The future of adaptive reuse and sustainable architecture: In conversation at V-Zug Singapore

The panellists started off the conversation by presenting their winning projects, highlighting their unique approaches to contemporary adaptive reuse. Chio introduced the audience to Ola Hale, a project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which he transformed from a run-down residential structure into a buzzing Hawaii-inspired bar and restaurant. Care was taken to retain the heritage features while opening up the view of what many of the visitors are there to see: the iconic pink church located opposite the building.

“Adaptive reuse is a fantastic way to not only retain the structure, keep the cost low, build something sustainable, and reduce material spend, but to me, as a designer, it injects another layer of meaning, another layer of story into an existing building,” Chio wrapped.

From Rene’s end, the audience got to discover the rebuilding of an ancestral family home in Penang, reconstructed based on a single archival photograph from the 1920s. Refreshing the existing features of the house and reusing what they could, the RT+Q Architect team also improved the structure for better natural ventilation and reduced reliance on air-conditioning as well as adding a new volume behind it to cater to the family’s evolving needs.

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Hassell’s project, the recently opened 21 Carpenter hotel, pays homage to the original use of the building, once a remittance house for Chinese workers to send their earnings back home.

Wishing to honour the emotional connection to the building’s history, the Woha Architects team incorporated phrases from classical Chinese poetry included in the remittance letter—which were written by professional scribes for the mostly illiterate workers—into the facade of the hotel, wrapping it in its own nostalgic heritage. The interiors of the space were designed to blend the retained features as well as the new additions, creating a consistent guest experience.

Providing the developer’s perspective, Szue Hann dedicated his time to a look at adaptive reuse in real estate, pointing out the benefits of this practice for developers and investors, such as the reduced construction costs and long-term energy savings that come from retrofitting compared to building new.

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Once the panellists wrapped up their presentations, Jenie dove deeper into adaptive reuse with the four speakers. The first question of the evening: Beyond working towards a more sustainable form of architecture, how important is retaining our heritage and an emotional connection to the landscape in adaptive reuse?

As Szue Hann pointed out, navigating the neighbourhoods of Singapore used to be dependent on key landmarks, such as colourful buildings at the corners of popular turning points. While he acknowledged the need for change over time, he also wondered whether retaining a level of familiarity with our surroundings may have an inherent value.

“Things change all the time and you get used to the fact that change is a necessity, that it’s a part of growth and development. But if you can grow, you can indeed develop whilst retaining elements of what was established before us,” he shared.

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Hassell expressed the conflicting feelings that can arise for architects when choosing whether to repurpose an existing building or tear it down and build anew. “It is a challenge for us as designers because we’re used to having the thrill of authorship, that we created something new and that was us who did that,” he shared. “But if you can make the past come alive and draw emotional links between where we are now and what happened before, I do think that’s really important.”

On the topic of choosing whether to retain or rebuild, Rene quipped a simple response: “Safety is an important thing. So, the short answer is to use common sense.”

For his project, Chio similarly resorted to common sense, considering the local context first and foremost. He extrapolated on the popular practice of retaining and adapting old structures in the centre of Ho Chi Minh City as opposed to rebuilding from scratch. “I’ve learnt a lot from Vietnamese interior designers and architects. Not all buildings should be adapted. But in this case, for mine, I think it was a perfect solution.”

“I think it’s just a question of suitability. If you have a good match, and the building is not fighting you on what you need to do with it, it’s easy to reuse it. But in certain cases, it may just clash,” Hassell concurred. “However, going forward, it may be that the developer is the wrong developer for the building, rather than the building being wrong for its [intended use].”

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Along these lines of reflection, the panellists were further challenged: Are buildings in Singapore even allowed to grow old?

“You’ve got buildings that can last for 100 years. By the time 30 years come along, they get torn down because of changes in building codes, changes in plot ratios, and these types of things,” Szue Hann chimed in. “But with a conscious effort towards adaptive reuse, you could extend these life cycles.”

He points out the growing emphasis on carbon as a key element in persuading stakeholders across industries to adopt adaptive reuse. “Carbon now has become an interesting way of actually segueing into that conversation because you go, hey, if I retain that building, not only am I going to save you years of construction, but I’m going to save you tons of carbon too,” he explained.

“With the pressures of time, with the pressures of nostalgia and history, and with the huge pressure in this case of carbon savings, buildings are finally allowed to age and still be useful.”

This sets the stage for the future of adaptive reuse in Singapore, an uncertain but promising one that these winning architects are tapping into. As Chio delineated, three types of buildings are the most likely candidates for adaptive reuse in our city, going forward: historic buildings with heritage status, private buildings whose owners strive for preservation, and run-down institutional structures, such as schools, ripe for adaptive reuse.

Rene advocated for a very practical approach to the future of building: “One needs to be discerning because we should not be just trigger-happy and try to retain everything we see. We need to ask ourselves whether certain things are worth saving or not.”

Hassell, on the other hand, invited the audience to dream: “I think what would be interesting is to let the city talk back to us and tell us what it might want to be.”

Towards the end of the conversation, the four panellists were invited to share their favourite adaptive reuse projects around the world, comprising Rene’s choice of 21 Carpenter by fellow panellist Hassell, Chio’s pick of the landmark Fullerton Hotel, Hassell’s favourite restoration works and interventions by Carlo Scarpa, and Szue Hann’s appreciation of the new Abattoir in Shanghai, a traditional slaughterhouse turned into a brutalist lifestyle space housing art galleries and cafés.

As the panel discussion came to an end, the room transformed into a lively setting for the architects, designers and other industry professionals to reconnect and make new friends at the V-Zug Singapore showroom.

The mingling was accompanied by a custom zero-waste menu specially crafted for the evening, including canapes such as arancini, pepper crab tortellini, prawn tartlets with lime tapioca caviar, and a vegetable trimming vichyssoise. Brut MV champagne from Louis Roederer’s Collection 244 washed down the delectable bites.

Chefs Juliana Ng and Nixon Low furthermore invited the audience to join him at the island counter live station as he prepared locally farmed seabass, complete with crispy scales for an unusual, delicious and wholly sustainable take on the dish.

Sweetening the final notes of the evening, a soy custard with kinako and adzuki bean, and a refreshing citrus and tea jelly parfait wrapped up the event. On their way out, guests brought home a bag of cookies baked from the custom menu’s tea waste, as well as new revelations on the topic of adaptive reuse and sustainable architecture in Singapore.

To find out more about V-Zug’s sustainability initiatives, explore the video below.

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