Welcome to the award-winning project at 19 Lorong 24A Geylang. Here, we will show you how the original building looked like, what the design brief was and what the architect's design concept was. Besides photographs of the finished project, you will also find design sketches, 3D renderings, drawings as well as video interviews of the developer, the architect and the resident of the building.

The conservation shophouse is located in the area of Geylang, a secondary settlement conservation zone. Originally covered by plantations and fields, Geylang had, by the early 1900s, been transformed into an urbanised area with rows of mainly 2 to 3-storey shophouses.

The shophouses along Lorong 24A are characterised by rich detailing such as glazed porcelain tiles, motifs, intricate bas-relief mouldings and stained glass windows. Many of them are also brightly coloured, with each unit having a distinctive colour combination. All these are characteristics of the Chinese Baroque typology, in which extensive ornamentation is predominant in the early 1900s.

The original shophouse has a plan that is typical of these types of buildings, with a five-foot way and a rear court. The main building is divided into two spaces with a masonry wall. The quarter turn staircase leads to the 2nd storey, which is again divided, into two main rooms. The kitchen and the bathrooms are in the rear building with a circular fire escape staircase.

Karen Tan, Development Manager, talks about the design brief.

Sectional model showing the proposed scheme with the 3 main new elements - the spiral staircase, the courtyard enclosed by the new 2-storey rear extension, and the new bathrooms. Note the tilt in the spiral staircase, which starts at the centre of the 1st storey space and goes up to be in line with the roof ridge.

Proposed new plans showing the spiral stairs and the new bathrooms. The 1st storey is very open from the front to the rear and the 3 sets of sliding glass doors can be tucked away to make the 1st storey one large continuous space. The master bathroom wraps around the spiral stairs whilst the two other bathrooms are back-to-back in the connecting corridor to the new 2-storey extension.

Han Loke Kwang, Principal Architect, designer and QP (Qualified Person) of the project, talks about the design concept.

Section across shophouse showing the stairs spiralling up through the master bathroom and to the attic space.

Section through the shophouse showing the tilt of the spiral stairs. It starts from the centre of the 1st storey space and tilts towards the ridge of the roof. Bedrooms 1 & 2 are in the new 2-storey extension that encloses a skylit courtyard with a water feature.

3D rendering of the spiral staircase. Initially the staircase was envisaged to have a fabric covering wrapping around the structure. However, this was changed to aluminium strips as it offered a more permanent solution with less maintenance issues.

View of spiral stairs from the entrance. The stairs sits over a water feature and the first landing is made of laminated glass. The stairs has a central stringer made of 20mm thick steel which was cut from a single 600mm diameter pipe. The stair treads are in chequered plate steel sitting on mild steel angles. The entire structure is hung from the upper floor landings.

View of the stairs from the rear. The stairs are wrapped around with 25mm powder coated aluminium strips which are threaded through the vertical steel hangers. The whole structure is very rigid despite the relatively small structural members used and the few points of support. This is due to the interwoven nature of the design.

Detailed view of the spiral stairs at the 2nd storey. Note the slight tilt of the stairs towards the left. Behind the aluminum strips is the frosted glass panels of the Master bathroom. During the day, the light from the jack roof illuminates the stairwell which in turn gives light to the bathroom. During the night, the reverse happens and the master bathroom lights are used to lit up the stairwell.

View of the spiral stairs showing relationship with the existing shophouse. On the left is the master bedroom with the original windows and stained glass panels.

Spiral stairs at the attic level. The new jack roof allows light and ventilation at the top. Note the gap between the spiral stair enclosure and the timber floor.

Karen Tan, Development Manager, talks about the courtyard space.

3D rendering of the screen wall and pergola facing the courtyard at the 2nd storey. As with the spiral stairs, initial idea was to use a fabric to cover the metal structure.

View of the 2-storey courtyard. The courtyard is naturally ventilated as it is open to the sky. At the bottom is a water feature with a small platform for displaying works of art. The kitchen is a simple and functional linear affair and is permanently open to the courtyard. At the rear is a small bamboo garden.

Reverse view of the courtyard.

The courtyard from bedroom 2 at the second storey. The aluminum pergola progressively becomes more transparent towards the party wall on the right. Note the original concrete breeze blocks on the right which have been retained.

View of the courtyard from the family room on the 2nd storey. You can see the bulge in the metal screen which is part of bath 2.

Lisa Johnson, talks about what it is like to live in the house. Guess which is her favorite part of the house? Listen and find out.

Above shows a sketch of the master bathroom with the tilted glass panels enclosing the spiral stairs in the middle. Below is a plan of the master bathroom which is raised three steps above the bedroom so as to accommodate the sanitary pipes below.

The master bathroom with its two basin mirror column. Behind the mirror is a storage cabinet. The mosaic tiles gradually become less dense from right to left and the wall on the left is just left plastered and painted.

The master bathroom with the tilted glass panels on the right. At the top is a lighting pelmet which illuminates both the bathroom and the stairwell.

The other two bathrooms are located along the corridor leading to the 2nd storey bedroom. From the corridor, full height frosted glass panels and glass sliding doors divide the space in a very light manner. The corridor and bathrooms have the same aluminum pergola and glass skylight as the courtyard.

Design sketch of bath 2 showing the bulge which accommodates the bath tub and basin combination.

View of bath 2 with the bath tub. The wash basin sits on the same concrete plinth as the bathrub and the swivel tap does double duty of filling up the bath. The aluminum slats are vertical as opposed to the horizontal ones enclosing the stairs. Note how the aluminum pergola carries on from the courtyard into the bathroom. The glass roof above is on different levels allowing for natural ventilation.

View of bath 3, with a simple rectilinear vanity counter and circular mirror.

The floor is made of 6 different types of homogenous, mosaic and granite tiles, creating a rich pattern reminiscent of the ornamental mosaics which are typically used in conservation shophouses.