A Buddhist Temple Rises in the Bay Area

In the heart of San Jose, a new temple is taking shape. Designed for the Khmer Krom community, Wat Khmer Kampuchea Krom is more than a building. It is a space for gathering, learning, and spiritual practice.

For many Khmer Americans, especially those whose families were displaced by war and genocide, a temple is more than a religious site. It is a cultural anchor. A place to reconnect with language, lineage, and one another. This project brings that sense of belonging into the present, grounding it in both heritage and hope.

The vision began with Lyna Lam, who came to the Bay Area as a child after her family fled conflict and hardship in Southeast Asia. Her journey from struggle to service inspires the spirit of this place. Working alongside artisans in Cambodia and a design team in California, her foundation has helped shape a project rooted in care, dialogue, and deep cultural pride.

Led by Andrew Mann Architecture, the design reflects a thoughtful balance of beauty and purpose. With openness, curiosity, and a willingness to learn, the team has brought to light what is meant to be, honoring tradition while creating something enduring.

The Heart of the Work

In a warehouse in a San Francisco industrial neighborhood, the temple is taking shape in ways most people will never see. This is where samples of ornamental details carved and cast in Cambodia, are reviewed one by one prior to final fabrication. It’s a laboratory to explore how a unique building comes together.

The process here is not standard. The team is creating new methods to meet the unique needs of the project. Traditional Khmer forms must be reimagined for different materials, climates, and engineering standards. Each step requires care, precision, and a willingness to work differently.

Andrew Mann Architecture has helped lead this effort with humility and focus. Alongside builders, engineers, and artisans, the team has remained open to learning and to change. What happens in the warehouse is a reflection of values. A quiet expression of care in every detail.

What is a Wat

The Khmer word wat means temple. It comes from the Sanskrit vāṭa, meaning an enclosed or sacred space. In Khmer culture, a wat is not just a place of worship. It is a center for community, education, and care.

The temple’s ornamental language draws from Banteay Srei, a tenth century temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Banteay Srei stands apart among the temples of Angkor. Commissioned by a court scholar rather than a king, it reflects a more intimate scale and a level of refinement that speaks to personal devotion over royal ambition. Its pink sandstone walls are covered in precise, deeply carved motifs that have survived centuries of weather and war. For many, it represents the highest refinement of Khmer architecture.

Wat Khmer Kampuchea Krom draws on that legacy. Not by copying it, but by carrying its spirit forward. Through new materials, in a new setting, the design honors that history while creating something grounded in the needs of a present day community.

Chofa Head

This ornamental finial sits at the end of the temple’s roofline. Its upward form evokes a bird or mythical creature, rooted in Khmer and Buddhist iconography. For many, it stands as a symbol of protection, aspiration, and connection to the sacred.

Chofa Body + Ridge Cap

This sculptural form traces the roof ridge, linking architectural form to spiritual purpose. Its carved motifs evoke natural flow and ancestral knowledge. Together with the chofa head, it shapes the temple’s silhouette and weaves craft into meaning.

Kinnara

The Kinnara is a celestial being from Buddhist and Hindu tradition, part human and part bird. Known for devotion, music, and song, it appears in temple ornament as a gesture of grace and guardianship. When depicted with hands held in prayer, the figure offers a quiet welcome and reverence.

Kbach Rachana

This exterior wall base is adorned with kbach motifs, the classical ornamental vocabulary of Khmer architecture. More than decoration, these patterns embody harmony, rhythm, and spiritual order. Passed down over generations, kbach reflects artistic discipline and cultural memory, rooting this structure in a living tradition.

Under scaffolding and rain, devotion takes form.

Sacred Ground

In Cambodia, the rainy season marks Vassa. A time when monks remain within temple grounds to study and reflect. A season of retreat, discipline, and care.

In San Jose, the rain arrives too. Still, the work continues. Scaffolding wraps the site. Crews move with focus. There is rhythm in the work and respect in every step.

This is not an ordinary job site. Its scale and purpose are different. You feel it right away.

To build something sacred takes more than skill. It takes commitment. What is unfolding here is its own kind of retreat. Not spiritual in the traditional sense, but rooted in care, presence, and the effort to create something meaningful and lasting.