
2024
Rumah Kechik is an adaptive reuse intervention within three 200-year-old shophouses that employs careful insertion and subtraction strategies to accommodate present-day requirements whilst paying homage to architectural history.
TEAM
Ar. Melvin Keng
Ms. Erica Ang
PHOTOGRAPHY
Finbarr Fallon
AWARDS
INDE Awards 2024, The Social Space (Shortlist)
Sustainability Awards 2024, International Design (Shortlist)
The Archdaily 2025 Building of the Year Awards (Shortlist)
Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) Design Awards 2024, Design Award (Overseas Commercial)
Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) Design Awards 2024, Design Award (Overseas Interior Architecture)
Dezeen Awards 2024, Heritage Project (Longlist)
MEDIA
Buildex.myMalaysian Timber Council Tatler AsiaDesign and ArchitectureI See StudiothedesignstorySingapore ArchitectArchdailyPUBLICATIONS
d+A (Design and Architecture) (Issue 132)

Located in UNESCO World Heritage City of Malacca, Malaysia and connected to an existing boutique hotel development (Baba House Melaka), the project houses a new hotel restaurant and hotel social spaces like function rooms and a gym. A delicate insertion of steel structural framing was undertaken to bolster the existing structural integrity of these shophouses. A double-height internal courtyard is reintroduced into the central shophouse through careful subtraction of the front segment of the 2nd storey floor slab, giving way to a dramatic entrance. Internal fenestrations and portals punctuate existing party walls to facilitate visual connectivity through the space. 200-year-old brickwork and existing timber beams and rafters were celebrated through their careful restoration.










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