This hotel is located almost in middle of Melaka Raya Street in Melaka. The existing building was transformed to a hotel in 2015 after 8 month of design and renovation. The owner of this three-storey contemporary shop lot, who also owns chained-stores of mini market in the town, intends to turn the building to a budget hotel under his brand. A hotel which is compact, supplying guests’ basic needs, and affordable. He also wanted the hotel based to be more than what is expected for a budget hotel.

Problem:
• Renovation of a basic shop house, with a basic utility, to 30 rooms design.
• Due to the linear shape of the building the design of the rooms’ layout and corridors couldn’t have a reachable fire exist and we had no access.
• As many rooms as possible in small area; so it was a compact design.
Solution:
• We had to add a U-turn compact staircase with steel structure at the end of the building access to the back alley.
• The shop house could afford 28 rooms at the end with one suite on the roof top which turned to one of the best rooms of the hotel.
• We engaged a civil and M&E engineer to protect hotel design approval With a help of professional team the design was a success
• The ground floor of the hotel which is surrounded by side and front glass walls, functions as the welcoming open space for mini market cashier and a hotel reception. It will enable the budget travelers to supply their basic needs for the mini market from toiletry to foods.
• The low height oak wood products shelves, as the main material of the lobby, conveys a warm and homey feeling with a modern touch of yellow signage and decorative items. It was in collaboration with another interior designer, as I was mainly in charge of technical issues, space planning of the hotel and coordinating the project with the teams of construction.
This Budget hotel now is successfully operating a 29-room accommodation and it gets good reviews from its guests.