Studio Verve was invited to put in a design proposal for a conversion of a pre-war shop-house in Malaysia into a contemporary heritage boutique hotel. The property is likely to be in the Southern Chinese Eclectic Style built circa 1840s-1900s. The design serves to weave in a dramatic tectonic spatial experience within the shop-house typology, whilst exploiting passive sustainable measures to ventilate the interiors and maintaining the valuable heritage elements. The main timber stairway was designed to split into two wings; floating above a linear strip pond which also doubles as rainwater harvesting storage. Flanked on one side by exposed brick wall washed by natural daylight via the retractable skylight; the stairs bring one onto the upper recesses of the duplex bedrooms that overlook onto the central courtyard where the pop-up private dining space nest. Teak, a locally sourced timber is used extensively in the restoration project; the very nature of the duplex bedrooms provides unfolding dramatic views from each mezzanine level. Gorgeous vintage furniture and fittings that have been painstakingly collected by the owner over the years graced the interiors.