Aerial view of the new AUPP campus, looking toward the northwest. The open-air terraces and courtyard will provide students with spaces to study, meet, and relax.

AUPP is delighted, as part of its ongoing efforts to provide its students with a top quality education and excellent facilities, to be developing plans for a new state-of-the-art campus. The first phase in this project will involve the construction of five-story university building in Phnom Penh’s Chrouy Changva district.

The new AUPP campus is being designed by the US-based architectural firm Yost Grube Hall (YGH), a company with a well-established track record of designing award winning university buildings, corporate offices, as well U.S. embassies and consulates offices. YGH buildings can currently be found in 42 countries around the world.

A team of architects from the firm spent several weeks in Cambodia gathering information about AUPP’s future needs and plans, and working on preliminary plans for the new campus. Construction of the new building will begin in 2015, with occupation planned for 2016.

The main entrance to the new campus.

In keeping with AUPP’s philosophy of partnering with local businesses and organizations, Yost Grube Hall will work in collaboration with a local architectural firm in creating a facility that will meet the highest international standards in design, quality, and construction.

Over the past month, architects met with university administrators, faculty, students, and Board members, gathering ideas and suggestions. The result of their efforts is a design shown in the sketches on this page. The new campus will be built in two phases; the first phase will consist of a five-story building designed to accommodate the needs of a university with between 600 and 700 students. The second phase will be build as the AUPP student body increases to a projected 1,000 to 1,150.

In keeping with AUPP’s mission, the needs of students are central to the design and functions of the new campus. It will include a state-of-the-art Library and Resource Center, computer and science laboratories, spaces for individual and group study and learning, as well as indoor and outdoor dining and meeting areas and a 250-seat auditorium.

Classrooms will vary in size, accommodating between 18 and 70 students, and have been designed to allow both lecture-style classes as well as small group discussion and project work. Faculty offices will be conveniently located to promote AUPP’s culture of close collaboration between students and their professors.

AUPP President Dr. Sharon Siverts commented: “This is an exciting development for AUPP as it continues its leadership role in shaping higher education within Cambodia”. Speaking after a briefing from the architects, AUPP Assistant Professor of Demography Dr. David Ader described the new plans as “a promising new phase in the growth and expansion of AUPP.”

View of the new AUPP campus, looking toward the northwest. The Meking River is in the far background of the picture.