Hotel Fort Canning and its environs are landmarks steeped deeply in Singapore’s geographical and national history. Reconfiguring this 1926 British Colonial style military building into a contemporary urban hotel meant undertaking creative and innovative ways to re-represent the past in light of new functions.

As a conserved heritage building, design work for the hotel necessitated extensive restorative measures that were sensitive to the great legacy of the building’s past. Lighting and glass have been implemented to juxtapose original architectural elements with new visual and functional details in a process of layering, highlighting the old against the new and developing a narrative for the structure, its spaces, and its history. Lighting works in an exhibitionist manner to commemorate elements of the building’s original structure: lit coffers open up the ceiling to frame underlying beams; the asymmetry of the 1920s central hall is retained and emphasised by an illuminated cove designed along one edge of the ceiling.

Glass details establish striking moments of transition between new and old. Frameless, electric glass doors sit inside of heavy timber portals at the lobby. Four glass-enclosed archaeological pits are embedded into the floor of the reception space to showcase 14th- and 19th-century pottery and earthenware excavated from the hill.

The refurbished hotel has a bar and restaurant adjacent to the main lobby. It offers 86 guestrooms and access to an extensive outdoor terraced landscape with a pool situated above the car park.