Rumah Kechik

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.