Despite having given these buildings a new lease of life, Shin Chang, co-founder of Mentah Matter, has surprisingly un-romantic notions about conservation. "It's not that I am particularly drawn to old buildings. I simply feel that a space should not be wasted and we should play a part in reactivating it," he says. For him, preserving a building is not the most challenging part but finding the right content for it.

"You could say, the building is the hardware while the content is the software. And really I think we can do better than just another cafe," he muses. "When determining the content, you need to look at the intention of the new building's purpose. For Chocha and Joloko, the intention was to revitalise the neighbourhood so their function followed as such while for RexKL, the intention was changing the space itself into a creative hub and the design followed from there."

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For Penang-ite Bee Eu Tan of BETA (BEU TAN ARCHITECT), who have worked in Singapore and KL on new builds, her return to her hometown has been an auspicious one—not just for her career trajectory but for the state's neglected heritage buildings. Her first project was to restore the Penang Institute's colonial Annex Bungalow into the respected think tank's now lush campus.

The Penang Digital Library converted the erstwhile Penang Free School's headmaster's quarters into the island's first standalone library without physical books. This project has become a hub for the local community, attracting visitors of all ages and garnered a PAM Awards 2019 Gold for the Alteration and Addition Category, making BETA the youngest practice to win a Gold award. 

Harmony Centre, Penang's first interfaith Communal building came after. Despite its humble budget and small scale, Tan managed to capture the vistas on-site, locate swings at the best shaded spot and carve meandering paths according to trees on-site. This serenely beautiful project recently won Gold for Adaptive Re-use Category by the prestigious PAM Awards 2020, announced early this year in January 2021.

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The common misconception is that renovation or restoration is easier than building new. I have always felt that adapting heritage buildings is like a neurologist carrying a critical nerve repair surgery.

Although Tan finds working on new buildings liberating and exciting, she says breathing second lives into heritage buildings is unexpectedly and profoundly rewarding. She has found this especially so seeing first-hand a building's dramatic transformation from rundown to elegant, and it reassures her of an architect's ability of making a difference in the local community.

The challenge, she opines, is being able to identify the hidden potential of an old building and the skill required to re-purpose it to a new life. "The common misconception is that renovation or restoration is easier than building new. I have always felt that adapting heritage buildings is like a neurologist carrying a critical nerve repair surgery. We must carefully identify and repair damaged sections while very carefully and faithfully retaining the 'healthy' sections in an old building. Hence, adapting an old building can be as complex as designing a high-rise tower."  

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As an architect starting out in Melaka, Hau Woon San worked on Geographer Cafe in 1999 and transformed it from its dilapidated state to an inviting space. Its new function encouraged a melting pot of tourists and locals through music and food, eventually making it a sort of cultural event centre of Melaka.

Together with architect Lim Pay Chye, Hau started Idea Workshop in 2005 and the firm has become the go-to people for heritage projects that fuse culture with modern relevance like Geographer Cafe 2 and the Courtyard Boutique Hotel and Café which came soon after. Apart from Idea Workshop's own office which sports a modernist front entrance in contrast to its “decorative and ornamented” Peranakan facade, notable projects include Salud Tapas, whose steel interior negotiates between past and present; Nonya 63, a minimal approach to its well-preserved condition; and Liu Men Hotel whose gothic-like glass atrium has become a gathering and social event space for guests.  

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For Hau, delving into the building's past is part of the enjoyment of working on heritage projects. "There is this realisation that most heritage buildings had undergone various renovations (be it additions or substations) and gone through multiple technological changes," he says. "It has always been the challenge to uncover those multiple layers of history which would serve as contemplative mirror to the present and possibly ignite the dream of the future. The challenge has become the pleasure."

Having done his fair share of heritage projects, Hau finds the same questions arise whenever Idea Workshop undertakes a new project. "The challenge is always to mitigate the conflict between the existing conditions to the desire of fulfilling its new programmatic demands while at the same time, treading gingerly on its past and having a meaningful conversation with it," he says.

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