Air Well House Heritage restoration in Lebuh Armenian, George Town
A 1928 shophouse that cools itself
Lebuh Armenian, George Town
2024
2,100 sq ft
9 months
RM 480,000
The constraint
The party walls were saturated with rising damp, the timber staircase had been replaced with concrete, and the air well — the lung of every Penang shophouse — had been covered with polycarbonate sheeting in the 1980s. Ground-floor temperatures were reaching 34°C.
What we did
We stripped the cement render that was trapping moisture in the brick and replaced it with breathable lime plaster. The air well was reopened with an operable glass louvre roof, so rain is kept out but hot air still escapes. New joinery was kept freestanding and reversible, so nothing we added is permanent to the historic fabric.
The result
Ground-floor temperature dropped by an average of 4.5°C without mechanical cooling. The family runs air conditioning in the bedrooms only, and the restoration was approved by George Town World Heritage Incorporated without amendment.
Working on something similar? Related reading: the shophouse renovation guide, and materials for Malaysian humidity.
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