Penang Shophouses

George Town, Penang

Three pre-war shophouses joined into a small guesthouse and bookshop.

Three repaired 1920s shophouses with lime-plastered facades, green timber shutters and a covered five-foot way.

The three repaired shophouse fronts from the street.

Type

Reuse

Status

Completed

Place

George Town, Penang

Year

2019–2022

Area

1,240 m² / 13,350 ft²

Client

Private

Team

Martin Vale, Owen Marsh, Tom Brandt

Images

AI-generated imagery

Brief

A family that had owned three shophouses for four generations wanted to bring them back into use, with a bookshop on the street and nine guest rooms above.

Site

Three adjoining shophouses from the 1920s in the historic center, in poor repair, with deep plots and narrow fronts.

Approach

We repaired the facades, timber floors and clay roofs, and kept each house’s air well. New openings in the party walls link the three houses at ground level only. Rooms are cooled by cross-ventilation and ceiling fans. New work is in steel and teak, so it can be told apart from the old.

Outcome

Completed in 2022, with Atelier Lorong of George Town as conservation architect.

Ground floor plan, 1:200

Inside the bookshop, looking through new openings that link the three shophouses at ground level, with tall timber shelves.

Through the new openings in the bookshop.

Looking up inside a planted air well, with louvred timber windows and clay tile roof edges around the open sky.

Looking up inside an air well.

Section through the air wells, 1:100

A tall-ceilinged guest room under old timber joists, with lime-plastered walls and two arched windows with green shutters open to the street.

The new stair of teak treads on dark steel, set against old lime plaster with its patina kept.

The three shophouse fronts at dusk, warm light through the green shutters and the ground-floor bookshop along the five-foot way.

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Kampung Baru Market Hall

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