Feature Interview Building for the Owner Who Isn’t There What Cambodia’s Private Villa Boom Demands from an Architect - Hun Chansan

Why the next generation of Cambodian private estates will be judged less by the size of the gate and more by how well everything behind it works.

A private compound isn’t one building. It’s a small piece of infrastructure the owner expects to just work.

Cambodia’s high-net-worth residential map is widening. The conversation about luxury living once centred on BKK1 and Chroy Changvar. Now, with Techo International Airport operating on a 2,600-hectare site roughly 20 kilometres south of Phnom Penh, and a planned airport city in its masterplan, new corridors are opening for families who want more land, more privacy and more than a single house. Their brief is changing from “design me a villa” to “design me a place my family can live in for generations.”

For the October edition of Mekarcube’s Architect Spotlight Series, we sat down with Hun Chansan, Principal Architect of ReEdge Architecture, to ask what that shift demands from the people who design these estates, and from the people who build them.

A Compound Is an Environment, Not an Object

The most important change, Hun Chansan explains, happens before a single line is drawn.

“A villa is one part of the project, but a compound is an entire living environment.”

Buildings, circulation routes, landscaping, utilities, security and service areas all belong to the same brief. His first step is to understand the owner’s lifestyle, family structure, privacy requirements and long-term vision. Then comes the site study and the master plan, which decides how each building and outdoor space relates to the others.

The measure of success is not a collection of beautiful buildings:

“The goal is not simply to design several beautiful buildings, but to create a coherent, secure, and functional environment that can operate smoothly as a whole, even when the owner is not present.”

That last phrase is the heart of this article. An owner who travels, splits time between cities or simply values a quiet household should never have to think about drainage, generators or gate systems. At Mekarcube, we see this as the standard a Design & Build partner should meet: a compound that runs well whether or not its owner is standing in it.

What Larger Land Makes Possible, and What It Doesn’t

Around the airport corridor, several smaller parcels can sometimes be consolidated into one large site. Hun Chansan sees real design value in that. A larger, continuous plot gives architects room to organise the master plan, position buildings with care, create private gardens, separate service routes from family spaces, and fit amenities such as swimming pools, guest houses and recreational facilities.

He is equally clear about the limits:

“Land consolidation alone does not guarantee that every design becomes possible.”

Ownership, legal boundaries, access roads, zoning, drainage, utility infrastructure and actual site conditions all have to be examined first. In plain terms: a bigger plot is a bigger canvas, but the canvas must be checked before anyone paints on it.

The Hidden Systems of a Private Estate

For a non-technical owner, it helps to think of a compound as a small private neighbourhood.

It needs the same things a neighbourhood needs, delivered quietly and reliably:

• Roads and pathways that separate family movement from deliveries, staff and

maintenance.

• Drainage that carries rainwater away. Much of the land around Phnom Penh is flat, and

the wet season tests every site, so water needs a planned route out of the compound.

• Water supply and wastewater treatment sized for several buildings, not one

• Electrical distribution and backup power so that lighting, cooling, security and

everyday comfort continue through an outage.

• Telecommunications and security systems whose cabling, cameras and control

points need physical routes through the site.

Each of these is easy to overlook on a drawing and expensive to fix once the buildings are standing. Hun Chansan’s approach is to treat them as part of the design from the first sketch, along with maintenance, operational efficiency and future expansion. An estate that is simple to run costs less to operate, is easier for household staff to manage, and can grow without tearing up what already exists.

Challenges and Strategic Solutions

Challenge 1: A bigger plot is not automatically a buildable plot

Consolidated land can look like a blank slate. In reality, boundaries, access, zoning and drainage decide what is possible.

The solution: verify the land before the design is committed. We treat legal, access and utility checks as the front end of a project rather than a footnote to it, so the master plan is drawn around real conditions.

Challenge 2: When a beautiful drawing meets the site

Asked about the most common gap between an architect’s compound design and what a

contractor can deliver, Hun Chansan points to coordination rather than ambition:

“An architectural concept may look clear on paper, but on-site, we have to resolve structural systems, construction details, material availability, MEP services, workmanship, and actual site conditions.”

(MEP stands for mechanical, electrical and plumbing: the air-conditioning, wiring and pipework that make a building function.) Details may not be fully coordinated with structural or MEP drawings before construction starts, or a substitution may quietly change the original intent.

The solution: early coordination between architect, engineers, contractor and suppliers, backed by detailed drawings, material specifications, mock-ups and regular site inspections. Mock-ups matter because they let an owner see and touch a detail before it is repeated across an entire estate. A Design & Build partner is placed to hold both sides of the conversation, design intent and site delivery, from the first meeting.

Challenge 3: Infrastructure treated as an afterthought

When roads, drainage, power and security are added after the architecture is finished, they compete with

the design for space, and the design usually loses.

“We believe infrastructure should be part of the master-planning process from the very beginning, not something added after the architectural design is completed.”

The solution: plan the internal road network, pedestrian circulation, drainage, water supply, wastewater treatment, electrical distribution, backup power, telecommunications and security systems alongside the architectural layout, so each one has a place in the plan from day one.

Challenge 4: Delivering confidence to an owner who isn’t on site

For owners who travel often or live abroad for part of the year, trust cannot depend on being present at every site visit.

The solution: a structured, documented process in which drawings, specifications, mock-ups and inspection records give the owner clear visibility at each stage, and in which problems are raised early rather than discovered late. Hun Chansan puts it simply: identify potential problems before construction, not during it.

Shaping What Comes Next

Hun Chansan’s view is a useful reminder for Cambodia’s construction industry. Good architecture is not only a strong concept. It is a concept that can be built properly without losing its quality or intention. As new corridors open around Techo International Airport and private estates grow in scale and ambition, the projects that stand out will be the ones where design, engineering and construction answered the same questions at the same moment.

That is the future Mekarcube is building toward. Not simply walls, roofs and gates, but private environments that protect a family’s time, privacy and peace of mind for decades because the true luxury of a great compound is not what you see when you arrive. It is everything you never have to think about once you are home.