We seldom do non-residential projects. When we do commercial or public projects, I try to always to implement what we have learnt (where applicable) from doing homes over the years. Conversely, I also try to learn from these commercial projects to implement good concepts to our home projects.
As it’s name implied as designed for, the shophouse has individual rooms upstairs where it housed some of the company’s staff which resides there. To accommodate workspace and change of use (for upstairs), major adjustments had to be made and here are some of the things I’ve learned that can be implemented in our project terrace house projects.
This 2-storeys linked-shophouse of 30 years is a home to a company that is also in the construction industry. It has been their home for the last 6 years and a refresh was required to accommodate a project team that was going to be brought over from Penang, where their home base is.
There are only 2 main ways/ surface that can help emit natural light into a terrace house, both at the long end of each facade. Yes another method is using skylight, but you can’t (at least in Malaysia) yet too use it as a point of ventilation (compared to the front and back windows), and not all situations allow it (natural light) to steam into the ground floor.
Where possible, an open floor plan helps bring natural light into the deeper and middle part of the house, although may not always be applicable where there are rooms on the 1st Storey. Using ribbed/ frosted glass partition or window helps, as well, to bring in that extra light without the loss of privacy.
It may sound counterintuitive, but having a darker walls (relative to the walls) brings the focus to the walls and ceiling, somehow subjectively enhancing the length of the property.
In a home, usually the walls or cabinets would not be as dark as the floor, which means the floor may be a feature on its own, thus creating a good contrast (as opposed to too many different wooden tones). This creates a sleek and somehow minimalist feel.
In colonial shophouses, timber ceilings (which is actually floorboards/ floor slabs for the level above) matches the finish on the floor, further creating a sleek look by minimizing different color and tones.
structural elements are concealed. Same goes for an open floor area without having a column in the middle of the nowhere. Having a sleek ceiling may come at the expense of lower ceiling heights.
In a purpose-built property, or even newly build house where construction technology has come a long way, it may be a norm now. However back the days, properties (residential and commercial alike) may have bigger or more structural elements to “play it safe”.
If you can live with the structural elements or even devise a way to integrate it with the overall design, then the outcome may be a win-win situation. Some may even see these structures as a feature rather than eye-sore. Some may even want to make it up and highlight them.
While the usage and requirement of a commercial usage obviously differs from a home, it is a similar type of property after all, which means facing similar problems. While some solutions cannot be duplicated, I’m sure there are more than a handful of them can be relearned and implemented in a terrace house.
