Night Shelter

Once a decommissioned & forgotten site of Georgetown’s mercantile past, the Night Shelter was incepted with a conscious intention to extend the existing heritage building & its surrounding spaces’ operational lifespans by injecting them with a new purpose to address Penangites’ social needs – which is, to tailor for an all-inclusive, sustainable and contextually responsive refuge where the unprivileged homeless could temporarily call it ‘home’. With all due respect & appreciation for the existing heritage architectural features, the new extension was designed to reciprocate to the existing through a harmonious integrative approach. Attributes of the heritage building such as courtyard, ventilation features & spatial arrangements are embraced, emulated and enhanced with contemporary touches. In particular, spaces within this adaptive re-used shelter & its programming are planned and shaped in such a way to place the ‘Tree of Life’ which has witnessed the history & transitions of the site in the limelight.