The design process for The Lantern Hotel project started in 2012 with long periods of time to get the building facade approval from the authorities, getting the client to confirm room numbers and room layout, going over and over the design, looking at different options and doing continuously cost-cutting exercises to maximize cost and profit for the client, achieving 49 guest rooms, all with attached bathroom, 2 dorms with each 6 beds and external bathroom, facilities for breakfast, centralized computer area, locker area and an outdoor terrace overlooking Petaling Street, Chinatown.

Sadly so, the existing shop houses at this site were demolished and were replaced with a huge building block of 5 levels, with no regards to the surrounding or the Malaysian heritage. Hong Leong Bank is operating at the first 2 levels. The 3 floors above which were empty over the last few years, was most recently used as a stationary/ bookstore as far as we know.

We were faced on one hand with an ‘out-of-proportion’ existing building mass, and to satisfy client’s brief to maximize the space for as many rooms as possible for the minimum budget possible; At the same time, try to design a hotel in which guests would feel good and respond to the surrounding, partially [most already destroyed] heritage and history of Petaling Street in the most sensitive and empathic way possible.

In terms of sustainability we decided from beginning on to have all the public areas natural ventilated, only the guest rooms have optional split air con unit, and to bring as much natural light into the space as possible. We ensured cross ventilation in the horizontal as well as vertical space via openings in the facade and the vertical void with a gap between skylight and roof. We only used locally available, locally manufactured building materials like dark burned clay brick, polished colored concrete and terrazzo tiles for the floor, white lime wash finish and natural plywood. We got local craftsman to build the timber shutters for the facade and use recycle solid timber for terrace and loose furniture. Solar panels for hot water showers are installed on the roof and last but not the least, the total cost of this renovation all in including furniture / furnishing up to soap holder is only 4.2mil

The construction phase alone faced a lot of constrains and hurdles. Hong Leong Bank operating in the first 2 floors, along with the hawker shops at the ground floor could not be disturbed or interrupted, which put a challenge for the contractors and the site logistic. We had to work in an unconventional way, having to deal with all the different trades and craftsman mostly not versatile with the English language, with no main contractor on board. Most decisions were made directly on site either verbally or via sketches to simplify elaborated cad drawings.