Books & Architecture: Meet Koh Sokol, co-author of “Cambodian Wooden Houses”

The book “Cambodian Wooden Houses”, by the late Darryl Collins and Hok Sokol, is considered to be the first monograph devoted entirely to this subject. Mr. Sokol met the public yesterday at Galerie Phokeethra on the occasion of Octobookfest.

The 296-page book is signed by Australian art historian Darryl Collins and Cambodian architect Sok Sokol

Published by Sipar Books, a division of French NGO Sipar, the 296-page book is authored by Australian art historian Darryl Collins and Cambodian architect Hok Sokol.

The book - entitled “Cambodian Wooden Houses: 1,500 years of Khmer Heritage” - evokes the historical context and current architectural process of wooden house building. With photographs, illustrations, maps, plans and drawings, the book emphasizes the heritage values of wooden houses and the dwindling number of fine constructions that remain in the country today.

When night falls, the house seems to divide into two parts - the main living quarters above and a completely open space below, with all the original columns. (Photo: John Gollings, 2008)

Mr. Collins, who co-authored the acclaimed “Building Cambodia: New Khmer Architecture 1953-1970”, published in Bangkok in 2006, had been resident in Cambodia since 1996.

He first visited Phnom Penh in 1994 to work on an Australian government project to revitalize the National Museum of Cambodia. For ten years, he oversaw the digital recording, photography and database entry of historical documents.

Hok Sokol graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Royal University of Fine Arts in 1999. Since 2020, he has been certified as an ASEAN Architect with his architectural firm.

The architect contributed to Collins' previous book and his research was included in “Wooden Architecture of Cambodia: A Disappearing Heritage” published by the Center for Khmer Studies in 2006.

Relocation and preservation of a unique 100-column house from Chhlong to Kratie. (Photo: Hok Sokol, 2021)

In addition to working together on books, the authors collaborated on the relocation to Siem Reap, in 2007, of a house located on an island in the Mekong River in Kampong Cham province. They have also restored two other houses on the outskirts of Siem Reap.

Unlike the previous book, published and printed in Thailand in 2006, the new book was printed in Cambodia - by the Sok Heng printing house in Phnom Penh.

Sipar

Publisher Sipar Books has produced over 200 Khmer-language books since 2000, with more than 2.4 million copies distributed. The parent company, based in Versailles, has set up libraries in 310 schools and trained over 2,600 librarians since its arrival in Cambodia in 1992.

It has also set up libraries and “reading centers” in villages, hospitals, prisons and garment factories, while operating nine mobile libraries.