Lebuh Acheh House

A 1908 shophouse retained by the third generation of a Penang family. The brief was to make it a daily residence again — not a museum, not a guesthouse — without erasing the marks of a century of occupancy.

We retained the original airwell, three sets of timber jalousies, and the floor of the front hall. Everything else was reorganised around contemporary patterns of cooking, working, and sleeping. A new steel-framed mezzanine sits above the rear courtyard without touching the existing party walls. Material additions are limited to lime plaster, cengal, and brushed stainless — chosen to weather alongside what was already there.