Phnom Penhs Golden Skyscraper Plans

For a city that twenty years ago had virtually been depopulated, Phnom Penh has been making a come-back ever since, and one that will perhaps be epitomised by its first ever skyscraper, Golden Tower 42.

The name is perfectly descriptive of the project itself which has been planned to stand 42 storeys high and will be clad in golden glass curtain walling. Rising to 192 metres in height it will be approaching three times that of the current tallest in the city shattering the record.

With its gold tinted glazing, the scheme is actually two separate towers with triangular floorplates that are set opposite each other and share a podium structure. At the top the shape of the building is once more triangular as the towers rise to their peak.

For a country with a strong Buddhist heritage in its architecture, the scheme certainly breaks from the norms by presenting itself as something more worth of Las Vegas than Phnom Penh right down to the huge building title that will stand above the entrance in gaudy gold lettering.

This breaking with the past is perhaps deliberate. If built it will stand on a plot overlooking Norodom Boulevard, a road that is dominated by French colonial architecture showing Cambodia's old imperial past.

There's no date yet on exactly when the scheme could start construction, but with the site cleared, and Phnom Penh continuously booming it could well be sooner than later.