Omar Havana

Photographer

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Evicting Dreams: The Last Days of the White Building

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Location: Brussels, Belgium

Nationality: Spanish

Biography: Omar Havana, 1975 Granada, Spain. Spanish Freelance Photojournalist. Based in Brussels, Belgium. Previously based in France 2017-2021, Nepal 2014-2015 and Cambodia 2008 - 2014 ; 2015-2017. Omar has worked as a professional photojournalist since... MORE

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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA &ndash...; Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 13: A view of the backside of the White Building where plants have grown wild for years on June 13, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Once a highlight of King Sihanouk’s plan to modernize and develop Phnom Penh in the 1960s, the White Building, which is in a prime location in the heart of the city, has suffered from the passage of time. The walls of the building paint a picture of the country’s recent history, walls that have been reclaimed and repainted by its residents. For 29-year-old Kavich, a young filmographer born in the White Building, the “building is not a place to see but a place to feel; the only way to understand this building is to look to its walls and feel the stories it tells.” Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – NOVEMBER 20: Residents of the White Building chat in one of the main staircase entrances to the building on November 20, 2016 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Inaugurated in 1963 under King Sihanouk as part of a grand plan to address rapid population growth in Phnom Penh, the White Building was the first project in Cambodia to offer social housing to lower and middle-class families. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 07: A resident of the White Building carries a window that he saved from his home on which a new luxury high rise building being constructed is reflected on June 07, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Hundreds of new luxury buildings in constructions are taking the place of what used to be a city filled with both traditional and colonial architecture. The urban plan for Phnom Penh – which includes plans to build the tallest building in Southeast Asia, the 500-meter Twin Trade Center to be built by Thai Boon Roong – is rapidly changing the skyline of the city. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 06: A man walks down one of the corridors that connect the different sections of the White Building on June 06, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After months of negotiations with the Ministry of Land Management, the majority of residents accepted the proposal offered, which will see one of the last surviving landmarks of Phnom Penh turned into yet another modern development project, in a city that is slowly losing its identity along with its traditional and colonial architecture. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA &ndash...amp;copy; Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 17: A resident of the White Building stands in the corridors that connect the different sections of The White Building building in front of vacated units blocked from access on June 17, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, many former residents of the White Building – who had been forcibly evacuated from the city in 1975 – returned home and started rebuilding a vibrant community. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 07: A young girl watches TV while her sister cleans their kitchen days before leaving their home inside the White Building on June 07, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since families started moving out of the building on the 6th of June, the pace of vacating homes has been slow for some of them, as emotions have run high, especially for those who have spent so many years of their lives or were even born in the White Building. Dath, who moved into the White Building in 1982, says “I’m so sad to leave. I’m not just leaving a building; I’m leaving the people. In the White Building, we are all one family; we will be friends forever.” Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 06: 47-year-old Davy poses for a photo outside her home while holding her dog Toto on June 06, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Davy arrived at the White Building in 1988 to be reunited with her mother Len who had moved in after the end of the Pol Pot Regime. While Davy refused several times to accept the eviction offer, she had no other choice as the majority of the residents finally agreed to the offer. “I would have kept this building, instead of demolishing it, as a symbol of what this city used to be, for future generations to remember the past,” said an emotional Davy while looking inside her home. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 06: A young mother holds back her young son as he tries to crawl out of their home at the White Building on June 06, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In recent years, safety has become one of the biggest concerns for residents; while during the day it is a vibrant community full of artists, teachers, shop owners, civil servants, and others, parts of the building are taken over by drug addicts and dealers and prostitutes during the night, giving the building a reputation as a slum and one of the city’s most dangerous places amongst the rest of the population. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 16: A resident is seen inside a room of his home as he takes a window out of its frame on June 16, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Residents not only emptied their homes of their belongings but also spent days salvaging any recyclable or re-sellable materials – including doors, windows, and even cables. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 07: A musician and resident of the White Building poses for a photo holding his accordion outside a house which was used as a music school by residents on June 07, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Despite the building’s bad reputation for being a center of drug abuse, prostitution, poverty, and poor sanitation, the White Building is actually a vibrant and diverse community, home to dancers, musicians, civil servants, craftsmen, business owners and teachers. For many years after the Khmer Rouge, the White Building served as a hub for artists in Phnom Penh, who used the space to meet, share ideas and develop projects. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 06: Residents look inside for the last time of what was their home in the White Building on June 06, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After homes were vacated by residents, workers moved in to block access to the apartments, using wooden pallets nailed to the door frame to prevent squatters and former residents from entering and reoccupying the premises. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 08: Shop owners continue to stay open while the building is being emptied on June 08, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In recent years, safety has become one of the biggest concerns for residents; while during the day it is a vibrant community full of artists, teachers, shop owners, civil servants, and others, parts of the building are taken over by drug addicts and dealers and prostitutes during the night, giving the building a reputation as a slum and one of the city’s most dangerous places amongst the rest of the population. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 13: Police officers patrol inside the White Building to ensure that squatters are not entering the premises while residents vacate their homes on June 13, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Over 90% of the 493 families that were living in the White Building accepted the authorities’ final offer of USD1,400/m2 in compensation for their homes, after long negotiations. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 06: A resident looks inside for the last time of what was her home in the White Building on June 06, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After homes were vacated by residents, workers moved in to block access to the apartments, using wooden pallets nailed to the door frame to prevent squatters and former residents from entering and reoccupying the premises. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 07: Pok Chun Nath poses for a portrait inside his home in the White Building on June 07, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Nath arrived at the White Building in 1979 after the end of the Pol Pot Regime. Like many of the other residents, Nath is an artist. This sculptor states that the building has in the past served as a place where local artists were able to gather and share ideas, which helped develop art in the city. But with the eviction from the building, he thinks that it will be harder to meet up with others, and connections and ideas will be lost, which will negatively impact creativity. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 06: A resident empties his home in the White Building on June 06, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Over the past decade, many old buildings in Phnom Penh have been transformed or destroyed as part of the recent rush to develop and more than 750,000 people – or more than 6 percent of the population of Cambodia - have been evicted country-wide. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 16: A young woman stands inside her home while she and her family empty it on June 16, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Residents were originally offered replacement units on five floors of the planned building in compensation; however, most of them said they preferred to be paid compensation in cash rather than to wait until the building was finished, primarily due to the experiences of many other communities evicted from their homes in Cambodia, such as the Borei Keila community, whose new homes were never completed or took too long to be built. This led to the officials to pursue new negotiations with the project’s developer, The Japanese company Arakawa Co. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 14: A resident of the White Building exits his home carrying two bags filled with clothes on June 14, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since families started moving out of the building on the 6th of June, the pace of vacating homes has been slow for some of them, as emotions have run high, especially for those who have spent so many years of their lives or were even born in the White Building. Dath, who moved into the White Building in 1982, says, “I’m so sad to leave. I’m not just leaving a building; I’m leaving the people. In the White Building, we are all one family; we will be friends forever.” Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 14: A scavenger sits while looking at a resident drilling into the frame of the door of his home in the White Building on June 14, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After residents finish emptying their homes of their belongings and salvaging any recyclable or re-sellable materials – including doors, windows, and even cables – scavengers move in to pick through what has been left behind. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 06: Workers block the access to one of the vacated homes with wooden pallets on June 06, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After homes were vacated by residents, workers moved in to block access to the apartments, using wooden pallets nailed to the door frame to prevent squatters and former residents from entering and reoccupying the premises. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 16: Residents carry a closet down one of the staircases while vacating their home in the White Building on June 16, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since the 6th of June, residents of the White Building have been vacating their homes, packing up their memories along with their belongings, while leaving behind a community that has been the center of their lives for many years. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 16: A man stands on the grounds of what used to be his restaurant on the ground floor of the White Building one last time after packing all his belongings into a small red truck on June 16, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In addition to residential units, the White Building was also home to many shops, including grocery stores, beauty and hair salons, restaurants, tailors, pharmacies, mobile phone stands and more, who primarily catered to the White Building’s large community. As 41-year-old Vuthy, a resident of the White Building, explains, “the White Building is not just our home, but it’s a community where everything we need is available. There are doctors that can help us, there are grocery stores, everything we could need, we had it.” Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 14: Shop owners save parts of the metallic roof of their shop while emptying it on June 14, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. As families began to move out of the White Building on June 6th, small business owners such as Vanna, who had been operating a tailor shop on the grounds of the building for more than 10 years, faced tough decisions as the eviction put their business operations in jeopardy. “The privileged location of the building has in the past secure the sustainability of our businesses, but for many of us, moving to the outskirts of the city will not secure the same amount of business as we had up until now in the White Building: said Vanna. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - OCTOBER .... Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - OCTOBER 29: A luxury Rolls Royce passes in front of the famous White Building in Phnom Penh on October 29, 2016 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The annual income per capita in the mostly rural nation is just over $1,000, according to the World Bank. That would cover less than 0.5% of the cost of the cheapest Rolls Royce, only on the first day 28 Rolls Royces were sold in Phnom Penh while residents of the iconic building were communicated that the building will be torn down and replaced with a 21-story new tower, as part of an $80 million project. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JULY 17: Members of the last family to leave the White Building before its demolition starts collect belongings through a window of what was their home on July 17, 2017. After months of negotiations, the last 10 families who had refused to accept the offer of the Ministry of Land to vacate their homes finally accepted before the demolition of the iconic building will start later today to give way to a 21-story commercial and residential project by the Japanese company Arakawa Co. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 16: Residents load a truck with their belongings from their home in the White Building before leaving on June 16, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since the 6th of June, residents of the White Building have been vacating their homes, packing up their memories along with their belongings, while leaving behind a community that has been the center of their lives for many years. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 16: Family photographs are left on a table near a clock with the picture of Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen and other members of the ruling party inside one of the vacated homes in the White Building on June 16, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Ahead of commune elections held on June 4th, residents of the White Building were urged by two village chiefs to vote for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in order to expedite the process by which they will be compensated for their homes. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 10: Food offerings and incense sticks are placed on a table outside the White Building during a farewell party organized by officials from the Land Management Ministry on June 10, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Ministry of Land Management hosted a farewell party for residents of the White Building on Saturday 10th of June after the Land Minister Chea Sophara announced on his Facebook page that “in order to move to a new home, I would like to invite residents of the White Building and the media to have a noodle party and fun together.” Dozens of Buddhist monks blessed the residents on a ceremony held on the street that leads to the building as emotions on the faces of the residents were running high during what was most likely the last time that the whole community gathered together. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JUNE 10: A resident of the White Building washes himself using a small plastic bucket of water on June 10, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Designed by Cambodian architect Lu Ban Hap and the Russian Vladimir Bodiansky, and inaugurated in 1963, the White Building was one of the highlights of King Sihanouk’s plan to modernize and grow Phnom Penh and was one of the city’s first attempts at providing social housing for the city’s growing lower and middle-classes. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JULY 17: 44 years-old Arun packs under a temporary shelter she set up on what used to be her restaurant on the grounds of the White Building on July 17, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Arun is refusing to leave what has been her business for the last decade, and she is waiting until the last second in a temporary shelter that she set up, afraid of her future without yet having a place to go. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JULY 17: An excavator is seen in front of the torn-down entrance to one section of the White Building on July 17, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After months of negotiations, the last 10 families who had refused to accept the offer of the Ministry of Land to vacate their homes finally accepted before the demolition of the iconic building will start later today to give way to a 21-story commercial and residential project by the Japanese company Arakawa Co. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JULY 17: A graffiti saying “goodbye’ is seen drawn on one of the walls of what used to be a business on the grounds of the White Building on July 17, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Home to many artists for many years, authorities have started the demolition of it early this morning, after months of negotiations with residents. Some have painted messages on the torn-down walls as a farewell on what has been their home for almost their entire life. Photo: © Omar Havana

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – JULY 30: A construction worker walks on the debris of a demolished part of the iconic White Building on July 30, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Although the White Building has been resisting Cambodia's rapid development, a project that will see the White Building turned into a 21-story commercial and residential project by the Japanese company Arakawa Co. was recently approved. After the almost 2,000 residents of the building accepted compensation offers, the demolition of the building has started, a process that will take several months. Photo: © Omar Havana

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Public Story

Evicting Dreams: The Last Days of the White Building

Copyright Omar Havana 2024

Date of Work Sep 2016 - Jul 2017

Updated Jan 2020

Location Phnom Penh

Topics Abandonment, Architecture, Asia, Building, Business, Cambodia, Capitalism, Civil Rights, Community, Development, Documentary, Dreams, Editorial, Essays, Europe Photographer, Eviction, France Photographer, Gentrification, Globalization, History, House, Housing, Human Rights, Iconic, Lifestyle, Media, Paris Photographer, Phnom Penh, Photography, Photojournalism, Politics, Reporting, Residents, Social Issues, White Building

On June 6th, the faces of the residents of the White Building showed the sadness of what were their last days home. During those days, people were rushing to say goodbye to each other, using up every last second in conversations about what it had been like to live in this legendary building for so many years. This was the end; the life of what has probably been the most charismatic building in Phnom Penh came to an end, and with it, the community that has filled this place with magic for so many years.

Designed in 1963, the White Building - the summit of what was the new urban plan of Phnom Penh - will be converted into a 21-story building filled with luxury apartments, parking lots, and commercial areas. The end of the White Building symbolizes what has been in recent years a loss of identity in Phnom Penh, with the destruction of the traditional Khmer and colonial buildings, which has completely transformed the skyline of the city, with most of it yet to some.

Photography: © Omar Havana. All Rights are Reserved

This story was published in BBC and South China Morning Post

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