Giving a pair of conservation shophouses a future without losing their past

In 2021, Swan & Maclaren was invited to take on the full restoration and adaptive reuse of 239 & 241 Cantonment Road — two conservation shophouses forming part of our own studio. This wasn't just a client project; it was an opportunity to apply our philosophy on heritage conservation to a building we would live and work in every day.

The buildings carry the typical challenges of Singapore shophouse conservation: layers of unsympathetic additions, structural concerns from age, and regulatory expectations that require careful interpretation. Our aim was not to freeze the buildings in time, but to stabilise what remained, remove what didn't belong, and introduce interventions that would allow the buildings to function as a contemporary workplace.

The architectural approach prioritised honesty. Where new elements were introduced — steel framing, services, modern joinery — they were detailed to be clearly legible against the historic fabric. Original timber floors, masonry walls, and decorative plasterwork were retained and carefully repaired.

The result is a studio that reflects how we believe heritage should work: not as a nostalgic backdrop, but as an active participant in everyday life. 239 & 241 Cantonment Road now anchors Swan & Maclaren's practice in a setting that connects directly to the kind of buildings we spend our careers looking after.