel Libeskind 's Jewish Museum of Berlin , a stark and imposing display of concrete and steel . `` The building design seeks to commemorate the past with moments of somberness , reflection and tranquility , but it was extremely important that the institute also evoke hope and optimism for the future , and the design includes moments of warmth , light and inspiration , '' says Hadid . The choice of Zaha Hadid was crucial for the institute 's visionary founder Youk Chhang . Himself a survivor of the Khmer Rouge-led genocide , Chhang hopes that the institute can move away from the `` heavily angular , quasi-industrial , and distress-invoking architecture '' of the many other memorial models . His vision for the institute — and for Cambodia 's future — is one that honors the past while directing the audience towards a positive , future-oriented experience . Building the future . Situated in Phnom Penh , the institute will become the permanent home of the largest collection of genocide-related material in Southeast Asia — up to a million documents archived by the Documentation Centre of Cambodia , an NGO run by Chhang . The institute 's name is also inspired by the act of documentation . `` Sleuk Rith '' means `` the power of leaves '' referring to the dried leaves that Cambodian intellectuals used to discreetly document and disseminate knowledge and culture during periods of oppression . But the institute 's more significant role will be in educating future generations through its graduate school program , to prevent repeating the tragedies of the past . `` People will learn about what happened so that they can liberate themselves from being a victim and get ready to compete for success in the future , '' says Chhang . Local inspiration . Sleuk Rith is also notable as one of Hadid 's first major projects that uses wood as a prominent material . `` Wood receives and transfers light in a particularly warm way . This quality of light and shadow within a wood-structured building is something that we felt appropriate and akin to the very qualities we strove to achieve in the design , '' says Hadid . The first female architect to win the coveted Pritzker Prize , Hadid is known for her dramatic , futuristic monuments of fragmented geometry and curvilinear form . Sleuk Rith brings forth a softer , warmer , and perhaps more feminine side of the architect 's imagination , taking inspiration from a lesser known Cambodian temple , the Banteay Srei , also known as the `` Citadel of Women , '' some 30 kilometers north of Angkor Wat . `` One of the remarkable things about Cambodia 's traditional temples is the way that intricate and beautiful forms are built up from simple geometric elements . We have taken a parallel approach in the design to define a progression of interconnected spaces within the institute , '' says Hadid . Femininity is an important factor for this commemorative structure as women constitute a major portion of the survivors of the Khmer Rouge period . According to Chhang , women struggled to raise the next generation on their own and have been instrumental in rebuilding Cambodian society , `` but they have had too little voice '' throughout the country 's tragic past . Cheeky medieval doodles show ancestors just as silly as us . How did this human face appear in a gemstone ? Is this the end of ambitious Chinese architecture ? A peek inside Paris Photo , Europe 's most prestigious photo fair .
Zaha Hadid has designed a Cambodian genocide memorial . The Sleuk Rith Institute will commemorate the 2 million people killed by the Khmer Rouge regime . The light - filled sculptures are a departure from the dark colors typically associated with genocide memorials . Hadid was inspired by Cambodia 's ` ` Citadel of Peace '' sculpture .